Oliver Twist

Oliver Twist

The orphaned parish boy whose birth and early life are recounted by the narrator. He is the son of Edwin Leeford and Agnes Fleming, Monks’s half-brother, and inherits part of his father’s estate; Mr. Brownlow adopts him.

Parish surgeon

An unnamed surgeon who attends Oliver’s birth and later gives evidence supporting the parish’s treatment of children.

Nurse

Also known as Mrs. Thingummy

An unnamed workhouse nurse who attends Oliver’s mother at his birth. The surgeon calls her Mrs. Thingummy.

Oliver’s mother

Agnes Fleming, a young woman who dies shortly after giving birth to Oliver. Her father’s disgrace and her death separate Oliver from his family.

Elderly female caretaker

Also known as Mrs. Mann

The woman paid to care for Oliver and other children at the branch workhouse; she diverts much of their allowance for herself.

Susan

A girl at Mrs. Mann’s establishment who helps take Oliver and two other boys upstairs.

Mr. Bumble

Also known as Bumble

The parish beadle who later becomes master of the workhouse and marries Mrs. Corney. He sells her account of Old Sally’s confession to Monks, helps arrange their secret meeting, and is eventually dismissed and reduced to a pauper alongside his wife.

Mr. Limbkins

A member of the workhouse board who leads its dealings over Oliver’s apprenticeship.

Gentleman in the white waistcoat

An unnamed workhouse board member who predicts Oliver will be hanged and encourages placing him with the chimney-sweep. Later, he rewards Noah for reporting Oliver’s fight and urges Bumble to punish him.

Gruff board member

An unnamed workhouse board member who urges Oliver to pray for those who feed him and care for him.

Workhouse board members

The unnamed officials who govern the workhouse and decide how Oliver and other paupers are treated.

Workhouse master

The unnamed master who serves gruel to the boys and strikes Oliver when he asks for more.

Tall boy

An unnamed, unusually tall workhouse boy whose threat to eat his sleeping neighbor prompts the boys to ask for more food.

Weakly boy

An unnamed young workhouse boy who sleeps next to the hungry tall boy.

Mr. Gamfield

A chimney-sweep who tries to take Oliver as an apprentice and is known to have bruised several boys to death.

Donkey

Mr. Gamfield’s donkey, which pulls his soot cart.

First magistrate

An unnamed, half-blind magistrate with tortoiseshell spectacles who notices Oliver’s fear and refuses to approve his apprenticeship to Gamfield.

Second magistrate

An unnamed magistrate who supports the refusal to apprentice Oliver to Gamfield and orders that he be treated kindly.

Mr. Sowerberry

The parish undertaker who takes Oliver as an apprentice and employs him as a house-lad and funeral mute. He is at times kindly disposed toward Oliver, but beats him after Noah provokes a fight.

Mrs. Sowerberry

Mr. Sowerberry’s sharp-tempered wife, who treats Oliver harshly and joins in beating him after his fight with Noah.

Charlotte

Also known as Mrs. Bolter

A servant in the Sowerberry household who serves Oliver scraps and shows friendliness toward Noah Claypole. She elopes with Noah, accompanies him to London under the assumed name Mrs. Bolter, and joins Fagin’s criminal circle.

Trip

The Sowerberrys’ dog, whose uneaten scraps are given to Oliver.

Noah Claypole

Also known as Noah · Mr. Claypole · Mr. Morris Bolter · Morris Bolter

A charity-boy employed by the Sowerberrys who bullies Oliver. He elopes with Charlotte, steals from the Sowerberrys, and joins Fagin’s gang under the assumed name Morris Bolter, spying and helping rob children. He reports Nancy’s meeting with Rose and Mr. Brownlow, helping trigger Sikes’s murder of her; later he receives a free pardon for informing against Fagin and makes a living as an informer.

Noah’s mother

An unnamed washerwoman who lives nearby and is Noah Claypole’s mother; she is mentioned but does not appear directly.

Noah’s father

An unnamed drunken, discharged soldier with a wooden leg and a small pension; he is mentioned but does not appear directly.

Parish surgeon’s apprentice

An unnamed apprentice who sends medicine for a sick woman in the Bayton household; the beadle describes him as clever.

