# When Charles the First Was King — Character guide

> Key figures in When Charles the First Was King by J. S. Fletcher.

- [Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters/narrator.md): A Yorkshire yeoman farmer pressed into the King's service, he argues with Cromwell himself about obedience, liberty, and the rights of plain Englishmen.
- [Ben Tuckett](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters/ben_tuckett.md): The Dales' most softhearted servant, he lectures anyone within earshot that war was invented by the devil while quietly scheming to win a little glory of his own.
- [Rose Lisle](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters/rose_lisle.md): A dark-eyed, gipsy-looking beauty grown tall and stately, she lodges with the narrator's family and turns his quiet farm life upside down.
- [Jack Drumbleforth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters/jack_drumbleforth.md): A brave but flyaway young volunteer who takes sides before he understands the quarrel, riding off to war more for the adventure than the cause.
- [Philip Lisle](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters/philip_lisle.md): A pardoned highwayman turned loyal Royalist, he rides the countryside pleading the King's cause and gathering volunteers as war closes in on Yorkshire.
- [Jacob Trusty](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters/jacob_trusty.md): A surly, fifty-three-year veteran of the Dale farm, he has nursed the narrator since infancy and brooks no advice from anyone but himself.
- [Dennis Watson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters/dennis_watson.md): Dennis Watson belongs to the hostile clan arrayed against Will Dale and his kin, yet he plays the gallant when he lifts Lucy and Rose from a snowstorm and delivers them to their own orchard gate. His charm is real enough
- [Lucy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters/lucy.md): Lucy Dale is the gentle sister whose tears come easily and whose affections belong to the worthy but plain Ben Tuckett. When Dennis Watson gives her and Rose a ride home through the snow, she confesses the name with relu
- [Will Dale](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters/will_dale.md): Will Dale farms at Dale's Field, loves Rose Lisle, feuds with Dennis Watson, and counts Jack Drumbleforth and Ben Tuckett among his closest friends. Proud and quick to anger, he scolds Lucy for accepting Watson's help ye
- [Captain Ready](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters/captain_ready.md): Captain Trevor, known as Captain Ready, is a Cavalier cavalryman left convalescent in the Dale household, where Will's mother fusses over him and Rose and Lucy tend his recovery. He repays their care with tales of travel
- [Parson Drumbleforth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters/parson_drumbleforth.md): Parson Drumbleforth keeps the vicarage at Darrington, a plain foursquare house whose garden path leads into the graveyard, and raises his son Jack in the same sturdy principles. He stands among the local clergy whose cou
- [Oliver Cromwell](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters/oliver_cromwell.md): Cromwell appears as the victorious general who walks Will Dale through the silent halls to view the dead King's body, speaking of tyranny ended and children weeping on both sides. His impassive countenance, his fierce di
- [Rupert Watson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters/rupert_watson.md): Rupert Watson of Castle Hill stands as the narrator's chief rival and the man behind the long-ago shot on a snow-covered highway. The narrator's discovery of Watson's guilt transforms a joyful homecoming into a ride cons
- [The Stranger](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters/the_stranger.md): The stranger crosses the narrator's path bearing a revelation that reframes old wounds and old enemies alike, naming at last the malice behind a murder. His information lands like a spark in dry tinder, converting years 
- [Prince Rupert](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters/prince_rupert.md): The dashing Royalist cavalry commander, nephew of King Charles I.
- [Master Nicholas Pratt](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters/master_nicholas_pratt.md): A local merchant and magistrate, a figure of authority.
- [Master Geoffrey Oldthwaite](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters/master_geoffrey_oldthwaite.md): An elderly and respected neighbor, a friend to the narrator's family.
- [Sir Thomas Fairfax](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters/sir_thomas_fairfax.md): The commander-in-chief of the Parliamentarian army.
- [Colonel Cotterel](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters/colonel_cotterel.md): A Royalist officer commanding a garrison at Pontefract Castle.
- [Caesar](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters/caesar.md): Philip Lisle's magnificent and loyal horse.
- [Dr. Parsons](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters/dr_parsons.md): A learned clergyman and physician, a friend of Parson Drumbleforth.
- [Lord Newcastle](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters/lord_newcastle.md): A prominent Royalist commander in the north of England.
- [Master Goodfellow](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters/master_goodfellow.md): A friendly and helpful neighbor.
- [Timothy Grass](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters/timothy_grass.md): A local farmer and acquaintance.
- [Sir William Lowther](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters/sir_william_lowther.md): A local Royalist gentleman and landowner.
- [Belwether](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters/belwether.md): A local farmer or tradesman.
- [Sir Marmaduke Langdale](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters/sir_marmaduke_langdale.md): A Royalist cavalry commander.
- [Earl of Leven](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters/earl_of_leven.md): The commander of the Scottish Covenanter army.
- [Old Mother Robey](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters/old_mother_robey.md): An elderly woman in the neighborhood.
- [Farmer Denby](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters/farmer_denby.md): A local farmer.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/when_charles_the_first_was_king_se/characters