# Tom Dale — The Ponson Case character guide

> Tom Dale in The Ponson Case by Freeman Wills Crofts.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Dale, Clayton, Mr. Clayton, Tom, this Mr. Clayton

**First appearance:** 0000-i-mystery-at-luce-manor

## Snapshot

A charming, dark-eyed traveller whose courtship of Ethel Osborne once rivalled Sir William Ponson's, and whose supposed death at sea left a tangle of debts and secrets behind.

## Who they are

Tom Dale was the handsome, fascinating rival who won Ethel Osborne's hand over the steadier, stodgier William Ponson, only to reveal on his wedding night the drinking and mercenary motives that would wreck the marriage. His ruinous debts and convenient disappearance aboard the lost Numidian leave a shadow over the Ponson family that the investigation keeps circling back to. Whether he is truly gone or merely hidden behind another name is precisely the kind of question that drives the early inquiry.

## Relationships

### [Inspector Tanner](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_ponson_case_se/characters/inspector_tanner)

_professional_

Tanner works with Tom Dale as a colleague or subordinate in the investigation.

### [Sir William Ponson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_ponson_case_se/characters/sir_william_ponson)

_professional_

Sir William and Tom Dale interact in a professional capacity, possibly as employer and employee or through the investigation.

### [Inspector Tanner](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_ponson_case_se/characters/inspector_tanner)

_professional_

Tanner works with Tom Dale as a colleague or subordinate in the investigation.

### [Inspector Tanner](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_ponson_case_se/characters/inspector_tanner)

_professional_

Tanner works with Tom Dale as a colleague or subordinate in the investigation.

### [Sir William Ponson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_ponson_case_se/characters/sir_william_ponson)

_professional_

Sir William and Tom Dale interact in a professional capacity, possibly as employer and employee or through the investigation.

## In the story

### [A Dramatic Discovery](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_ponson_case_se/chapters/xiv-a-dramatic-discovery)

Revealed to be alive and the prisoner, having faked his death in the Numidian disaster to escape his wife and debts.

### [In the Luce Manor Boathouse](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_ponson_case_se/chapters/xv-in-the-luce-manor-boathouse)

The blackmailer who demanded an annuity from Sir William; target of the boathouse confrontation.

### [Conclusion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_ponson_case_se/chapters/xvi-conclusion)

Confesses to pushing Sir William, is charged with blackmail but freed when cousins refuse to prosecute.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_ponson_case_se/characters/tom_dale
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_ponson_case_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_ponson_case_se/characters