The Small House at Allington · Characters
Character guide
Key figures in The Small House at Allington by Anthony Trollope.
Skim names here — open a free preview to see character cards and Character Web beside the page as you read.
Lilian Dale
major
Also known as Lily Dale, Miss Dale, Lily
Lily moves between the Small House and her uncle's great house at Allington, teasing her sister about whether Mr. Crosbie is anything more than a clerk while quietly falling in love with him. Her Dale constancy — obstinate, a little proud, incapable of half-measures — makes her devotion absolute and her position perilous. She is the emotional center of the early novel: the reader watches her happiness build letter by letter, knowing the world may not honor it.
Adolphus Crosbie
major
Also known as Mr. Crosbie, Apollo Crosbie, Crosbie
Crosbie holds a comfortable post in the General Committee Office and moves through country society with the ease of a man who knows his own polish. He has resolved not to marry without money and not to marry for money — a neat formula that leaves him dangerously free to be flattered by rank. His courtship of Lily sets the novel's central machinery in motion, and his taste for grander company is the fault line beneath it.
John Eames
major
Also known as Johnny Eames, Eames, John
Johnny Eames earns eighty pounds a year in the Income-tax Office and is dismissed by Lily as a mere clerk — a judgment he feels keenly. He arrives at Allington in spurs and fine gloves, only to find Lily already spoken for, and he must also dodge the alarming Amelia Roper. His awkward, loyal persistence makes him the novel's slow study in growing up.
Mrs. Dale
major
Also known as Mrs. Dale, Old Mrs. Dale, the widow Dale
Mrs. Dale lives on her own modest fortune beside her brother-in-law's estate, dependent on the squire's countenance for her girls but never on his charity for herself. Her marriage was disliked by the squire and the two have never become friends, yet she keeps the peace for her daughters' sake. Her delicate balancing of pride and maternal duty shapes the household in which Lily's romance unfolds.
Isabella Dale
supporting
Also known as Bell, Isabella, Bell Dale
Bell is the sister who can be a little angry with Lily, who weighs Mr. Crosbie's merits soberly while Lily teases, and who carries the Dale constancy without the Dale romance. She is courted by her cousin Bernard, an arrangement of property and family as much as affection. Her clear-eyed presence gives the Small House its ballast and gives the reader a second, cooler angle on the men who come courting.
Captain Bernard Dale
supporting
Also known as Bernard Dale, Captain Dale, Bernard
Bernard is the son of Colonel Dale and Lady Fanny of Torquay, and the nearest thing the childless squire has to an heir. He moves between the great house and the Small House with the confidence of a man who assumes his prospects, and his suit for Bell carries the quiet weight of family property behind it. His presence makes the Dale inheritance a live question in the sisters' lives.
Lady Alexandrina De Courcy
supporting
Also known as Alexandrina, Lady Alexandrina, Alexandrina De Courcy
Lady Alexandrina belongs to the proud, cash-poor De Courcy clan, whose London season is a market in which daughters are priced and exchanged. Married to a man she considers beneath her, she discovers that a husband who counts the cost of a fly can make even a titled wife feel imprisoned. Her cold composure and her mother's counsel keep her from open revolt, but her discontent quietly exposes what such marriages cost the women who make them.
Plantagenet Palliser
supporting
Also known as Mr. Palliser, Plantagenet
Palliser is a rising man of rank and office, nephew to the great Duke of Omnium and a figure whose approval matters in the circles the De Courcys and Crosbies inhabit. Where others flutter and scheme, he is deliberate, reserved, and slightly stiff, a temperament that makes him both impressive and hard to know. His presence raises the stakes of the marriage market around him, reminding the reader that in this world a match is never only about love.
Dr. Crofts
supporting
Also known as Crofts, Dr. Crofts
Dr. Crofts attends the Dales through Lily's long illness, prescribing rest and getting teased for it by a convalescent who calls him a tyrant. Underneath the professional brusqueness lies an honorable man whose feelings for Bell Dale are hinted at rather than declared, and whose worth is recognized by everyone except, perhaps, himself. He matters because he offers the possibility of a love grounded in character rather than rank or glamour.
Lady Julia De Guest
supporting
Also known as Lady Julia, Lady Julia De Guest
Lady Julia is the earl's sister, a woman of independent mind and generous impulse who befriends the Small House family and champions Johnny Eames's cause with the squire. She moves easily between the great houses and the modest ones, using her influence where she can and enjoying the small dramas of courtship she helps to set right. Her goodwill gives the novel one of its few reliable sources of kindness and practical help.
Amelia Roper
supporting
Also known as Miss Roper, Amelia
Amelia presides over the Burton Crescent lodgings with a mixture of flirtation and calculation, keeping Johnny Eames on a string while weighing her options among the clerks who board there. When Cradell proves willing, she transfers her attentions with a candor that scandalizes the men and reveals how narrow a young woman's prospects can be. Her maneuvering throws Johnny's romantic troubles into comic relief and shows the boardinghouse world as a marketplace of its own.
