# Marese Baskette — World’s End character guide > Marese Baskette in World’s End by Richard Jefferies. **Role:** major **Also known as:** Mr. Marese Baskette, Marese, Mr. Baskette, Baskette, Marese Baskette, Esq **First appearance:** 0000-book-i-facts ## Snapshot The Child of the People, baptized amid rivers of beer, now a brilliant, ambitious gambler who promises the mob lower rents and cheaper drink to seize his inheritance. ## Who they are John Marese Baskette is a tall, dark, fascinating man whose twenty-first birthday brought him only two thousand a year instead of the fortune he expected, a blow that perverted his nature and inflamed his ambition. Polished and plausible, fierce as a tiger under the velvet glove, he courts the Stirmingham populace with beer, pledges to cut local taxation, and hints at reduced rents, while privately gambling on the Stock Exchange toward a seat in the Cabinet. His hunger for power — and his readiness to use the memory of his father's famous celebration — makes him the novel's great engine of political and personal menace. ## In the story ### [The Tangled Web of Inheritance](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/world_s_end_se/chapters/xi) The heir to the estate, heavily in debt and speculating on the Stock Exchange, conspiring with Theodore to overcome the claimants and financial obstacles. ### [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/world_s_end_se/chapters/xii) The heir, who desires to condense the scattered claimants into one person to destroy them at a blow; planning with Theodore. ### [XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/world_s_end_se/chapters/xiii) Primary plotter; devises the plan to destroy the claimants and profit from salvage. ### [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/world_s_end_se/chapters/xiv) Conceives the idea of using poisonous gas after reading about gas properties, and collaborates with Theodore to plan the mass murder for salvage. ### [XV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/world_s_end_se/chapters/xv) Arranges bullion shipment via the Lucca and lures claimants with free passage; is thunderstruck by the new threat of Arthur Sibbold's heirs. ### [The Ship of the Dead](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/world_s_end_se/chapters/xii) The heir whose yacht rescued the Lucca; he is portrayed as pleasant and averse to salvage claims but constrained by debts and his cousin. ### [XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/world_s_end_se/chapters/xiii) Invited Aymer on the Gloire de Dijon yacht; described as weak-minded and simple, being gulled by Marese. ### [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/world_s_end_se/chapters/xiv) His earlier generous offers had temporarily calmed the claimants, but the calm is shattered once they glimpse the wealth of Stirmingham. ### [Chapter XV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/world_s_end_se/chapters/xv) Issues his pronunciamento and opens his campaign; wins the election by over 1000 votes, dragged in his carriage by the mob. ### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/world_s_end_se/chapters/i) Wealthy suitor of Lady Lechester, candidate for Stirmingham, and claimant to the city; appeals to Agnes's ambition through letters and conversation. ### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/world_s_end_se/chapters/ii) Heir of Stirmingham; uses legal dispute as pretext to court Lady Lechester, following Theodore's advice to marry for social position and potential inheritance. ### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/world_s_end_se/chapters/iv) His offer of an earthly kingdom becomes a source of inner conflict for Agnes, competing with the allure of the spirit. ### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/world_s_end_se/chapters/vii) Accused by Aymer of murdering Jason Waldron; Violet recalls his guilty start upon hearing her name. ### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/world_s_end_se/chapters/viii) Alarmed by Aymer's accusations and the building society threat; orchestrates a plan with Theodore. ### [Chapter XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/world_s_end_se/chapters/xii) Marese Baskette's mistress performs on stage at the opera. He is also mentioned as having gone down into the vaults with Theodore earlier. ### [XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/world_s_end_se/chapters/xiii) Bridegroom who is summoned back to The Towers upon Lady Lechester's disappearance; he identifies Aymer as a lunatic and works to crush him. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/world_s_end_se/characters/marese_baskette - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/world_s_end_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/world_s_end_se/characters