# Twemlow — Our Mutual Friend character guide

> Twemlow in Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Mr. Twemlow, Poor Twemlow, the estimable Twemlow

**First appearance:** 0011-xi-podsnappery

## Snapshot

A gentle, hair-gelatinous clubman and cousin to Lord Snigsworth, forever rallying for Veneering and mistaking Parliament for the best club in London.

## Who they are

Twemlow drifts through the Veneering set as its most earnest and least consequential ornament, securing a window at the club and gravely working the Pocket-Breaches cause because someone asked him to. His defining tension is that he mistakes being used for being needed, and his small dignities—the restive hair, the borrowed importance—make him both comic and quietly pitiable. He matters because his loyalty to Veneering exposes how the new moneyed world absorbs and exhausts the old gentility.

## Relationships

### [Mrs. Boffin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/characters/mrs_boffin)

_social_

Mrs. Boffin and Twemlow are kind-hearted society acquaintances who share a gentle, mutual respect and a disdain for snobbery.

### [Mrs. Boffin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/characters/mrs_boffin)

_social_

Mrs. Boffin and Twemlow are kind-hearted society acquaintances who share a gentle, mutual respect and a disdain for snobbery.

### [Mrs. Boffin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/characters/mrs_boffin)

_social_

Mrs. Boffin and Twemlow are kind-hearted society acquaintances who share a gentle, mutual respect and a disdain for snobbery.

## In the story

### [The Man from Somewhere](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/ii-the-man-from-somewhere)

A guest at the dinner, stunned by the difficulty of his existence, but revived by soup.

### [A Marriage Contract](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/x-a-marriage-contract)

A melancholy guest who gave away the bride; reflects on his own lost love and feels the emptiness of the occasion.

### [A Piece of Work](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/iii-a-piece-of-work)

Reluctantly asked by Veneering to solicit Lord Snigsworth's name; declines but joins the campaign; accompanies Veneering to Pocket-Breaches.

### [An Anniversary Occasion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/xvi-an-anniversary-occasion)

Twemlow dresses himself in his lodgings and reflects on his position as a poor relation of Lord Snigsworth. He attends the Lammles' anniversary breakfast, feeling stiff and aged.

### [Give a Dog a Bad Name, and Hang Him](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/xiii-give-a-dog-a-bad-name-and-hang-him)

Arrives distressed about a debt held by Riah; he naively confides in Fledgeby, who pretends to help while secretly exploiting his vulnerability.

### [A Social Chorus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/xvii-a-social-chorus)

Receives a visit from Sophronia Lammle at his lodgings.

### [The Voice of Society](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/xvii-the-voice-of-society)

Defends the marriage on grounds of gentlemanly feeling, arguing that gratitude and love make a man a greater gentleman.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/characters/twemlow
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/characters