Character guide

Jeremy Garnet

major

Also known as Garnet, Jerry Garnet, Jerry, old Garnet, J. Garnet, Mr. Garnet

Garnet is the dry, self-aware eye through which Ukridge's chicken farm becomes a comedy of escalating debt and dwindling dinners. He wants quiet and a finished manuscript, but finds himself hauling coops, chasing stray fowls, and watching his friend's creditors close in. His growing attachment to Phyllis Derrick gives the farm scheme a second, more personal stake.

Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge

major

Also known as Mr. Ukridge, Ukridge, Stanley

Ukridge is the farm's managing director, chief optimist, and most unreliable authority on anything with feathers. He reasons that mixed breeds will lay regardless, that coops can be built from sugar boxes on tick, and that creditors are simply impatient. His infectious confidence keeps the scheme alive even as the bills arrive in battalions.

Phyllis Derrick

major

Also known as Phyllis, Derrick, Miss Phyllis

Phyllis moves easily through Combe Regis society, reading under the cedar, playing a sharp game of croquet, and gently needling Garnet about his authorial surname. She is amused by the farm's chaos and drawn to the man narrating it, though her father's opinions complicate matters. Her interest gives Garnet something to lose besides money.

Tom Chase

supporting

Also known as Mr. Chase, Tom, Chase, Mr. Tom Chase

Chase is the social hinge of Combe Regis, comfortable with the professor, the golf links, and the drawing-room alike. He is curious about the infamous chicken farm and treats its failures as excellent dinner-table material. His easy competence throws Garnet's floundering into sharper, funnier relief.

Mrs. Stanley Ukridge

supporting

Also known as Mrs. Ukridge, the smiling Mrs. Ukridge

Mrs. Ukridge presides over the farmhouse with a childlike calm that survives arriving fowls, mounting bills, and her husband's grand pronouncements. She is the only person on the premises who can disagree with Ukridge, and she does so chiefly over Edwin, her lawless pet. Her quiet loyalty makes the farm's slow unraveling feel like a domestic tragedy rather than a mere farce.

Harry Hawk

supporting

Also known as Hawk, Mr. Hawk, Mr. Harry Hawk, the unlucky Mr. Hawk, friend Hawk, miserable Hawk

Hawk is a village laborer caught between Garnet's schemes and the professor's sense of propriety, a man whose livelihood depends on the whims of his betters. He becomes the unwitting instrument of a prank that nearly costs him his reputation and his custom. His fate is a small reminder that Ukridge's adventures have consequences beyond the farmyard.

Professor Derrick

supporting

Also known as Professor, Old Derrick, old Derrick, Mr. Derrick

Professor Derrick moves through the novel as the visiting paterfamilias whose approval Garnet must somehow win, a man whose gloomy silences and volcanic irritability keep everyone around him tiptoeing. His fondness for the pleasures of the table becomes a running source of comedy, since a snatched-away dinner or a swashbuckling cheese can push him toward the frame of mind in which men turn and rend their nearest and dearest. He matters because his presence turns every social occasion into a test of nerve, and because his daughter's hand is the prize Garnet can only reach through him.

Mrs. Beale

supporting

Also known as Beale, Mrs. Beale

Mrs. Beale presides over the chaotic kitchen of the chicken farm, the one practical presence in a household where nothing goes to plan. Her running battle with Edwin the cat, who will not come down while he thinks Bob is about, captures the farm's blend of domestic farce and genuine disorder, and her resigned 'what must be must be' is the sanest voice in the room. She matters because her struggles to produce a meal from an empty larder expose just how precarious the whole Ukridge enterprise really is.

Bob

minor

A dog owned by Ukridge, often mentioned in the narrative.

Aunt Elizabeth

minor

Also known as Elizabeth, the elusive Aunt Elizabeth

Ukridge's wealthy aunt, from whom he hopes to inherit money.

Jane Muspratt

minor

Also known as Miss Jane Muspratt, Miss Muspratt

A local woman who interacts with the characters.

Laddie

minor

A dog belonging to the Derricks.

Beale

minor

Also known as that scoundrel Beale, Mr. Beale

Mrs. Beale's husband, a disreputable character.

Edwin

minor

Also known as poor Edwin

A rooster on Ukridge's farm, often causing trouble.

Millie

minor

A young woman briefly mentioned as a friend of the Derricks.

Albert

minor

Also known as Robert

A young boy who helps with errands on the farm.

Norah Derrick

minor

Also known as Miss Derrick, Miss Norah Derrick

Phyllis's younger sister.

Mumbling Mose

minor

A local eccentric who speaks unclearly.

Harrod

minor

Also known as Mr. Harrod

A neighbor who has a dispute with Ukridge.

Charlie

minor

A friend of Tom Chase, appears briefly.

Lickford

minor

Also known as Licky

A friend of Garnet from London, visits the farm.

Pamela

minor

Also known as The wretched Pamela

A woman mentioned in passing, possibly a former acquaintance.

Hilda

minor

A friend of Millie, appears at a social gathering.

Arthur

minor

A minor character, possibly a servant or local.

Mr. Leigh

minor

Also known as Tom Leigh, Tom

A friend of the Derricks, plays tennis with them.

Mr. Blenkinsop

minor

A local tradesman who supplies goods to Ukridge.

Mrs. Medley

minor

A neighbor who attends a tea party.

Whiteley

minor

Also known as Mr. Whiteley

A local man involved in a dispute with Ukridge.