# The Reverend Septimus Blenkinsop — The Phoenix and the Carpet character guide

> The Reverend Septimus Blenkinsop in The Phoenix and the Carpet by E. Nesbit.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** The Reverend Septimus, Septimus, the Reverend Septimus

**First appearance:** 0004-iii-the-queen-cook

## Snapshot

A clergyman drawn into the children's tram-riding, Phoenix-carrying errands, whose mild respectability collides with dark stairways and ragged bird-snatchers.

## Who they are

The Reverend Septimus moves through the same shabby London streets as the children, a figure of respectable adult authority who nonetheless gets swept into their errands. His presence sharpens the contrast between the orderly world of clergymen and the rough, jeering crowds around Fetter Lane and Ludgate Circus. He matters because he shows how the carpet's adventures pull even grown-up, upright people into their orbit.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_phoenix_and_the_carpet_se/characters/the_reverend_septimus_blenkinsop
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_phoenix_and_the_carpet_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_phoenix_and_the_carpet_se/characters