Characters in the Woman in Black
Arthur Kipps – middle aged lawyer and narrator of the story. Starts off the story in
the present and then goes back to when he was young and narrates the story
chronologically.
Esme – his second wife – a widower when he married her and mother to four
children.
Isobel, Oliver, Will and Edmund – Esme’s children from her first marriage to Captain
Ainley. Together with their mother they create a comforting domestic scene at the
beginning of the novel to provide a contrast with the terrible story that is to follow
Mr Bentley a renowned London solicitor for whom Kipps works. They later become
business partners.
Tomes – Mr Bentley’s clerk sniffs constantly as if he has a permanent cold. He deals
mainly in wills. His name means books – ironic as that is what he spends most of his
time working with.
Mrs Alice Drablow – a long term client of Mr Bentley and previously his father. She
is seen as an eccentric character. Her death, alone and at the age of 87 sparks
Kipps’ visit to Crythin Gifford and Eel Marsh House. The story begins sixty years
before her death. No-one in Crythin will give away any details about her and all
seem uncomfortable when she is mentioned so at first, Kipps has to build up his
own impression of her. Her character is revealed through her letters to her sister.
She was married to Thomas Morgan Drablow and had no children except for
Nathaniel Piertson, the boy she adopts from her sister.
Mr Samuel Daily – a prosperous land-dealer whom Kipps meets on the train to
Homerby, the station for Crythin Gifford. He becomes Arthur’s friend but is
reluctant to reveal too much of what he knows about the story of The Woman Ion
Black.
Mrs Daily – his wife.
Stella – Kipps’ fiancé during the time of the events at Crythin and later his first
wife. She is killed at the end of the story by the woman in black when the carriage
she is riding in hits a tree. She dies ten weeks later.
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Mr Horatio Jerome – Mrs Drablow’s land agent – charged with the job of selling Eel
Marsh House. He has lost a child to the woman in black. When Kipps mentions
Jennet Humfrye he panics and scares Kipps.
The landlord of The Gifford Arms (the inn at which Arthur Kipps stays). He is at
the centre of the conspiracy of silence in the village – just as in a normal place his
pub would be the centre of village life.
Jennet Humfrye – Alice Drablow’s sister – the woman in Black. At first Kipps
mistakes Jennet for a friend of Alice Drablow’s when he sees her at the funeral.
She witnesses the death of her son and dies 12 years later from a wasting disease
and heart failure at the age of 36. She has been seeking revenge on her sister ever
since her death. Every time she appears a child in the village dies in violent
circumstances.
Nathaniel Piertson – Jennet’s illegitimate son, who is adopted by the Drablow's and
subsequently drowns on the Nine Lives causeway. He dies at the age of six.
Keckwick – the driver of the pony and trap who takes Kipps to and from Eel
Marsh House. The only villager who ever ventures to the house in Mrs Drablow’s
time.He is the only person who had any contact with Mrs Drablow and would go to
Eel Marsh House from the village. Keckwick’s father was the trap driver before
him and was killed on the marshes with Nathaniel and Rose. When he first meets
Kipps his silence is significant and when he does speak he is blunt and won’t be
drawn into conversation about the sound Kipps hears.
Spider – Arthur Daily’s dog who accompanies Arthur on his visit to Eel Marsh
House.
Rose Judd – the nurse who looked after Nathaniel Piertson and died with him and
Keckwick’s father in the accident on the causeway.
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