# The Coming of Bill — Character guide

> Key figures in The Coming of Bill by P. G. Wodehouse.

- [Kirk Winfield](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_coming_of_bill_se/characters/kirk_winfield.md): Kirk Winfield fills his own doorway — boyish, friendly, magnificently fit — and paints in a Greenwich Village studio kept in order by his accident-prone man George Pennicut. He is unhurried and unambitious, content to le
- [Ruth Bannister](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_coming_of_bill_se/characters/ruth_bannister.md): Ruth Bannister is the beautiful, self-possessed daughter of old John Bannister, raised on Fifth Avenue under the fussy guardianship of her brother Bailey. She listens pleasantly to her aunt's hygienic theories, smiles, a
- [Steve Dingle](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_coming_of_bill_se/characters/steve_dingle.md): Steve Dingle is Kirk's loyal, resourceful friend — a man whose fists once did the talking and whose awkward tenderness now does the plotting. He steals a baby to give Kirk a day alone with his son, cooks an extravagant s
- [Mrs. Lora Delane Porter](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_coming_of_bill_se/characters/lora_delane_porter.md): Mrs. Lora Delane Porter is a masterful woman with well-defined views upon man, physical fitness as her gospel, and a stare that makes grown men feel like purse-snatchers. She examines strangers, lectures relatives, and t
- [Bailey Bannister](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_coming_of_bill_se/characters/bailey_bannister.md): Bailey Bannister is twenty-seven, faultlessly dressed, gold-rimmed, and convinced that Wall Street awaits only his father's permission to be astonished. With their mother dead and old Mr. Bannister absorbed in the firm, 
- [Mamie](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_coming_of_bill_se/characters/mamie.md): Mamie is the daughter of a newspaper compositor, hired on Steve's recommendation after raising three small brothers to office-boy age without mishap. She moves neatly through the studio, wins the baby at once, and fixes 
- [William Bannister Winfield](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_coming_of_bill_se/characters/william_bannister_winfield.md): As the only child of Kirk and Ruth Winfield, William Bannister sits at the center of a quiet custody war being waged over his upbringing by well-meaning adults. He is a determined, cheerful presence who insists on bringi
- [Twentieth-Century Willie](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_coming_of_bill_se/characters/twentieth_century_willie.md): Lora Delane Porter is a formidable authoress and amateur philosopher whose driving is as aggressive as her opinions on heredity and child-rearing. When she accidentally runs down George Pennicut, the collision sets off a
- [Mr. Penway](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_coming_of_bill_se/characters/mr_penway.md): Mr. Penway drifts through Kirk's Bohemian household with the ease of a man who has no other address, cadging drinks, dodging responsibilities, and offering commentary no one requested. He is a parasite of the pleasantest
- [Keggs](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_coming_of_bill_se/characters/keggs.md): The Bannister family butler, loyal and discreet.
- [Percy Shanklyn](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_coming_of_bill_se/characters/percy_shanklyn.md): Percy Shanklyn belongs to the impecunious Bohemian crowd that treats Kirk Winfield's studio as a free hotel, and his suave, self-satisfied presence is a quiet irritant in Kirk's otherwise easygoing world. He represents t
- [John Bannister](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_coming_of_bill_se/characters/john_bannister.md): Ruth's elderly, ailing grandfather with old-fashioned values.
- [George Pennicut](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_coming_of_bill_se/characters/george_pennicut.md): A local tradesman who interacts with the main characters.
- [Hank Jardine](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_coming_of_bill_se/characters/hank_jardine.md): A rough but good-hearted friend of Steve Dingle.
- [Sybil Wilbur](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_coming_of_bill_se/characters/sybil_wilbur.md): A friend of Ruth who marries into the Bannister family.
- [Aunt Lora](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_coming_of_bill_se/characters/aunt_lora.md): Ruth's aunt, a kind but meddling relative.
- [Basil Milbank](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_coming_of_bill_se/characters/basil_milbank.md): An artist and friend of the family with a romantic interest in Sybil.
- [Grayling](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_coming_of_bill_se/characters/grayling.md): A minor acquaintance who appears in social gatherings.
- [Robert Dwight Penway](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_coming_of_bill_se/characters/robert_dwight_penway.md): Mr. Penway's son, a young man with his own ambitions.
- [Kid Mitchell](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_coming_of_bill_se/characters/kid_mitchell.md): A young boxer or streetwise character encountered by Steve.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_coming_of_bill_se/characters