The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes · Characters
Character guide
Key figures in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle.
Skim names here — open a free preview to see character cards and Character Web beside the page as you read.
Sherlock Holmes
major
Also known as Holmes, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, Mr. Holmes, the celebrated Mr. Sherlock Holmes, Holmes the sleuthhound, Master Holmes
Holmes lives among tobacco ash, violin strings, and old books at Baker Street, taking cases the official police have abandoned and answering to no one but his own restless intellect. He scorns the softer passions as grit in a sensitive instrument, yet his cool precision is shadowed by weeks of cocaine and lethargy between investigations. When a scandal threatens a royal crown, his failure to outguess one clever woman becomes the measure by which he judges every case that follows.
Dr. John Watson
major
Also known as Watson, Dr. Watson
Watson once shared rooms and adventures with Holmes at Baker Street, but marriage and a civil practice have drawn him into a quieter, home-centred life. He returns to his old friend as both admirer and skeptic, close enough to witness Holmes's methods yet baffled often enough to ask the questions readers would ask. His steady, affectionate eye makes the detective legible, and his presence keeps the stories grounded in friendship rather than mere puzzle-solving.
Irene Adler
supporting
Also known as Miss Irene Adler, Miss Adler, Miss Irene, née Adler, Irene
Once a celebrated performer and now the quiet keeper of a compromising photograph, Irene Adler is the woman a king cannot forget and a detective cannot quite catch. She is warned against Holmes months in advance, and her cool intelligence turns his own methods back upon him without malice or melodrama. For Holmes she becomes 'the woman,' the one case where admiration replaces certainty, and her shadow hangs over every later adventure.
Inspector Lestrade
supporting
Also known as Lestrade, Mr. Lestrade, Mr. Lestrade of Scotland Yard, friend Lestrade
Lestrade represents the official machinery of Victorian policing: methodical, well-connected, and frequently outmatched by crimes that demand imagination rather than procedure. He turns to Holmes when a case stalls, yet never quite surrenders his conviction that the Yard's way is the proper way. Their uneasy partnership gives the stories a recurring friction, the sense that Holmes's genius is tolerated rather than welcomed by the institution he so often outshines.
Miss Mary Sutherland
minor
Also known as Miss Sutherland, Mary
A client with a missing fiancé who seeks Holmes's help.
John Openshaw
minor
Also known as John, John Openshaw, young Openshaw
A man who receives mysterious orange pips and seeks Holmes's protection.
Neville St. Clair
minor
Also known as Mr. St. Clair, Mr. Neville St. Clair, Neville, Mr. Neville
A respectable businessman who disappears under mysterious circumstances.
Helen Stoner
minor
Also known as Miss Helen Stoner, Miss Stoner, Helen
A young woman who fears for her life after her sister's mysterious death.
Dr. Grimesby Roylott
minor
Also known as Dr. Roylott
Helen Stoner's violent and intimidating stepfather.
Lord St. Simon
minor
Also known as St. Simon, Lord Robert Walsingham de Vere St. Simon, Lord Robert St. Simon, Robert
A nobleman whose bride disappears on their wedding day.
Mr. Alexander Holder
minor
Also known as Mr. Holder
A banker who seeks Holmes's help after a priceless coronet is stolen.
Mr. Jephro Rucastle
minor
Also known as Mr. Rucastle, Rucastle, Jephro
A country gentleman who hires a governess under strange conditions.
Miss Violet Hunter
minor
Also known as Miss Hunter, Miss Violet Hunter, Hunter, Dear Miss Hunter
A governess hired by the Rucastle family who uncovers a mystery.
Mrs. Hudson
minor
Also known as Hudson, Mrs. Hudson
Holmes and Watson's landlady at 221B Baker Street.
Vincent Spaulding
minor
Also known as Spaulding
Jabez Wilson's assistant, who is actually the criminal John Clay.
Mr. James Windibank
minor
Also known as Mr. Windibank, Windibank, James Windibank, Mr. James Windibank
Mary Sutherland's stepfather who deceives her for financial gain.
Charles McCarthy
minor
Also known as Mr. Charles McCarthy, McCarthy, Mr. McCarthy, McCarthy senior
A man found murdered in Boscombe Valley.
Hugh Boone
minor
Also known as Boone
A disfigured beggar who is a key figure in the disappearance of Neville St. Clair.
Mr. Henry Baker
minor
Also known as Henry Baker, Mr. Baker, Baker
The owner of a lost hat and goose, which leads Holmes to a gemstone mystery.
John Horner
minor
Also known as Horner
A plumber falsely accused of stealing a precious gem.
