Who Is Who
This is the who’s who for Jane Austen’s Persuasion, for when you are a few chapters in and two sisters have the same married name. It is light on spoilers. I will tell you who everyone is when you meet them and what they want. I will not say how the book ends, and I will not give away what happens in Bath or at Lyme.
I counted names in the Project Gutenberg text, ebook number one hundred and five. Anne appears by name four hundred and ninety-six times. The next most common name is Wentworth, at two hundred and eighteen. Nobody else reaches two hundred. So let’s start with the one who holds all of it together.
Anne Elliot
Anne is the middle Elliot sister. The text puts her at twenty-seven as the story gets going, after it opens in the summer of eighteen fourteen. Her father and her elder sister treat her as nobody. The book says her word has no weight with either of them, that she is only Anne.
She is gentle, observant and quietly practical. Other people hand her their problems all day long. Her sister Mary summons her whenever she feels ill, and both families at Uppercross confide their complaints about each other to her. But she is also the person who, years ago, was persuaded to break an engagement. That decision sits under everything she does in this book, and the book keeps it in view.
Captain Wentworth
Frederick Wentworth is a naval officer, and he was the man Anne gave up. When we first hear of him, he is a commander, promoted after an action off St Domingo, with no fortune yet. Lady Russell calls him brilliant and headstrong. He is warm, funny and sure that luck is on his side.
He is also angry. He has not forgiven her, and the book lets us know it early. He says he wants a woman with a strong mind and sweet manners, and he admires firm people. His sister is Mrs Croft, which is how he comes back into Anne’s life. He is also friends with the Harvilles and Captain Benwick, who matter later.
The Elliots of Kellynch
Sir Walter Elliot is a baronet, fifty-four, and in the narrator’s words vain from beginning to end. He reads the Baronetage for pleasure. He has let his money run out and will not cut a single comfort to save it. He dislikes the navy because it raises men of humble birth, and he is rather proud of his own looks.
Elizabeth, the eldest, is twenty-nine, and has run Kellynch Hall for thirteen years. She is handsome and as proud as her father. She expected to marry the heir, her cousin, and was disappointed.
Mary is the youngest, now Mrs Charles Musgrove. She is not a villain, but she is always a little unwell, always put upon, and always sure she is owed precedence. Anne finds her draining. She is also, in my opinion, one of the funniest people in the book.
Lady Russell
Lady Russell is the widow of a knight, and she was Lady Elliot’s best friend. She has lived near Kellynch for years and is Anne’s godmother. The book says she is of sound rather than quick abilities. She loves Anne like a daughter, and Anne trusts her more than anyone.
She also has a weakness. She cares a great deal about rank and good manners, and the narrator says so plainly. She gives careful advice, and some of it has cost Anne dearly. I will not say more than that. Hold onto her, because she matters in every part of the plot.
The Musgroves of Uppercross
Uppercross is three miles from Kellynch, and the Musgroves are the nearest big family. Mr and Mrs Musgrove are kind and hospitable. Mrs Musgrove is still grieving her son Richard, who died young, and whom the narrator describes far less kindly than his mother does.
Their eldest son Charles married Mary. He is civil, good-natured, and fonder of shooting than of sitting with his wife. His sisters are Henrietta, the prettier, and Louisa, who has the higher spirits. Both are lively girls, new to the idea of a naval hero in the neighbourhood. Their cousin Charles Hayter, a clergyman, is waiting in the wings.
The Navy
Admiral Croft rents Kellynch Hall. He is a rear admiral, cheerful and plain-spoken, and he fought at Trafalgar. Mrs Croft, also called Sophy, is Wentworth’s sister. She has crossed the Atlantic four times and travelled to the East Indies with her husband, and she is the least fussy woman in the book. Sir Walter, a snob about everything, finds them acceptable tenants.
Captain Harville is Wentworth’s friend, a tall, dark man who is a little lame. He is no reader, but he makes shelves and fixes things, and he opens his small house at Lyme to everybody. His wife is Mrs Harville.
Captain Benwick lives with the Harvilles. He was engaged to Captain Harville’s sister Fanny, who died the summer before. He is shy, sad, and devoted to poetry. Anne is kind to him.
Bath
When the story moves to Bath you meet more people. Mr Elliot is the cousin who will inherit Kellynch. In the first chapter he is the heir who slighted the family, and later he arrives charming. Anne is not sure what to make of him, and I will leave it there.
Mrs Clay is the daughter of Sir Walter’s lawyer, Mr Shepherd. She is a widow with two children and a close friend of Elizabeth. Lady Russell does not like the friendship.
Mrs Smith is Anne’s school friend, now a poor widow in Westgate Buildings. She is clever and cheerful, and she is Anne’s ally. Her friend Nurse Rooke is a minor character you will remember. Lady Dalrymple and her daughter Miss Carteret are noble cousins, whom Sir Walter and Elizabeth chase with great energy.
Names That Trip You Up
Three pairs cause trouble. There are two Charleses. Charles Musgrove is Mary’s husband, and Charles Hayter is the Musgroves’ cousin, the clergyman. There are two Wentworths. Frederick is the captain, and his brother is the former curate of Monkford, whom Sir Walter remembers as nobody. And there are two Mrs Musgroves. Mary is Mrs Charles Musgrove, and her husband’s mother is plain Mrs Musgrove, so plain Mrs Musgrove is the mother.
Also, Mr Elliot is a cousin, William Walter Elliot, and the Baronetage in chapter one names him heir presumptive.
Quick Reference
If you want it short, here it is. Anne Elliot is the heroine. Captain Wentworth is the man she lost. Sir Walter and Elizabeth are the vain family. Mary is the complaining sister. Lady Russell is the trusted friend. The Musgroves are the neighbours. The Crofts, Harvilles and Benwick are the navy circle. Mr Elliot, Mrs Clay and Mrs Smith are Bath.
These are my counts of names in the text, and the opinions are mine. The full summary is a separate video, and it spoils everything. If this helped, subscribe, and tell me in the comments which character you trust least.