Bayton woman

An unnamed sick woman whose husband rejects medicine sent by the parish surgeon’s apprentice; she dies, and the parish arranges her funeral.

Bayton woman’s husband

An unnamed man who refuses the medicine sent for his sick wife; he is mentioned but does not appear directly.

Narrator

The unnamed narrator recounts Oliver’s story, identifies themself as Oliver’s biographer, and occasionally addresses the reader.

Young daughter

An unnamed girl of about thirteen or fourteen who opens the door at the home of a dead pauper woman. She is one of the woman’s ragged children.

Dead pauper woman

Also known as Dead woman

An unnamed woman who dies in extreme poverty. Her mother identifies her as her daughter, and her husband says she was starved to death.

Dead woman’s husband

An unnamed, emaciated man who grieves over his dead wife and accuses society of starving her. He collapses at her burial.

Dead woman’s mother

An unnamed elderly woman, mother of the dead pauper, who reacts to her daughter’s death with bewildered, callous laughter and asks for food and a warm cloak.

Ragged children

The unnamed children in the dead pauper woman’s home who cry at their mother’s funeral; the passage does not identify them individually.

Workhouse bearers

Four unnamed workhouse men who carry the dead pauper woman’s coffin to the churchyard.

Clergyman

An unnamed clergyman who arrives late and reads a brief burial service over the pauper woman’s grave.

Clerk

An unnamed church clerk who waits by the vestry fire and delays the pauper woman’s burial while the clergyman is absent.

Grave-digger

Also known as Bill

The unnamed grave-digger, addressed as Bill, who fills in the pauper woman’s grave.

Dick

Oliver’s young former companion from the branch workhouse, now pale and gravely ill. He asks for a message of love to be kept for Oliver and says he is glad to die young so he and his little sister can remain children together in Heaven. He dies before Oliver returns to the town.

Doctor

An unnamed doctor who has told those caring for Dick that the boy is dying.

Turnpike-man

An unnamed kind-hearted turnpike-man who gives Oliver bread and cheese during his journey to London.

Benevolent old lady

An unnamed woman who gives Oliver help and kind words on his journey. She has a grandson wandering barefoot in a distant part of the earth.

Shipwrecked grandson

The unnamed grandson of the benevolent old lady, who is wandering barefoot somewhere far away; he is mentioned but does not appear directly.

Jack Dawkins

Also known as The Artful Dodger · Dodger · John Dawkins

A streetwise boy who befriends Oliver on the road to London and brings him to Fagin’s lodging. A pickpocket and one of Fagin’s pupils, he is arrested after attempting to steal a snuff-box, committed for trial, and remains defiant and joking in court.

Fagin

Also known as the Jew · the old gentleman

An elderly criminal who shelters Oliver and trains boys in pickpocketing. He arranges for Oliver to be used in a burglary and conspires with Monks to discredit him. Convicted and sentenced to death, Fagin becomes terrified and delirious in Newgate; he gives Mr. Brownlow the location of Monks’s papers but cannot be recalled to reason before his execution.

Charley Bates

Also known as Charley · Master Bates · Master Charles Bates

A boy in Fagin’s group and the Dodger’s companion. He steals handkerchiefs and later recoils from Sikes in horror and tries to hold him for the authorities; appalled by Sikes’s crime, he reforms and becomes a successful young grazier.

Fagin’s pupils

Also known as young gentlemen

The unnamed boys in Fagin’s lodging who join the Dodger and Charley Bates in practicing theft and handling stolen goods.

Man at the stairs

An unnamed man who signals from the staircase and lets the Dodger and Oliver into Fagin’s lodging.

Bet

A young woman in the Dodger and Fagin’s circle who visits Fagin with Nancy. She declines to go to the police office to look for Oliver; after seeing Nancy’s body, she becomes distraught and is taken to hospital.

Nancy

A young woman in Fagin’s circle who brings Oliver to Bill Sikes under pressure, yet tries to protect him and warns him of danger. She secretly overhears Monks plotting against Oliver, then risks her life to tell Rose and Mr. Brownlow what she knows, refusing an offer of refuge and to betray Fagin. Sikes murders her after Noah reports the meeting.

