# Mother Gutch — The Middle Temple Murder character guide

> Mother Gutch in The Middle Temple Murder by J. S. Fletcher.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Mother Gutch Spargo, Mrs. Sabina Gutch

**First appearance:** 0023-xxiv-mother-gutch

## Snapshot

A gin-soaked old woman with a claw-like grip on a half-sovereign and a secret about Jane Baylis that she will sell for the price of a drink.

## Who they are

Once Jane Baylis's housekeeper, Mother Gutch now lives on sufferance in the same boardinghouse, kept close because she knows too much. She trades her secret — that Maitland's boy is not dead, and that she knows what Baylis did with him — for coin and gin, her cunning sharpening as she drinks. She is the novel's most disreputable informant and its most decisive one, cracking open the case from below.

## Relationships

### [Frank Spargo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_middle_temple_murder_se/characters/frank_spargo)

_professional_

Mother Gutch is a landlady or informant who provides Frank with local knowledge.

### [Jane Baylis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_middle_temple_murder_se/characters/jane_baylis)

_social_

Jane Baylis and Mother Gutch are acquaintances, likely through the local community.

### [Frank Spargo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_middle_temple_murder_se/characters/frank_spargo)

_professional_

Mother Gutch is a landlady or informant who provides Frank with local knowledge.

### [Frank Spargo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_middle_temple_murder_se/characters/frank_spargo)

_professional_

Mother Gutch is a landlady or informant who provides Frank with local knowledge.

### [Jane Baylis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_middle_temple_murder_se/characters/jane_baylis)

_social_

Jane Baylis and Mother Gutch are acquaintances, likely through the local community.

### [Jane Baylis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_middle_temple_murder_se/characters/jane_baylis)

_social_

Jane Baylis and Mother Gutch are acquaintances, likely through the local community.

## In the story

### [XXIV: Mother Gutch](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_middle_temple_murder_se/chapters/xxiv-mother-gutch)

Mother Gutch, a former housekeeper of Jane Baylis, eavesdrops and later meets Spargo to reveal that the boy is alive and she knows what Baylis did with him.

### [Revelations](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_middle_temple_murder_se/chapters/xxv-revelations)

Reveals the secret that John Maitland's son is alive and was taken by Elphick.

### [XXVI: Still Silent](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_middle_temple_murder_se/chapters/xxvi-still-silent)

Confirms Elphick took the boy from Jane Baylis; is paid off and warned to stay silent.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_middle_temple_murder_se/characters/mother_gutch
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_middle_temple_murder_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_middle_temple_murder_se/characters