List of Dickensian Characters - S

S

• Sarah or Sairey Gamp is a nurse in Martin Chuzzlewit.
• Scrooge, Ebenezer Miserly main character in A Christmas Carol, he is visited by the ghost of Jacob Marley and three ghosts of Christmas.
• Sikes, Bill is a villain and a thief in Oliver Twist.
• Skimpole, Harold is the indebted and foolish friend of John Jarndyce in Bleak House. His character is based on the critic and essayist Leigh Hunt.
• Slammer, Dr is a surgeon with the 97th Regiment in The Pickwick Papers. He is slighted by Mr Jingle at a ball, and Winkle almost fights a duel with him, because Jingle had borrowed Winkle's coat and Slammer's second delivers the challenge to the owner of the distinctive coat.
• Slumkey, Samuel the 'Blue' candidate in the Eatanswill by-election, in The Pickwick Papers. Pickwick's friend and lawyer, Mr Perker, is his election agent.
• Smallweed, Mr A moneylender. An evil man who enjoys inflicting emotional pain on other people. He drives Mr George into bankruptcy by calling in debts. Mr Tulkinghorn is his attorney in that case. It has been suggested that his description (together with his grandchildren) fit that of a person with progeria.
• Smike is the damaged, sickly young man who escapes with Nicholas from the squalid Dotheboys Hall and its sadistic master, Wackford Squeers, in Nicholas Nickleby.
• Snagsby, Mr The timid proprietor of a law-stationery business who gets involved with Tulkinghorn's and Bucket's secrets, in Bleak House. He is Jo's only friend. He tends to give half-crowns to those whom he feels sorry for. He is married to Mrs Snagsby, who has a strong personality and suspects Mr Snagsby of many secrets, for example she (incorrectly) believes that Jo the crossing sweeper is his son.
• Snodgrass, Augustus is a member of the Pickwick Club and a travelling companion of Mr Pickwick in the Pickwick Papers. He has a poetic nature, but has apparently not written any verse himself.
• Sowerberry, Mr is the undertaker in which Oliver is sold to by Mr Bumble in the novel Oliver Twist.
• Sowerberry, Mrs is the wife of Mr Sowerberry, and mother of Charlotte in the novel Oliver Twist.
• Spenlow, Dora is the first wife of David Copperfield in David Copperfield.
• Spottletoe, Mr and Mrs Relatives of old Martin Chuzzlewit's (Mrs is old Martin's niece) with designs on inheriting his money in Martin Chuzzlewit.
• Squeers, Fanny Daughter of Wackford Squeers. Described as "not tall like her mother, but short like her father; from the former she inherited a voice of harsh quality; from the latter a remarkable expression of the right eye, something akin to having none at all." When Nicholas Nickleby becomes her father's assistant she falls madly in love with him, telling her friend Matilda Price that they are practically engaged. Nicholas wants nothing to do with her in Nicholas Nickleby.
• Squeers, Wackford Proprietor of Dotheboys Hall, he takes in boys not wanted by their families and mistreats them. Nicholas Nickleby becomes his assistant master and sees the way he treats his charges, gives him a sound thrashing, and leaves. Squeers seeks revenge and conspires with Ralph Nickleby. He is eventually undone, imprisoned, and transported in Nicholas Nickleby.
• Squeers, Wackford Jr Son of schoolmaster Wackford Squeers. Little Wackford is kept fat as an advertisement of the supposed plenty provided at the school. He is spoiled by being given any gifts intended for pupils of the school by their families in Nicholas Nickleby.
• Squeers, Mrs Wife of Wackford Squeers: "a large raw-boned figure, was about half a head taller than Mr Squeers." While Mr Squeers attempts to keep his cruelty in check, in order to keep up appearances, Mrs Squeers is openly cruel in Nicholas Nickleby.
• Squod, Phil Mr George's ugly little assistant at the shooting gallery in Bleak House. Formerly a travelling tinker.
• Stagg Blind member of the 'Prentice Knights with Simon Tappertit. He joins Barnaby Rudge Sr in trying to extort money from Mary Rudge. Killed when he tries to run from officers arresting Hugh, Barnaby, and Rudge Sr in Barnaby Rudge.
• Steerforth, James is a childhood friend of David Copperfield, he seduces Emily and then tires of her. He drowns in a shipwreck, despite the attempts of Ham to save him in David Copperfield.
• Strong, Annie Pretty, young wife of Doctor Strong. Annie is suspected of having an affair with her cousin, Jack Maldon in David Copperfield.
• Strong, Doctor Headmaster at the school David attends in Canterbury. He is chiefly concerned with assembling his Greek dictionary in David Copperfield.
• Summerson, Esther Principal character in Bleak House. She is brought up an orphan by her aunt, Miss Barbery. On her aunt's death she is adopted by John Jarndyce and becomes companion to his wards, Ada Clare and Richard Carstone. Later in the story it is revealed that Esther is the illegitimate daughter of Captain Hawdon and Lady Dedlock. John Jarndyce falls in love with her and asked her to marry him. She consents out of respect for Jarndyce but during the engagement she falls in love with Allan Woodcourt. When Jarndyce learns of her feelings for Allan he releases her from the engagement and she marries Woodcourt.
• Sweedlepipe, Paul (Poll) A barber and bird-fancier, and landlord of Mrs Gamp in Martin Chuzzlewit. "Poll Sweedlepipe's house was one great bird's nest. Gamecocks resided in the kitchen; pheasants wasted the brightness of their golden plumage on the garret; bantams roosted in the cellar; owls had possession of the bedroom; and specimens of all the smaller fry of birds chirrupped and twittered in the shop."
• Swidger, Milly Wife of William and the only member of the family not touched by Redlaw's gift of forgetting past sorrows, in The Haunted Man. Her inherent goodness, based on remembrance of her lost child, reverses the effects of this curse in her family, the Tetterbys, and Edmund Longford.
• Swidger, Philip Eighty-seven year-old patriarch of the Swidger family. He loses his present happiness, based on his memories, when touched by Redlaw's gift. He is restored to happiness by Milly Swidger in The Haunted Man.
• Swidger, William Caretaker of the university where Redlaw teaches chemistry. His family is adversely effected by Redlaw's gift of forgetting past sorrows. The adverse effects of this 'gift' are finally reversed by William's wife, Milly in The Haunted Man.
• Swiveller, Dick Friend of Fred Trent, Swiveller has designs to marry Fred's sister, Nell Trent, but is encouraged to wait until Nell has inherited her grandfather's money. When Nell and her grandfather leave London Swiveller is befriended by Quilp who helps him gain employment with the Brasses. While at the Brasses he meets their little half-starved servant the Marchioness. He becomes aware of the Brasses villainy and, with the Marchioness' help, exposes a plot to frame Kit Nubbles. Swiveller later inherits money from his aunt, puts the Marchioness through school, and later marries her in The Old Curiosity Shop.