Character guide

Ambrose Meyrick

major

Also known as Meyrick, young Meyrick, Master Meyrick, Mr. Meyrick, V Ambrose

Ambrose moves through Lupton as a boy already claimed by another world: his father drew him aside from the 'evil traffic of the valley' and set him in that endless procession singing its litanies in the mountains, so that all earth became a sanctuary and all life a rite whose end was the achieving of the Graal. The school's jargon of optatives and past participles means nothing to him beside the hidden declaration entrusted to every flower and fern. That unbridgeable distance between his inner sanctity and the ordinary cruelty around him is the engine of the book's early arc.

Mr. Horbury

supporting

Also known as Horbury, old Horbury

Horbury is, by the narrator's own admission, a very decent specimen of the English schoolmaster — savagely cruel only when suffering from an inflamed liver and offensive superiors, with a defenceless inferior in his power. But Ambrose judges him by the rules of a fine art he never professed, blaming the chimney for not being a spire. That fatal flaw in Ambrose's reasoning — quarrelling with meetinghouses for not being cathedrals — makes Horbury the first hard test of the boy's impossible theory of life.

Nelly Foran

supporting

Also known as Nelly

Nelly tells Ambrose all about herself one night of wild and wonderful transition, and he pointedly does not ask — he has no patience for the plot-novel convention that a hero's happiness must be blasted by a sweetheart's unspotted past. Together they laugh till dizzy over the absurd freedoms of late rising and cigarettes, joys made frantic only because Lupton forbade them. Her easy candour and shared delight turn a dingy Bloomsbury retreat into a bright portion of fairyland, giving the story its first taste of strong new wine.

Pelly

minor

A schoolboy at Lupton, friend or acquaintance of Ambrose.

Toby

minor

A schoolboy at Lupton, part of Ambrose's circle.

Carrol

minor

A schoolboy at Lupton, interacts with Ambrose.

Rawson

minor

Also known as the unfortunate Rawson, poor Rawson

A student at Lupton who suffers misfortune.

Bates

minor

Also known as Bates the observant, The wise Bates

A servant or porter at Lupton, observant and wise.

Canon Horbury

minor

Also known as poor Canon Horbury, the late Canon Horbury

A deceased clergyman, father or relative of Mr. Horbury.

Chesson

minor

Also known as Doctor Chesson

A doctor in the Lupton area.

Charles Horbury

minor

Also known as Horbury

Another member of the Horbury family.

Madame Sophia

minor

Also known as Madame, Sophia

A mysterious woman, possibly connected to Ambrose's quest.

Charles Palmer

minor

Also known as Palmer, poor Palmer

A student at Lupton, unfortunate.

Little Phipps

minor

Also known as Phipps, wretched Phipps

A younger schoolboy at Lupton, often bullied.

Nicholas Meyrick

minor

A relative of Ambrose, possibly his father.

Mr. Cradock

minor

Also known as Cradock, old Cradock

A local figure in the Lupton area.

Mrs. Belper

minor

Also known as pore Belper

A housekeeper or matron at Lupton.

Mr. King

minor

A master at Lupton, possibly a teacher.

George Horbury

minor

Also known as Horbury

A relative of Mr. Horbury, possibly a student.

Bill

minor

A schoolboy at Lupton, minor character.

Myfanwy

minor

Also known as golden Myfanwy

A figure from Welsh legend or Ambrose's imagination.

Tom Copus

minor

Also known as Tom

A schoolboy at Lupton, minor role.

Mr. David Anderson

minor

Also known as David

A visitor or teacher at Lupton.