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Quotes
Mary Barton
Golden-haired, blue-eyed Mary Barton is daughter to John Barton and Mrs. Barton and the niece to Esther. A high-spirited girl, Mary decides young that she wants to use her beauty to marry out of…
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John Barton
John Barton is husband to Mrs. Barton and father to Mary Barton. A intelligent and strong-willed working-class Manchester man, he hates the rich because his baby son Tom starved to death during an economic…
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Jem (James) Wilson
Jem Wilson, son of Mr. George Wilson and Mrs. Wilson, nephew to Alice Wilson, is a passionate, brave, guileless young man who has been in love with Mary Barton since childhood. Early in…
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Harry Carson
Harry Carson is son to mill owner Mr. Carson and his wife Mrs. Carson and brother to Sophy Carson, among other sisters. Perhaps because his entire family dotes on him, handsome Harry grows up…
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Esther
Esther is sister to Mrs. Barton, sister-in-law to John Barton, and aunt to Mary Barton. A pretty, strong-willed factory worker, Esther “disappears” when Mary is 13 years old. In fact, Esther has…
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Margaret
Margaret, granddaughter to Job Legh, is a plain young woman with a beautiful singing voice who is going progressively blind from cataracts. She becomes good friends with Mary Barton after Alice Wilson introduces them…
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Mr. Carson
Mr. Carson, husband to Mrs. Carson and father to Harry Carson, Sophy Carson, and other daughters, is a mill owner in Manchester. Though Mr. Carson comes from a working-class background, he is…
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Job Legh
Job Legh, grandfather to Margaret, is a “little wiry-looking old man” obsessed with natural science and collecting specimens such as scorpions and flying fish. After Margaret and Mary Barton form a close friendship, Job…
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Will Wilson
Will Wilson is godson to Alice Wilson and childhood friend to Jem Wilson and Mary Barton. A cheerful, enthusiastic, and honorable young man, Will falls in love with Mary’s plain friend Margaret after hearing…
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Alice Wilson
Elderly, unwed Alice Wilson is aunt to Jem Wilson, godmother to Will Wilson, and family friend to Mary and John Barton. A medicine woman with wide knowledge of herbs, Alice is also…
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Mrs. Wilson
Wife to Mr. George Wilson and mother to Jem Wilson, Mrs. Wilson is peevish in small matters but open-hearted in large ones. She suffered a factory accident in her youth that left her with…
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Sally Leadbitter
Sally Leadbitter, a “plain, red-haired, freckled girl,” is Mary Barton’s coworker at Miss Simmonds’s seamstress business. Sally is friendly but immodest, romance-obsessed, and occasionally malicious. Her main redeeming quality is her love and…
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Bessy Witter/Mrs. Carson
Mrs. Carson is wife to Mr. Carson and mother to Harry Carson, Sophy Carson, and other daughters. Her maiden name was Bessy Witter. As a young working-class woman, she wanted to marry mill…
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The Old Boatman/Ben Sturgis
Along with his wife Mrs. Sturgis, Ben Sturgis—a kindly old Liverpool boatman—gives Mary Barton shelter when she loses the address of the place she was supposed to stay in Liverpool during Jem Wilson’s…
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Mrs. Sturgis
Mrs. Sturgis, wife of Liverpool boatman Ben Sturgis, gives Mary Barton shelter after Mary loses the address of the place she was supposed to stay in Liverpool during Jem Wilson’s trial for murder…
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Minor Characters
Mr. George Wilson
Mr. George Wilson is father to Jem Wilson, husband to Mrs. Wilson, and good friend to John Barton, though he is less intelligent and better-tempered than John. He dies suddenly during an economic downturn, leaving Jem to support Mrs. Wilson and his aunt Alice Wilson.
Charley Jones
Charley Jones is the son of Mrs. Jones, Will Wilson’s landlady in Liverpool. An energetic and mischievous boy who wants to become a sailor, Charley tells Mary Barton to go after Will’s departing ship so that she can inform him he must provide Jem Wilson’s alibi for murder.
Mrs. Davenport
Mrs. Davenport is the poor wife of one of Mr. George Wilson’s unemployed former coworkers. After her husband dies of typhoid, she shows her gratitude for the help Mr. Wilson and John Barton give her family by repeatedly helping Mrs. Wilson and Alice Wilson in times of difficulty.
Sophy Carson
The most sensible and spirited of Harry Carson’s sisters, Sophy is the one to tell her father Mr. Carson that Harry has been murdered after the servants are too frightened to tell him themselves.
Miss Simmonds
Miss Simmonds is a seamstress who hires Mary Barton first as an apprentice and then as a paid employee. She also employs Sally Leadbitter, among other young women.
Mrs. Barton
Wife to John Barton and mother to Mary Barton, Mrs. Barton dies in childbirth when Mary is 13, shortly after Mrs. Barton’s sister Esther disappears. John blames Mrs. Barton’s death on the shock of Esther’s disappearance, which leads him to treat Esther very harshly when she reappears in Manchester.
Mr. Bridgnorth
Mr. Bridgnorth, a lawyer, represents Jem Wilson after Jem is accused of murdering Harry Carson.
Mrs. Jones
Mrs. Jones is Will Wilson’s landlady in Liverpool.
