Character guide

Oswald Bastable

major

Also known as Sir Oswald Bastable, Lord Tottenham, Oswald Barron

Oswald is the boy who first thinks of seeking treasure, declaring it the proper way to restore the fallen fortunes of the House of Bastable, and he never lets anyone forget whose idea it was. He won the Latin prize at his preparatory school and narrates with a hilariously transparent habit of praising himself while pretending to be modest. His blend of genuine courage and comic vanity drives the early schemes, making him both the engine of the adventures and the source of much of their humor.

Dora Bastable

major

Also known as Miss Dora, Presently Dora

Dora is the eldest of the six Bastables and the only one who ever tries to mend anything, forever patching Noël's torn stockings while the others plot treasure. She is cautious and responsible, the voice that says a plan is all very well, yet she rarely stops the younger ones from carrying it out. Her steady presence anchors the household in the absence of their mother, and her quiet resistance to Oswald's grander ideas gives the treasure-seeking its affectionate friction.

Dicky Bastable

major

Also known as Dicky, So Dicky

Dicky sits third in the Bastable line, just after Oswald, and is distinguished chiefly by being good at sums — a useful counterweight to his brother's Latin-prize rhetoric. Where Oswald dreams of fallen houses and ancestral fortunes, Dicky is the one who can actually count the coins and reckon the odds. His level-headedness keeps the treasure hunts from drifting entirely into fantasy, and his quiet competence makes him an essential ally in the family's shared project.

Noël Bastable

major

Also known as Noël, Bastable, Prince Noël Camaralzaman Ivan Constantine

Noël is one of the twins, ten years old, with a chest delicate enough that Alice once knitted him a scarf — which he refused to wear because it was wider at one end. He is the family's poet and dreamer, the one who gives himself grand names like Prince Noël Camaralzaman Ivan Constantine and sees the treasure hunt as material for romance. His imaginative, slightly mournful sensibility colors the adventures with a longing for something larger than the Lewisham Road.

Alice Bastable

major

Also known as Alice, Alicia, Little Alice

Alice is ten, Noël's twin, and the Bastable who tries to make things — including a red scarf for her brother's delicate chest that turned out much wider at one end. The scarf became a pennon instead, a splash of scarlet against the family's black and grey since Mother died. She is kind-hearted and inventive, and her small domestic projects, however imperfect, show the family's stubborn cheerfulness in reduced circumstances.

H. O. Bastable

major

Also known as the G.B., H. O. The G.B., Only H. O.

H. O. is the youngest of the six Bastables, nicknamed the Great Brain, and he has the scar on his chin to prove it — he cut it falling off the chicken-house during a game of shipwrecked mariners. He is eager, clumsy, and utterly convinced of his own cleverness, which makes him both a liability and a delight in every scheme. His small mishaps and grand ideas give the treasure-seeking some of its warmest comedy and its most genuine childhood texture.

Father

supporting

Also known as Father⁠

Father presides over the semi-detached house in Lewisham Road, where vanished silver, yellowy-white new spoons, and no more dinner guests mark the family's decline. He loves his children but keeps his worries to himself, and his rule against asking for new things becomes one of the ways the Bastables know the family fortunes have truly fallen. His silent struggle gives the children's treasure-seeking its purpose and its poignancy.

Albert Morrison

supporting

Also known as Albert, Albert - next - door, Presently Albert

Albert-next-door is the neighbour the Bastables alternately torment and include, most memorably when he is buried in a garden hole and hauled out dusty, mouldy, and crying. His uncle, who claims to know everything about buried treasure, turns up to rescue him and promptly finds two half-crowns in the same hole, which the children split seven ways, counting Albert as one of themselves. His uneasy place at the edge of the family circle gives the treasure hunts a comic, sometimes guilty, social texture.

Eliza

supporting

Eliza keeps the Lewisham Road house running while the Bastables scheme, dig, and disappear on treasure hunts, and her gossip about neighbours like the family off to Scarborough feeds the children's detective ambitions. She is the adult world's weary counterweight to their imaginative chaos, always on the verge of being scandalised by whatever the children do next. Her presence grounds the fallen-fortunes household in ordinary domestic reality.

Pincher

minor

Also known as good old Pincher, Pincher's

The family dog, loyal and often accompanying the children.

Mr. Rosenbaum

minor

A pawnbroker who deals with the children's items.

The Robber

minor

Also known as XIII The Robber, Robber

A burglar who breaks into the Bastable home.

Mother

minor

The deceased mother of the Bastable children, remembered fondly.

Mr. Mallow

minor

A kind gentleman who helps the children during their treasure hunt.

Sam Redfern

minor

Also known as Sam Redfern the Bushranger, Redfern

A bushranger character the children pretend to be or encounter.

Jim Carlton

minor

Also known as Carlton

A friend or acquaintance of the Bastable family.

Annie Ridgway

minor

Also known as Annie

A girl who interacts with the Bastable children.

Mr. Foulkes

minor

Also known as Foulkes

A man the children encounter during their adventures.

Mrs. Leslie

minor

A woman who appears in the children's schemes.

Lord Mayor

minor

Also known as The Lord Mayor

A civic figure mentioned or encountered by the children.

Mr. Bristow

minor

A man involved in the children's treasure-seeking efforts.

Jane

minor

A minor character who appears briefly in the story.

Mr. Ridgway

minor

Father of Annie Ridgway, a local tradesman.

The Priestess

minor

A character in the children's imaginative play.

The Poor Indian

minor

Also known as Indian, the poor Indian

A character in the children's game or story.