List of Dickensian Characters - H

H

• Harmon, John Son of a wealthy dust contractor and heir to his fortune if he agrees to marry Bella Wilfer. He is away from England when his father dies and on the way home he is supposed drowned in a case of mistaken identity. With his supposed death the dust fortune goes to Boffin. John gets himself hired into the Boffin home as secretary John Rokesmith. Here he meets Bella and, with the help of the Boffins, wins her love as Rokesmith, and marries her. He later reveals his true identity and regains his fortune in Our Mutual Friend.
• Harris, Mrs Imaginary friend of Sairey Gamp who uses Mrs Harris's invented quotes to establish Mrs Gamp's good reputation in Martin Chuzzlewit.
• Harthouse, James A Parliamentary candidate visiting Coketown, he befriends Tom Gradgrind in an attempt to seduce his sister, Louisa, who is in an unhappy marriage to Bounderby. As a result of the attempted seduction Louisa runs home to her father and refuses to return to Bounderby and is later disowned by him in Hard Times.
• Havisham, Estella is adopted by Miss Havisham in Great Expectations. Pip falls in love with her, she spurns him, but after several years they meet and vow to remain together.
• Havisham, Miss A very rich and grim old woman who lives in seclusion at Satis House. She is the guardian of Estella whom she teaches to break men's hearts to avenge her own being left at the altar by Compeyson years before. She continues to wear her wedding dress and her room contains the yellowing remnants of the wedding day including the mouldy wedding cake. Pip goes to Miss Havisham's to play and meets Estella. Pip believes Miss Havisham is his secret benefactor as he goes to London and becomes a gentleman, finding out later that the convict Magwitch has supplied his 'Expectations'. Miss Havisham dies when her house burns down and leaves her fortune to Estella in Great Expectations.
• Havisham, Arthur Miss Havisham's drunken brother who plots with Compeyson to gain his sister's fortune in Great Expectations..
• Hawdon, Captain James see Nemo.
• Hawk, Sir Mulberry is a lecherous, parasitic nobleman in Nicholas Nickleby.
• Heep, Mrs Widowed mother of Uriah Heep in David Copperfield, "dead image of Uriah, only short". She is as "'umble" as her son, whom she dotes on.
• Heep, Uriah A hypocritical clerk of Mr Wickfield's who is continually citing his humbleness. He deviously plots to ruin Wickfield but is later undone by Mr Micawber. On their first meeting, David describes him as "a red-haired person - a youth of fifteen, as I take it now, but looking much older - whose hair was cropped as close as the closest stubble; who had hardly any eyebrows, and no eyelashes, and eyes of a red-brown, so unsheltered and unshaded, that I remember wondering how he went to sleep. He was high-shouldered and bony; dressed in decent black, with a white wisp of a neckcloth; buttoned up to the throat; and had a long, lank, skeleton hand, which particularly attracted my attention, as he stood at the pony's head, rubbing his chin with it, and looking up at us in the chaise. He had a way of writhing when he wanted to express enthusiasm, which was very ugly" Uriah Heep, wonderfully hideous, is one of Dickens' greatest triumphs in character creation. His description of Heep's writhing and scheming, and his cold, clammy nature, makes one's skin crawl in David Copperfield.
• Hexam, Charlie Son of Gaffer and brother to Lizzie. Charlie is educated by Bradley Headstone and supports Headstone's advances toward his sister. When Lizzie refuses to marry Headstone Charlie rejects her in Our Mutual Friend.
• Hexam, Gaffer Waterman, father of Lizzie and Charlie, who plies the Thames looking for dead bodies. He finds a body thought to be John Harmon, the central character in the story in Our Mutual Friend.
• Hexam, Lizzie Daughter of waterman Gaffer Hexam and sister of Charlie. She is opposed to her father's business of combing the Thames looking for drowned bodies but is true to him. When her father drowns she goes to live with Jenny Wren. Lizzie rejects the advances of schoolmaster Bradley Headstone and opposes the attention of Eugene Wrayburn, although she loves him, because they come from different classes of society. She runs away from London to a mill up the river. Wrayburn succeeds in finding her and is followed by Headstone who attempts to murder Wrayburn. Lizzie rescues Wrayburn and later marries him in Our Mutual Friend.
• Higden, Betty Old woman who operates a 'minding school', for orphans and other children. She is adamant about earning her keep and staying away from the workhouse. When an orphan in her keep dies she hits the road and earns a living doing needlework. She dies in the arms of Lizzie Hexam who promises not to take her to the workhouse. Dickens uses the character to illustrate the horror many of the truly needy had of the workhouse system in Our Mutual Friend.
• Hominy, Mrs Conceited American literary lady Martin is forced to accompany on the first leg of the trip to Eden in Martin Chuzzlewit.
• Honeythunder, Luke Loud, overbearing philanthropist and guardian of Neville and Helena Landless in The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
• Hortense Lady Dedlock's French maid in Bleak House. She is dismissed in favour of Rosa and aids lawyer Tulkinghorn in discovering Lady Dedlock's secret. When Tulkinghorn spurns her she murders him. Hortense is based on Mrs Manning, a murderer whose execution Dickens witnessed in 1849.
• Hubbles, Mr and Mrs Friends of the Gargerys, Mr Hubble is the village wheelwright in Great Expectations.
• Hugh the hostler at the Maypole. Joins the rioters in London and is later hanged. Revealed to be the son of Sir John Chester in Barnaby Rudge
• Hunter, Leo, Mr and Mrs Mrs Hunter organised a fancy-dress garden party for literary people in The Pickwick Papers. She graced the assembled company with a reading of her own poem, The Expiring Frog. Mr Hunter is a docile character, wholly under his wife's influence.
• Hutley, Jem alias "Dismal Jemmy", is a friend of Alfred Jingle in The Pickwick Papers. He is a shabbily-dressed man who makes depressing observations, and then tells the Pickwickians The Stroller's Tale, a story of a man dying in great poverty.