Mr. Brownlow

Also known as Old gentleman at the book-stall

A respectable, kind-hearted gentleman whose handkerchief the Dodger steals. He takes the ill Oliver into his home and cares for him; after hearing Bumble’s false account, he believes Oliver is an impostor, but later welcomes him back, investigates his parentage, and secures Monks’s confession. He adopts Oliver as his son.

Police officer

Also known as Man with the keys · Officer in the striped waistcoat · Thief-taker

An unnamed, bluff officer at the police office who arrests and searches Oliver, then offers guesses about Oliver’s name and background when he cannot answer. He tells Nancy that Mr. Brownlow has taken Oliver away.

Mr. Fang

A notorious police magistrate before whom Oliver is brought after his arrest. He insults Mr. Brownlow, dismisses the evidence that clears Oliver, and commits the fainted boy to hard labor before the book-stall keeper intervenes.

Book-stall keeper

An unnamed shopkeeper who witnessed the theft of Mr. Brownlow’s handkerchief and hurries to court to testify that Oliver did not commit it. He accompanies Brownlow and Oliver to Brownlow’s home.

Court clerk

An unnamed clerk at Mr. Fang’s court who swears in witnesses and quietly asks how the case will be handled.

Jailor

An unnamed jailor in Mr. Fang’s court who joins the clerk in interrupting Fang when he threatens Mr. Brownlow.

Court attendants

Unnamed men in Mr. Fang’s court who prepare to carry the unconscious Oliver to his cell.

Mrs. Bedwin

Also known as Housekeeper

Mr. Brownlow’s elderly housekeeper, who nurses Oliver through a fever and treats him with motherly kindness. She has adult children and speaks fondly of her late husband; she welcomes Oliver as her innocent boy when he returns.

Mrs. Bedwin’s daughter

An unnamed daughter of Mrs. Bedwin, described as amiable and handsome and married to an amiable and handsome man; she lives in the country and is mentioned but does not appear directly.

Mrs. Bedwin’s son

An unnamed son of Mrs. Bedwin who works as a merchant’s clerk in the West Indies and writes dutiful letters home; he is mentioned but does not appear directly.

Mrs. Bedwin’s late husband

An unnamed kind, good husband of Mrs. Bedwin, who died twenty-six years before this passage; he is mentioned but does not appear directly.

Doctor at Mr. Brownlow’s

An unnamed doctor who checks Oliver while he is recovering and prescribes tea and dry toast. He is described as self-assured.

Fat old night attendant

An unnamed elderly woman who takes over watching Oliver overnight and repeatedly falls asleep in her chair.

Portrait lady

An unnamed woman shown in a portrait at Mr. Brownlow’s house. Oliver notices her sorrowful face and Mr. Brownlow sees a striking resemblance between her features and Oliver’s.

Mr. Grimwig

Also known as Grimwig

Mr. Brownlow’s lame, irritable old friend, known for his appetite for contradiction and his repeated wager that he will eat his head. He helps investigate Oliver’s parentage and later becomes a close friend of Mr. Losberne.

Mr. Grimwig’s surgeon

Also known as Surgeon at the corner

An unnamed surgeon whose boy Mr. Grimwig blames for leaving orange peel on the pavement; he is mentioned but does not appear directly.

Surgeon’s boy

An unnamed boy employed by the surgeon near Mr. Grimwig’s house, whom Grimwig accuses of leaving orange peel on the pavement; he is mentioned but does not appear directly.

Young woman who stumbled

An unnamed woman who slips on orange peel and falls against Mr. Grimwig’s garden railings; she is mentioned but does not appear directly.

Beef-faced boy

An unnamed, red-cheeked boy known to Mr. Grimwig’s friend; Grimwig describes him as brutish and wolfishly hungry. He is mentioned but does not appear directly.

Jamaica murderer

An unnamed man hanged in Jamaica for murdering his master; Mr. Grimwig cites him as an example of a criminal who had suffered fever. He is mentioned but does not appear directly.

Bookstall boy

An unnamed boy who works at the book-stall where Mr. Brownlow bought books and has gone before Oliver can return the books and payment.