Mr. Cradell
supporting
Also known as Cradell, Joseph Cradell
Cradell shares Johnny's office and his lodgings at Mrs. Roper's, where he fancies himself a man of the world and is thoroughly outmatched by Amelia Roper. His letter announcing his engagement — and his assumption of Mrs. Roper's debts — is a masterpiece of self-congratulation that leaves Johnny both appalled and secretly relieved. His folly sharpens the contrast between the two friends and supplies some of the novel's driest comedy.
Mrs. Lupex
supporting
Also known as Lupex, Mrs. Lupex
Mrs. Lupex holds court in Mrs. Roper's Burton Crescent drawing-room, where her morning negligence and evening finery alternately fascinate and repel the other lodgers. She torments her husband with a relish that seems almost involuntary, and her flirtation with young Cradell threatens to become a scandal. She matters because she turns the boardinghouse into a stage where the novel's London subplot of ambition, jealousy, and small-scale vice plays out.
Hopkins
minor
Also known as Hopkins
The gardener at the Great House in Allington, a loyal servant.
Lady Dumbello
minor
Also known as Dumbello, Lady Dumbello
A fashionable society beauty, wife of Lord Dumbello.
Lady Amelia Gazebee
minor
Also known as Lady Amelia, Amelia, Gazebee
A daughter of the De Courcy family, married to Mortimer Gazebee.
Mrs. Roper
supporting
Also known as Mrs. Roper, Roper
Mrs. Roper presides over the cramped, gossipy world of her London boardinghouse, where clerks, married couples, and spinsters share meals and secrets. She values the Lupexes' hundred pounds a year but soon wishes them gone, caught between profit and the chaos of her tenants' private lives. Her establishment is the stage for John Eames's London life and the small dramas that complicate his courtship of Lily Dale.
Sir Raffle Buffle
minor
Also known as Sir Raffle, Buffle
A pompous senior civil servant at the Income Tax Office.
Butterwell
minor
Also known as Mr. Butterwell
A colleague of Crosbie and Eames at the Income Tax Office.
Mortimer Gazebee
minor
Also known as Mr. Gazebee, Mortimer
A lawyer and agent for the De Courcy family, married to Lady Amelia.
Christopher Dale
supporting
Also known as Mr. Dale, uncle Christopher, the squire
Christopher Dale rules the Great House at Allington with the quiet authority of a man who has never sold an acre and never intends to. He is torn between his affection for his nieces at the Small House and his hope that his nephew Bernard will inherit both the estate and Bell's hand. His refusal to part with the land, and his slow, grudging warmth, shape the marriage plots that swirl around the two sisters.
Miss Spruce
minor
Also known as Miss Spruce
An elderly spinster living at Mrs. Roper's boardinghouse.
Lady Alexandrina Crosbie
supporting
Also known as Lady Alexandrina, Alexandrina
Lady Alexandrina De Courcy moves through Courcy Castle with the languid assurance of her rank, breakfasting late in a muslin peignoir while her mother negotiates her engagement to Crosbie. She is sensible rather than passionate, and her willingness to marry a commoner without fortune is calculated rather than romantic. Her engagement sets in motion the betrayal that will devastate Lily Dale and expose the hollowness of Crosbie's gentlemanly pretensions.
Mrs. Eames
minor
Also known as Mrs. Eames, the young Eames
John Eames's mother, a widow living in Guestwick.
Fowler Pratt
minor
Also known as Pratt, Mr. Pratt
A friend of Crosbie, a man about town.
Lord De Guest
supporting
Also known as Lord De Guest, De Guest
Lord De Guest is the brother of Lady Julia and a nobleman so unassuming that Lily Dale calls him 'only a mere earl.' He takes a paternal interest in John Eames after a chance encounter, offering patronage and advice that lift the young man above his clerical obscurity. His warmth and generosity provide a counterweight to the snobbery and calculation that surround Crosbie's rise and fall.
Mr. Boyce
minor
Also known as Mrs. Boyce, Mr. and Mrs. Boyce
A clergyman and his wife, neighbors of the Dales.
Lord Dumbello
minor
Also known as Dumbello
A wealthy nobleman, husband of Lady Dumbello.
Kit Dale
minor
Also known as Christopher Dale, Old Kit
The deceased father of the current squire, mentioned in family history.
Mr. Harding
minor
Also known as Mr. Harding
An elderly clergyman, father of Mrs. Grantly, from the Barsetshire series.
Lady Margaretta
minor
Also known as Margaretta, Lady Margaretta
A daughter of the De Courcy family.
Honourable George De Courcy
minor
Also known as George, the Honourable George
A son of the Earl De Courcy, a dissipated young man.
Lady Rosina
minor
Also known as Rosina, the Lady Rosina
A daughter of the De Courcy family.
