Paul Pennyfeather

Paul Pennyfeather is the protagonist. A student at Oxford University, he is the passive object to whom things happen.

Sir Alastair Trumpington

Sir Alastair Trumpington is a fellow-student member of the Bollinger Club.

Dr. Augustus Fagan

Dr. Augustus Fagan is headmaster and owner of the Llanabba Castle School and employer of Paul.

Captain Edgar Grimes

Captain Edgar Grimes is an unlikely schoolmaster, on staff at Llanabba. At one point believed to be dead, he reappears throughout the work.

Mr. Prendergast

Mr. Prendergast is a former clergyman, who quit when he was beset by doubts. He is later murdered in the prison where Paul is being held.

Peter Beste-Chetwynde

Peter is an aristocratic student of Paul’s who becomes Paul’s means of introduction to his mother, Mrs. Margot Beste-Chetwynde.

Miss Florence Fagan

Florence “Flossie” Fagan, is Dr. Fagan’s elder daughter, and is secretly engaged to Captain...