Mr. Brownlow’s servant

An unnamed servant in Mr. Brownlow’s household who announces Mr. Grimwig’s arrival.

Mr. Brownlow’s maid

An unnamed servant who runs out with Oliver to look for the missing bookstall boy.

Fagin’s young associate

An unnamed, repulsive young man who answers Fagin’s bell and serves liquor to Bill Sikes.

Barney

A young Jewish associate of Fagin who answers the bell and brings Nancy to the room. His speech is strongly nasal; he helps prepare for and carry out the burglary and later stays hidden while the gang is being pursued. He helps Fagin spy on Nancy by moving a candle so Noah can see her.

Bill Sikes

Also known as Mr. Sikes · Mr. William Sikes · William Sikes

A violent robber associated with Fagin who takes Oliver back to the gang and forces him into a burglary. He murders Nancy and flees, eventually dying by hanging himself while trying to escape a crowd.

Sikes’s dog

Also known as White dog · Bull’s-eye

A scarred white dog who belongs to Bill Sikes, obeys him despite his abuse, and threatens Oliver when Sikes commands it. It escapes Sikes’s attempt to drown it, finds the gang’s hideout, and dies after falling into the ditch following Sikes’s death.

Flute prisoner

An unnamed, shoeless prisoner committed by Mr. Fang for playing the flute; the instrument has been confiscated for the county.

Vagrant of sixty-five

An unnamed elderly vagrant sent to prison for begging and having no livelihood; he is mentioned but does not appear directly.

Saucepan hawker

An unnamed man imprisoned for selling tin saucepans without a license; he is mentioned but does not appear directly.

Butcher’s boy

An unnamed, indolent boy with hair slicked with suet who watches Nancy’s staged reunion with Oliver. He does not appear directly again.

First onlooker woman

An unnamed woman who sees Nancy pretending to reclaim Oliver and calls him a young wretch.

Second onlooker woman

An unnamed woman who sees Nancy pretending to reclaim Oliver and tells him to go home.

Garret-window onlooker

An unnamed person watching from a garret window who approves of Sikes striking Oliver.

Sleepy-faced carpenter

An unnamed carpenter who approves of Sikes’s assault on Oliver.

Dick’s little sister

Dick’s unnamed younger sister, who died and is in Heaven; Dick hopes they can remain children together there.

Two paupers accompanying Mr. Bumble

Two unnamed, very ill paupers whose parish settlement is disputed; Mr. Bumble escorts them to London so their care can be charged to another parish.

Toby Crackit

Also known as flash Toby Crackit

A criminal associate of Fagin and Sikes who helps carry out the attempted burglary at a house in Chertsey. He escapes with the wounded Oliver, later abandons Sikes during their flight from pursuers, and hides with Kags and Tom Chitling.

Ned, the chimney-sweeper

An unnamed chimney-sweeper who kept his son small so he could be hired out for jobs; Sikes mentions him but he does not appear directly.

Ned’s son

An unnamed boy formerly employed by his father, Ned, the chimney-sweeper. Sikes wanted to use him in a burglary, but the boy was taken into a reforming society and apprenticed elsewhere.

Tom Chitling

Also known as Mr. Chitling

An older member of Fagin’s criminal circle, recently released from the house of correction after six weeks. He defers to the Dodger, is teased for being fond of Betsy, and later takes refuge with Toby Crackit and Kags.

Mrs. Corney

Also known as Matron

The workhouse matron, now Mr. Bumble’s wife and workhouse mistress. She hears Old Sally’s deathbed confession, redeems the pawned keepsake, and sells the story and locket to Monks, who destroys the evidence; she is later dismissed and becomes a pauper with Bumble.

Old Sally

Also known as Sally

A dying former workhouse nurse who tells Mrs. Corney that she stole a gold object from Oliver’s mother as the young woman lay dying. She dies before revealing what the object was; she had pawned the keepsake and left a duplicate in her hand.

Martha

Also known as Messenger

An unnamed elderly female pauper who fetches Mrs. Corney because Old Sally says she has something to confess. Martha has known Sally for years and helped her lay out corpses.

