# Mr. Skelmersdale — Short Fiction character guide

> Mr. Skelmersdale in Short Fiction by H. G. Wells.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Skelmersdale, young Skelmersdale, poor Skelmersdale

**First appearance:** 0072-mr-skelmersdale-in-fairyland

## Snapshot

A grocer's assistant who vanished for three weeks on Aldington Knoll and returned claiming he'd been in Fairyland, now hiding from the ridicule in Bignor.

## Who they are

Skelmersdale is a young shopman who once worked at Aldington Corner, where he disappeared for three weeks and came back with clean cuffs, pockets full of dust, and a moody wretchedness he couldn't explain. His fiancée threw him over when he refused to account for his absence, and when word leaked that he'd been in Fairyland, the village gossip drove him to Bignor to escape the fuss. He's something of a snob, prickly about his dignity, yet the narrator's patient whisky-and-sympathy campaign suggests he's a man with a story worth coaxing out.

## In the story

### [Mr. Skelmersdale in Fairyland](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/chapters/mr-skelmersdale-in-fairyland)

A young shopkeeper who was taken to Fairyland after falling asleep on Aldington Knoll; he is torn between his earthly fiancée Millie and the enchanting Fairy Lady.

### [The Valley of Spiders](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/chapters/the-valley-of-spiders)

The little man on the white horse; he is killed by the master during a confrontation.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/characters/mr-skelmersdale
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/characters