# Mr. Dobbs Broughton — The Last Chronicle of Barset character guide

> Mr. Dobbs Broughton in The Last Chronicle of Barset by Anthony Trollope.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Dobbs Broughton, Mr. Broughton, poor Dobbs Broughton

**First appearance:** 0023-xxiv-mrs-dobbs-broughton-s-dinner-party

## Snapshot

A stockbroker whose Hook Court speculations and crumbling finances turn his household into a stage for ruin, gossip, and quiet catastrophe.

## Who they are

Broughton presides over a household shadowed by debt and a wife, Maria, whose confidences to Mrs. Van Siever reveal how little she understood the man she married. His affairs in Hook Court entangle him with Musselboro and the Van Siever money, and the news of what happens there travels fast enough to reach drawing-rooms across Barsetshire. His collapse matters because it drags the commercial underworld of the novel into the open and forces those around him to reckon with the consequences of his fall.

## In the story

### [Hook Court](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_last_chronicle_of_barset_se/chapters/xxxvii-hook-court)

Co-owner of the business, avoids Mrs. Van Siever, dismissive of her demands, leaves Musselboro to handle her.

### [Mr. Crosbie Goes Into the City](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_last_chronicle_of_barset_se/chapters/xliii-mr-crosbie-goes-into-the-city)

Returns to the office half-drunk and refuses Crosbie's request, insisting the bill must be paid.

### [Mrs. Dobbs Broughton Piles Her Fagots](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_last_chronicle_of_barset_se/chapters/li-mrs-dobbs-broughton-piles-her-fagots)

Mentioned as coming home sullen and sometimes tipsy, contributing to the gloom in the household.

### [The End of Jael and Sisera](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_last_chronicle_of_barset_se/chapters/lx-the-end-of-jael-and-sisera)

Mentioned as ruined and absent, having stayed in the City overnight; his drinking and financial collapse are central to the chapter's conflict.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_last_chronicle_of_barset_se/characters/mr_dobbs_broughton
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_last_chronicle_of_barset_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_last_chronicle_of_barset_se/characters