Anny

An unnamed elderly pauper who watches Old Sally with Martha. She admits drinking the hot wine intended for Sally.

Parish apothecary’s apprentice

Also known as Apothecary’s deputy

An unnamed young man attending Old Sally in the workhouse. He predicts she is near death and leaves before she awakens.

Overseer Mr. Grannett

Also known as Mr. Grannett

A parish overseer whom Mrs. Corney mentions as having refused a vagrant further relief after the man rejected food. He is mentioned but does not appear directly.

Workhouse cat

Also known as Cat

A cat kept by Mrs. Corney, which she describes as a companion. The passage also mentions its kittens.

Workhouse kittens

Also known as Kittens

The unnamed kittens belonging to Mrs. Corney’s cat.

Cart driver to Isleworth

An unnamed driver of an empty Hounslow cart who gives Sikes and Oliver a lift toward Isleworth. Sikes falsely tells him Oliver is his son.

Drunken carter

An unnamed laboring man who gives Sikes and Oliver a ride toward Shepperton in his cart. He is traveling on to Lower Halliford.

Becky

An unnamed girl at the public-house who says the other gentleman has paid the carter’s bill.

Two men in the burgled house

Two unnamed, half-dressed occupants who appear at the top of the stairs and raise the alarm during the attempted burglary. One fires at Oliver’s party, wounding him.

Mr. Lively

Also known as Lively

A small-statured trader in Field Lane who buys and sells stolen goods. He tells Fagin that Sikes and Barney are not at the Cripples.

Landlord of the Cripples

Also known as Chairman

The coarse, watchful landlord of the Three Cripples public-house, which Fagin and Sikes frequent. He tells Fagin that Monks is expected and that Barney is keeping out of sight.

Monks

Also known as Edward Leeford

Oliver’s legitimate half-brother, born Edward Leeford to Edwin Leeford and his estranged wife. He conspires with Fagin to discredit Oliver, destroys evidence of Oliver’s identity, and finally confesses to the fraud and agrees to restore Oliver’s share of their father’s estate. He later squanders his portion, returns to crime, and dies in prison.

Phil Barker

A drunken man at the Cripples whom the landlord says could easily be robbed. Fagin says he still has work to do for them.

Professional gentleman at the piano

An unnamed man with a bluish nose and a bandaged face who plays the piano at the Cripples gathering and sings with another guest.

Young lady singer

An unnamed young woman who entertains the company at the Cripples with a ballad.

Cripples guests

The unnamed men and women crowded around the table at the Cripples, including singers and boisterous patrons.

Mrs. Corney’s opposite-shop lady

An unnamed woman in a shop opposite Mr. Lively who exchanges a wary glance with him.

Mr. Slout

The ailing master of Mrs. Corney’s workhouse, whom the doctor says may not live a week. His expected vacancy motivates Mr. Bumble’s hopes of promotion.

Mr. Sowerberry’s old woman

Also known as Old woman’s shell

An unnamed elderly woman whose death Mrs. Corney reports to Mr. Bumble. He arranges for Sowerberry to send for her body.

Mr. Giles

Also known as Giles

The butler and steward at Mrs. Maylie’s house who helps defend it during the burglary and boasts that he shot the intruder. He and Brittles mistakenly identify the wounded Oliver as a robber, then nurse him and help conceal his identity; he and Brittles remain household servants at the parsonage.

Brittles

Also known as Mr. Brittles

A household lad of all-work at Mrs. Maylie’s, treated as a boy despite being over thirty. He joins Giles in the pursuit and mistaken identification of Oliver, then is sent to Chertsey for a constable and doctor; he remains at his post, eventually grey-haired.

Travelling tinker

Also known as Tinker

An unnamed traveling tinker sleeping in an outhouse near Mrs. Maylie’s house. He joins the pursuit with his two mongrel dogs and helps restore Oliver after he is found.

Pincher

One of the tinker’s two mongrel dogs, called back from the pursuit by their master.

Neptune

One of the tinker’s two mongrel dogs, called back from the pursuit by their master.

Mrs. Maylie

An elderly woman who owns the house the burglars attempted to rob. She agrees to let the doctor protect Oliver and shows compassion toward him; she is Harry Maylie’s mother and Rose’s aunt, and later learns Rose is her niece by blood.