Mr. Victor Hatherley
minor
Also known as Mr. Hatherley, Hatherley
A hydraulic engineer who loses his thumb in a mysterious case.
Colonel Lysander Stark
minor
Also known as Colonel Stark
A mysterious man who hires Victor Hatherley for a secretive job.
Lady Clara St. Simon
minor
Also known as Lady St. Simon
Lord St. Simon's bride who disappears shortly after the wedding.
Miss Mary Holder
minor
Also known as Miss Holder, Mary
Mr. Holder's daughter, whose actions are linked to the stolen coronet.
Sir George Burnwell
minor
Also known as Sir George
A gambler and acquaintance of the Holder family involved in the coronet theft.
Miss Alice Rucastle
minor
Also known as Miss Rucastle, Miss Alice
Mr. Rucastle's daughter, who is kept secluded in the Copper Beeches house.
Toller
minor
Also known as old Toller, Mrs. Toller, the sobered Toller
The butler and his wife, servants at the Rucastle household.
Godfrey Norton
minor
Also known as Mr. Godfrey Norton, Norton, This Godfrey Norton
A lawyer who marries Irene Adler in 'A Scandal in Bohemia'.
James Ryder
minor
Also known as Ryder, Jem, Mr. Ryder
The hotel attendant who steals the blue carbuncle.
Colonel Openshaw
minor
Also known as Openshaw, young Openshaw
John Openshaw's father, who brought a mysterious curse from America.
The Lascar
minor
Also known as The Lascar, this Lascar, the Lascar
A sailor who guards the opium den in the 'Man with the Twisted Lip' case.
Isa Whitney
minor
Also known as Isa, Mr. Isa Whitney, Whitney, Elias Whitney
An opium addict whose wife seeks Watson's help to retrieve him.
Kate Whitney
minor
Also known as Kate, Kate—poor little Kate, Whitney
Isa Whitney's wife and an old school friend of Watson's.
Miss Flora Millar
minor
Also known as Flora Millar, Flora
A former dancer acquainted with Lord St. Simon's missing bride.
Miss Hatty Doran
minor
Also known as Miss Doran
Lord St. Simon's American bride who disappears after the wedding.
Mr. Merryweather
minor
Also known as The solemn Mr. Merryweather, Mr. Merryweather
The bank director who assists Holmes in catching the Red-Headed League criminals.
Mr. Jabez Wilson
minor
Also known as Mr. Wilson, Jabez Wilson
A red-haired pawnbroker hired for a peculiar clerical job.
Inspector Bradstreet
minor
Also known as Bradstreet, Inspector Bradstreet
A Scotland Yard inspector who assists Holmes in several cases.
John Clay
minor
Also known as Mr. John Clay, Clay
A cunning criminal and mastermind behind the Red-Headed League scheme.
James McCarthy
minor
Also known as Mr. James McCarthy, young Mr. McCarthy, young McCarthy, James, James McCarthy, McCarthy junior
The son accused of murdering his father, Charles McCarthy.
Mr. John Turner
minor
Also known as Turner, Mr. Turner, the wealthy Mr. Turner, old Turner
A wealthy landowner in Boscombe Valley with a hidden past.
Mrs. St. Clair
minor
Also known as Mrs. St. Clair
Neville St. Clair's wife, who is determined to find her missing husband.
Francis H. Moulton
minor
Also known as Francis H. Moulton, Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton, Mrs. Moulton, Frank
The long-lost husband of Lord St. Simon's missing bride.
Mrs. Rucastle
minor
Also known as Mrs. Rucastle
Mr. Rucastle's wife and stepmother to Alice.
Peterson
minor
Also known as Peterson
A commissionaire who finds a hat and goose, bringing a case to Holmes.
Duncan Ross
minor
Also known as Mr. Duncan Ross
The manager of the Red-Headed League who hires Jabez Wilson.
Mr. Breckinridge
minor
Also known as Breckinridge, Mr. Breckinridge
A poultry dealer in Covent Garden involved in the blue carbuncle case.
Mrs. Oakshott
minor
Also known as Oakshott, this Mrs. Oakshott
A poultry seller whose goose contains the stolen blue carbuncle.
Captain James Calhoun
minor
Also known as Captain Calhoun, James
The captain of the 'Lone Star' ship, linked to the orange pips murders.
Dr. Becher
minor
Also known as Dr. Becher
A doctor and friend of Helen Stoner's late mother.
Mr. Aloysius Doran
minor
Also known as Mr. Doran, Aloysius Doran
A wealthy American and father of Lord St. Simon's missing bride.
Mr. Jones
minor
Also known as Jones
A detective from Scotland Yard who appears in several cases.
