Cranford characters

Miss Matilda Jenkyns

Also known as Miss Matty, Matty, Matilda

The gentle, timid, aging spinster at the heart of Cranford; younger sister of Deborah and the narrator's dear friend, later financially ruined but sustained by her friends.

Bonds:PoleClose friendsMarthaEmployer-servantJamiesonSocial peersPeterMother and son

Miss Deborah Jenkyns

Also known as Deborah

The formidable elder Jenkyns sister and rector's daughter who dominated Cranford society with her strong opinions (championing Dr Johnson over Dickens); dies partway through the story.

Bonds:JenkynsSistersMarthaFormer mistress

Mary Smith

Also known as Mary

The story's observant first-person narrator, a young unmarried woman who visits Cranford regularly from the manufacturing town of Drumble.

Captain Brown

Also known as the Captain

A blunt, warm-hearted half-pay army captain, poor but proud, whose kindness wins over Cranford before he dies rescuing a child from a train.

Bonds:BrownFather-daughterBrownFather-daughter

Miss Jessie Brown

Also known as Jessie

Captain Brown's devoted, sweet-natured younger daughter who nurses her ailing sister and eventually marries her old suitor Major Gordon.

Bonds:BrownFather-daughterBrownSistersPoleSocial acquaintancesJamiesonSocial acquaintances

Miss Brown

Captain Brown's elder daughter, chronically ill and made irritable by pain, tenderly cared for by her father and sister until her death.

Bonds:BrownFather-daughterBrownSisters

Miss Pole

A brisk, inquisitive spinster and inveterate gatherer of Cranford gossip and theories, self-styled brave during the town's robbery panic.

Bonds:JenkynsClose friendsLady GlenmireSisters-in-lawMarthaRecent visitorPeterPast acquaintance

Mrs Forrester

A gentle, impoverished elderly widow of refined manners who clings to genteel forms and is timid about ghosts.

Lady Glenmire

Mrs Jamieson's titled but unpretentious widowed sister-in-law who charms Cranford and scandalizes it by marrying the surgeon Mr Hoggins.

Bonds:PoleSisters-in-lawJamiesonSisters-in-lawHogginsMedical referral

Mrs Jamieson

The heavy, self-important widow who considers herself Cranford's social arbiter and guards distinctions of rank.

Bonds:JenkynsSocial peersLady GlenmireSisters-in-lawMarthaDinner interactionBrownSocial acquaintances

Peter Jenkyns

Also known as Poor Peter, Mr Peter, Aga Jenkyns, the Aga

The Jenkyns sisters' long-lost brother, a mischievous boy who ran away after a prank and returns decades later, wealthy and full of tales, from India.

Bonds:JenkynsMother and sonPolePast acquaintance

Mr Holbrook

A plain-spoken, unfashionable yeoman farmer and Miss Matty's rejected suitor of long ago, who dies soon after a rekindled visit.

Bonds:PoleCousins

Mr Hoggins

Cranford's hearty, blunt country surgeon, thought vulgar by the ladies, who marries Lady Glenmire.

Bonds:Lady GlenmireMedical referralMarthaCare team

Signor Brunoni

Also known as Samuel Brown, the conjuror

A travelling conjuror whose Cranford performances spark the town's robbery panic; in truth an Englishman, Samuel Brown, later found injured on the road.

Martha

Miss Matty's faithful, blunt country maidservant, whose loyalty and marriage to Jem Hearn help rescue Miss Matty after her financial ruin.

Bonds:JenkynsEmployer-servantPoleRecent visitorJamiesonDinner interactionJenkynsFormer mistress