Rose

Also known as Miss Rose · Miss Maylie · Rose Maylie · Rose Fleming

Mrs. Maylie’s young companion and niece, under seventeen, who pleads for mercy for Oliver and comforts him. She helps investigate Oliver’s birth and is Agnes Fleming’s younger sister, Oliver’s aunt by birth, and Harry Maylie’s beloved; she marries Harry and is a loving aunt to her dead sister’s child.

Mr. Losberne

Also known as the doctor · Surgeon in the neighbourhood

A kind-hearted, eccentric old bachelor and surgeon in the neighborhood, known locally as the doctor. He treats Oliver, persuades the Maylies to protect him, and pursues the men Oliver sees at the window; he later settles near Harry and Rose and remains close to his friends.

Constable

An unnamed local constable summoned after Oliver is found wounded. He listens as Losberne challenges Giles and Brittles’s identification of Oliver.

Cook

An unnamed cook in Mrs. Maylie’s household who listens to Giles recount the burglary and is frightened by the knock at the door. A kind-hearted cook at the hotel later speaks up for Nancy and persuades the staff to carry her message to Miss Maylie.

Housemaid

An unnamed housemaid in Mrs. Maylie’s household who listens to Giles recount the burglary and helps carry news of Oliver upstairs.

Two women-servants

The unnamed female servants at Mrs. Maylie’s house who run upstairs after Giles claims to have caught a robber.

Runners

Unnamed law officers whose arrival at the Maylie house is anticipated by Brittles.

Mr. Blathers

Also known as Blathers

A stout Bow Street officer who investigates the attempted burglary at Mrs. Maylie’s house with Duff. He doubts Giles’s identification of Oliver and concludes that the burglary was committed by experienced city criminals.

Mr. Duff

Also known as Duff

A bony, red-haired Bow Street officer who investigates the burglary alongside Blathers. He offers his colleague’s view of the case and later suspects the burglary was the work of the Family Pet.

Blathers and Duff’s gig driver

Also known as Mate

An unnamed companion of the Bow Street officers who waits outside in their gig and minds the horse.

Coachman to the Maylies

An unnamed coachman who carries Oliver and Losberne and takes a message to summon the Bow Street officers.

Hump-backed man

Also known as Hunchback · Ill-favoured cripple

An unnamed, deformed man who has lived alone in the house where Oliver says the burglary was planned. He angrily confronts Losberne and glares at Oliver with a fierce, vindictive expression.

Two men and a boy found under a haystack

Three unnamed people briefly held at Kingston on suspicion after being found sleeping under a haystack. Their circumstances do not establish that they committed the burglary.

Neighbouring magistrate

An unnamed magistrate who accepts Mrs. Maylie and Losberne as bail for Oliver’s future appearance.

White-headed old gentleman

An unnamed elderly man who lives near the village church and teaches Oliver to read and write; he is a gardener by trade and teaches Oliver about plants.

Harry Maylie

Also known as Mr. Harry · Mr. Maylie

Mrs. Maylie’s son, about twenty-five, who loves Rose and asks her to marry him. He gives up his former social ambitions and offers Rose a home; they marry, and he becomes a clergyman.

Postboy

An unnamed postboy at the George inn who directs Oliver to the ostler when Oliver needs an express rider sent to Chertsey.

Ostler

An unnamed ostler at the George inn who sends Oliver to the landlord when he asks for an express rider.

Landlord of the George

An unnamed tall, formally dressed landlord at the George inn who takes time to prepare the bill and arrange a horse and rider for Oliver’s urgent message.

Express rider

An unnamed man sent on horseback from the George inn to carry Mrs. Maylie’s letter to Mr. Losberne in Chertsey.

Tall man in a cloak

An unnamed dark-eyed man who encounters Oliver outside the George inn, curses him, and collapses in a fit. Later he appears at the Maylies’ window with Fagin, and Oliver recognizes him as the same man.

Medical practitioner at the village

An unnamed local medical practitioner who attends Rose during her fever and initially says her recovery would be little short of a miracle.