Mrs. Grantly
minor
Also known as Mrs. Grantly
The wife of Archdeacon Grantly, a minor character from the Barsetshire series.
John De Courcy
minor
Also known as the Honourable John, John
A younger son of the Earl De Courcy.
Lord De Courcy
minor
Also known as De Courcy
The Earl De Courcy, father of Alexandrina and others.
Countess De Courcy
minor
Also known as Rosina, the Countess De Courcy
The wife of Lord De Courcy, a domineering woman.
Mrs. Hearn
minor
Also known as Mrs. Hearn, old Mrs. Hearn
An elderly friend of the Dale family in Guestwick.
Mr. Optimist
minor
Also known as Mr. Optimist
A cheerful clerk at the Income Tax Office.
Lord Porlock
minor
Also known as Porlock
The eldest son of the Earl De Courcy.
Mrs. Crump
minor
Also known as Mrs. Crump
The housekeeper at the Great House in Allington.
FitzHoward
minor
Also known as Mr. FitzHoward
A young man who courts one of the De Courcy daughters.
Major Fiasco
minor
Also known as Fiasco
A military man lodging at Mrs. Roper's boardinghouse.
Fisher
minor
Also known as Fisher
A servant or minor functionary at the Income Tax Office.
Caudle
minor
Also known as Poor Caudle
A clerk at the Income Tax Office, often in trouble.
Mr. Fothergill
minor
Also known as a certain Mr. Fothergill
An agent for the Duke of Omnium.
Lady Clandidlem
minor
Also known as Lady Clandidlem
A society acquaintance of the De Courcys.
Mr. Kissing
minor
Also known as Kissing, Sometimes Mr. Kissing
A clerk at the Income Tax Office.
Vickers
minor
Also known as Mr. Vickers
A servant at Courcy Castle.
Griselda Grantly
minor
Also known as Griselda, Miss Grantly
A beautiful but cold young woman, daughter of Archdeacon Grantly.
Jemima
minor
Also known as Lady Jemima, the faithful Jemima
A loyal maid to Lady Julia De Guest.
Lady Glencora
minor
Also known as Lady Glencora McCluskie, Glencora
A wealthy heiress and later wife of Plantagenet Palliser.
Mr. Love
minor
Also known as Love, old Mr. Love
An elderly clerk at the Income Tax Office.
Miss Mealyer
minor
Also known as Miss Mealyer
A spinster living at Mrs. Roper's boardinghouse.
Muggeridge
minor
Also known as Muggeridge
A clerk at the Income Tax Office.
Mrs. Cradell
minor
Also known as Mrs. Cradell
The mother of Joseph Cradell.
Dr. Gruffen
minor
Also known as old Dr. Gruffen, Gruffen
An elderly doctor in Guestwick.
Rafferty
minor
Also known as Rafferty
A clerk at the Income Tax Office.
Pawkins
minor
Also known as old Pawkins
A restaurant owner in Jermyn Street.
Colonel Dale
minor
Also known as Colonel Dale
A deceased relative of the Dale family, mentioned in passing.
Sebright
minor
Also known as Sebright
A friend of Crosbie, mentioned at the club.
Lady Hartletop
minor
Also known as dear Lady Hartletop, the Hartletop
A society matron, mother of Lord Dumbello.
Jolliffe
minor
Also known as Jolliffe
A tenant farmer on the De Guest estate.
Montgomerie Dobbs
minor
Also known as Montgomerie Dobbs
A friend of John Eames from his office.
Lady Fanny Dale
minor
Also known as Fanny, Lady Fanny
A deceased aunt of the Dale sisters, mentioned in family history.
Old Huffle Scuffle
minor
Also known as Huffle Scuffle, old Huffle
A comical name for a minor character or joke.
Sir Constant Outonites
minor
Also known as young Outonites
A young baronet mentioned in society gossip.
Phipps
minor
Also known as Miss Phipps
A young woman at Mrs. Roper's boardinghouse.
Orlando Dale
minor
Also known as Orlando
A deceased relative of the Dale family.
Jane
minor
Also known as poor Jane
A servant at the Small House.
Mr. Gresham
minor
Also known as Mr. Gresham
A politician mentioned in passing, possibly a reference to a historical figure.
Hannah
minor
Also known as Hannah
A maid at the Small House.
Gustavus
minor
Also known as Gustavus
A minor character, possibly a servant or clerk.
Philip Dale
minor
Also known as Philip
A deceased relative of the Dale family.
Mrs. Phillips
minor
Also known as Mrs. Phillips
A woman who keeps a lodging house in London.
Aunt Sally
minor
Also known as Sarah
An elderly relative of the Dale family.
Gruddock
minor
Also known as Gruddock
A clerk at the Income Tax Office.
Mr. Heames
minor
Also known as Mr. Heames
A clerk at the Income Tax Office.
Burgo Fitzgerald
minor
Also known as Burgo
A handsome but penniless man who once courted Lady Glencora.
