Character guide

Mary Lennox

major

Also known as Mistress Mary, sour little Mary, Mistress Mary Quite Contrary, Susan Ann, little Susan Ann, Miss Mary, Sarah Ann

Mary Lennox arrives at Misselthwaite Manor as a girl nobody has ever really wanted, least of all herself; servants fled the cholera that killed her parents, and her mother scarcely looked at her. Her only defense is a stony, contrary temper that repels the kindness she doesn't trust. When Martha talks of moors and robins, a first flicker of curiosity stirs in her, and that small appetite for the world is what the story will feed.

Colin Craven

major

Also known as Master Colin, Mester Colin, Poor Colin, the young Rajah, the Rajah, Rajah

Colin Craven is the hidden heir of Misselthwaite, kept in a curtained room by servants who obey his tantrums and his terror of his own back. He has never wanted to see anyone or anything, and he clings to the prophecy that he will die, because it is the only attention he has ever been given. His longing to be like his mother, and to be liked by his absent father, is the crack through which the garden and Mary will reach him.

Dickon Sowerby

major

Also known as Our Dickon, X Dickon, Dickon lad, Susan Sowerby's boy Dickon

Dickon Sowerby is one of twelve in a cottage where porridge is thin, yet he moves through the world as if it belonged to him and he to it. He found a wild pony on the moor, fed it bread, and made a friend; animals follow him the way other children follow games. His easy, unhurried kindness gives Mary and Colin a model of what it looks like to be at home in a living world, and his hands are the ones that will wake the garden.

Martha Sowerby

supporting

Also known as Yorkshire Martha, Presently Martha, Martha Phœbe Sowerby, agitated Martha, IV Martha

Martha Sowerby is no fine lady's maid; she was raised in a moorland cottage where children wait on themselves and each other, and she talks to Mary as an equal whether Mary likes it or not. Her outspokenness about hunger, porridge, and the twelve Sowerby children cracks Mary's indifference, and her stories of Dickon plant the first real interest Mary has ever felt in another person. It is Martha who mentions the locked garden and the robin, and so sets the whole story moving.

Ben Weatherstaff

supporting

Also known as old Ben Weatherstaff, old Ben, Weatherstaff

Ben Weatherstaff keeps the grounds at Misselthwaite and keeps his own counsel, answering questions with grunts until a robin or a rose softens him. He was fond of Colin's mother, and when she asked him to care for her roses if she ever went away, he obeyed her order over the master's, climbing the wall once a year until his rheumatics stopped him. His stubborn loyalty and his grudging respect for Mary make him the garden's oldest witness and its most reluctant ally.

Mrs. Medlock

supporting

Also known as Medlock, poor Mrs. Medlock

Mrs. Medlock runs Misselthwaite with a firm hand and a comfortable, well-paid place she will not risk by asking Mr. Craven questions. She thinks Mary unattractive and says so, and she is exactly the kind of woman who will stand no nonsense from young ones, which makes her a wall Mary must learn to live beside. Her guarded hints about the manor, the locked room, and the master's grief are the first shadows that make the house feel like a place with secrets worth opening.

Archibald Craven

supporting

Also known as Mr. Archibald Craven, Mr. Craven, Craven, Master Craven, Archie, Mester Craven

He owns the manor and everything in it, yet keeps himself a stranger to his own house, forbidding the closed garden and the sickly son who reminds him of the wife he lost. In an Austrian valley he feels something quietly unbound in him, only to open the doors to his dark thoughts again by the next night. His slow thaw matters because the children's secret flourishing depends on whether he can ever come home.

Dr. Craven

minor

Colin's physician cousin who indulges Colin's belief that he is ill.

Mrs. Sowerby

supporting

Also known as Susan Sowerby, Susan, Mother

She is Dickon and Martha's mother, poor in coin but rich in sense, and the one adult the children trust with their secret. When she sees Colin's uplifted face she calls him 'dear lad' instead of 'Mester Colin,' and tells him his father must come home. Her warm, supported feeling is exactly what two motherless children have been starving for, and she becomes the story's quiet engine of restoration.

Mr. Roach

minor

Also known as Roach

The head gardener at Misselthwaite Manor who oversees the outdoor staff.

Basil

minor

A boy Mary played with briefly in India before her parents died.

Mrs. Craven

minor

Also known as the Mem Sahib, The Mem Sahib, the Mem Sahib—Mary

Archibald's late wife who died in the secret garden accident.

Captain Lennox

minor

Also known as Captain

Mary's father, a British army officer who died of cholera in India.

Mrs. Crawford

minor

A woman who knew Mary's mother in India.

Ayah

minor

Also known as The Ayah, her Ayah

Mary's Indian nursemaid who died of cholera.

Pitcher

minor

Also known as Mr. Pitcher

Mr. Craven's loyal valet at Misselthwaite Manor.

Bob Haworth

minor

Also known as Bob

A local farmer who helps with garden work at the manor.

Jem Fettleworth

minor

Also known as Jem

A local man mentioned in passing by the Yorkshire characters.

Bess Fettleworth

minor

A local woman mentioned in passing by the Yorkshire characters.

Colonel McGrew

minor

A military acquaintance of Mary's father in India.

Lizabeth Ellen

minor

Also known as Ellen

A local girl mentioned by Martha as a friend.

John

minor

A servant at Misselthwaite Manor mentioned briefly.