Young woman buried in the village churchyard

An unnamed young woman whose funeral Oliver sees while Rose is critically ill; the passage does not identify her.

Conkey Chickweed

Also known as Nosey · Mr. Chickweed

An unnamed public-house keeper who stages a fake robbery and falsely claims that a thief stole 327 guineas from him. Officer Jem Spyers discovers that Chickweed arranged the affair himself to collect public sympathy and money.

Family Pet

An unnamed criminal whom Duff believes was responsible for the Chertsey burglary. Blathers disputes this and favors Conkey Chickweed as the perpetrator.

Jem Spyers

Also known as Spyers

An active officer in Blathers’s anecdote who investigates Conkey Chickweed’s supposed robbery. He eventually exposes Chickweed as having staged it himself.

Magistrate who heard Chickweed’s confession

An unnamed magistrate whom Chickweed privately visits after pretending to be robbed; he orders Jem Spyers to help Chickweed apprehend the supposed thief.

Tall man with a black patch over his eye

An imagined robber in Conkey Chickweed’s false account, supposedly wounded while escaping with Chickweed’s money. He does not exist as the thief Chickweed describes.

The George postboy

An unnamed rider who takes the prepared horse and message from the George inn toward Chertsey.

New beadle

An unnamed beadle who takes over the office after Mr. Bumble becomes master of the workhouse.

Boy who opened the gate

An unnamed boy who opens the workhouse gate for Mr. Bumble; Bumble boxes his ears.

Two old women at the wash-tub

Unnamed female paupers who work in the workhouse laundry and quietly laugh at Mr. Bumble’s submission to his wife.

Landlord

An unnamed public-house landlord who serves Mr. Bumble and Monks while they meet and later lets Monks know the couple have arrived.

Hidden boy

An unnamed boy concealed in the ruined riverside building where Monks meets the Bumbles; Monks calls him to guide him back with a light.

Watchman

An unnamed watchman who tells Nancy the time as she hurries across London to meet Rose.

Hotel porter

An unnamed porter at the family hotel near Hyde Park; his seat is vacant when Nancy arrives.

Hotel woman at the door

An unnamed, smartly dressed woman at the family hotel who questions Nancy and summons a man to deal with her.

Hotel waiter

An unnamed hotel man who first tries to turn Nancy away, then agrees to deliver her message to Miss Maylie.

Hotel housemaids

Four unnamed hotel housemaids who insult Nancy and urge that she be thrown out.

Bow Street magistrate

An unnamed magistrate who presides over the Dodger’s pickpocketing case and commits him for trial.

Policeman witness

An unnamed policeman who sees the Dodger attempt to pick a pocket and take a handkerchief, then arrests him.

Snuff-box owner

An unnamed gentleman whose engraved silver snuff-box is found on the Dodger. He appears in court and identifies it as his stolen property.

Muffled man at the London Bridge meeting

An unnamed man dressed as a countryman who follows Nancy to London Bridge and secretly listens to her meeting with Rose and Mr. Brownlow. He is Noah Claypole in disguise.

Rose’s companion at the London Bridge meeting

Mr. Brownlow, identified by name during the meeting: he accompanies Rose to hear Nancy’s information about Monks and the gang.

Country pedlar and mountebank

Also known as Stain-remover vendor

An unnamed traveling salesman and entertainer who sells household goods and stain-removing cakes. At a public-house, his joke about blood stains provokes Sikes, who snatches his hat and flees.

Game-keeper

An unnamed man dressed like a game-keeper who receives a basket from the mail guard at Hatfield.

Mail guard

Also known as Ben

A mail coach guard who speaks with a game-keeper and a coachman in Hatfield. He mentions hearing about a murder in Spitalfields.

Coachman at Hatfield

An unnamed coachman waiting for the mail coach in Hatfield who impatiently calls the guard.

Office keeper at Hatfield

An unnamed man who runs out of the post office with the letter-bag for the mail coach.

Gentleman at the post-office window

An unnamed gentleman who confirms that a woman has been murdered in Spitalfields as Sikes listens nearby.

Country labourers at the public-house

Unnamed men drinking in a Hatfield public-house where Sikes stops during his flight.

White-haired grandfather at the public-house

An unnamed elderly man among the country labourers who says the recently buried old man could have lived another ten or fifteen years if he had taken care.

Kags

A returned transport and robber of about fifty with a badly beaten nose and a prominent scar. He hides with Toby Crackit and Tom Chitling after Fagin’s gang is arrested.

Edwin Leeford

Oliver and Monks’s father, an old friend of Mr. Brownlow. Forced into an unhappy marriage, he later loved Agnes Fleming and left a will granting her and their child half his property, subject to conditions for a son.

Agnes Fleming

Oliver’s mother and the elder daughter of a naval officer. She loved Edwin Leeford, became pregnant by him, and died giving birth to Oliver.

Monks’s mother

Edwin Leeford’s estranged wife and Monks’s mother. She destroyed Edwin’s will, concealed the evidence of Oliver’s birth, and taught Monks to hate Oliver and pursue him.

Agnes and Rose’s father

Also known as Retired naval officer

An unnamed retired naval officer and widower who befriended Edwin Leeford. After learning of Agnes’s pregnancy, he fled with his daughters to Wales, changed his name, and died believing Agnes had killed herself.

Agnes and Rose’s mother

An unnamed woman, wife of the retired naval officer and mother of Agnes and Rose. She died about six months before her husband met Edwin Leeford.

Agnes and Rose’s older sister

Agnes Fleming, the naval officer’s beautiful nineteen-year-old daughter who became Edwin Leeford’s fiancée and Oliver’s mother.

Rose’s foster parents

Also known as Wretched cottagers

Unnamed poor cottagers who raised Rose as their own after her father died. Monks’s mother found them and poisoned their view of the child, but Rose later found a loving home with Mrs. Maylie.

Widow lady at Chester

An unnamed widow living at Chester who took Rose in after seeing the neglected girl and pitying her. She gave Rose a happy home and is mentioned but does not appear directly.

Wealthy relation of Edwin Leeford

An unnamed rich relation whose death left Edwin money and prompted his journey to Rome. He is mentioned but does not appear directly.

Two men accompanying Monks

Two unnamed men who help Mr. Brownlow bring Monks to Brownlow’s house and guard him during the confrontation.

Firemen

Unnamed London firemen who speak about the search for Sikes after the fire. They offer him food and report that scouts are looking for him.

Kags’s companion

An unnamed robber who shelters with Toby Crackit, Tom Chitling, and Kags at Jacob’s Island. He remains mostly silent and recoils when Sikes arrives.

Man on horseback at the crowd

An unnamed man on horseback who leads the crowd pursuing Sikes and offers twenty guineas to anyone who brings a ladder.

Old gentleman at the bridge

An unnamed elderly man among the crowd pursuing Sikes who offers fifty pounds for his capture alive.

Judge at Fagin’s trial

An unnamed judge who presides over Fagin’s trial, directs the jury, and sentences him to death.

Jury at Fagin’s trial

The unnamed jurors who find Fagin guilty.

Jailer at Fagin’s trial

An unnamed jailer who guides Fagin from the dock after his conviction and sentence.

Young man sketching Fagin

An unnamed young man in the gallery who sketches Fagin during the trial.

Fat gentleman on the bench

An unnamed elderly, stout man on the bench at Fagin’s trial who leaves and later returns.

Newgate turnkey

Also known as Jailer

An unnamed prison officer who conducts Mr. Brownlow and Oliver to Fagin’s condemned cell, warns Oliver, and helps hold Fagin when he tries to escape. He says Fagin cannot be brought back to an awareness of his position.

Condemned-cell attendants

Two unnamed men who take turns watching Fagin in his condemned cell. They bring him a candle and mattress, and both keep watch when his delirium becomes frightening.

Prisoners at Newgate

Unnamed prisoners who see Fagin being led through the prison and jeer at him from behind the bars.

People waiting outside Newgate

Unnamed people who gather at the prison gate hoping for news of a reprieve and to witness Fagin’s execution.

Newgate workmen

Two unnamed workmen silently preparing the scaffold passage for Fagin’s execution.

Young clergyman

Harry Maylie, whose pastoral work is based at the village church where he marries Rose.