Barefoot on the Cobbles has a large cast, all of whom really existed. A few have had their first names changed to avoid confusion. There is more information about some of them in a series of blog posts that appeared on this site in the days before the novel was published and there are links to these posts below. I felt that those reading the novel on an electronic device might welcome the opportunity to download and print the list of characters, so the appropriate file can be found here. For photographs of many of these people, please see the photo gallery.
The Folk you will Meet as you Wander down the Cobbles and Beyond
A Family Touched by Tragedy
Albert – her husband, a fisherman
Leonard, Bertie, Violet, Mark, Nelson, Lily and Rosie – their other children
In Court
Mr Lefroy – solicitor for the defence
Richard Ottley – a jaded reporter
Mr Brown – the coroner
Mr Cruse – foreman of the coroner’s jury
Mr Duncan, Mr Cock and Mr Fulford – magistrates
Mr Carnegie – presiding over Bideford county sessions
Mr Warlow – appearing for the Director of Public Prosecutions
Superintendent Shutler
In Bucks Mills
Mary ‘Mrs William’ – Albert’s mother
Aunt Ellen ‘Mrs Tommy’ – his wife and Albert’s aunt
Eadie – their daughter, Albert’s adopted sister and cousin
Sammy, Evie, Peg, Alice, Dol and Gilbert – their other children
Captain James ‘King of Bucks’ and his wife – Albert and Eadie’s grandparents
Aunt Matilda – a deluded soul, Albert’s aunt
Aunt Agnes, Aunt Lizzie and Uncle John – Albert’s other aunts and uncle
Walter – Eadie’s husband
Captain Joe – a householder
‘Takey’ – a fish merchant
‘Johnnie Adelaide’ – a neighbour
Norah and Gertie – his daughters
‘Daft Bob’
George – Albert’s cousin and Ada’s intended
In Peppercombe
Richard Wakely – Polly’s father
Eliza Wakely née Found – Polly’s mother
Lydia, Jane, Ada and Ethel – Polly’s sisters
Mrs Pine-Coffin – Lady of Portledge Manor, Polly’s employer
Winifred – her daughter
In Bideford
Susan Prance née Found – Polly’s aunt
Joe Prance – a fishmonger and grocer, Polly’s uncle
Minnie and Athaliah – their daughters, Polly’s cousins
May – another daughter, recently died in Wales
Willie and Hilda – May’s children, lately arrived in Bideford
Mr Hopson – an ironmonger
Frank Holwill – an ironmonger’s assistant, Athaliah’s suitor
Mrs Newman – a superior dressmaker
Mrs Emily Powell – a struggling gentlewoman
Captain Thomas Powell – her profligate husband
Frances, Rosamund, William and Margaret – their children
Florence Powell – another daughter, much mourned
Reverend Roberts
Reverend Page
The Misses Ley – schoolmistresses
Mr Tardrew – a creditor
Temperance Lloyd – a supposed witch
Philip Waters – an Appledore boatbuilder
At Clovelly Court
Mrs Hamlyn – Lady of the Manor
Mr Frederick Hamlyn – her husband
Hon. Betty Manners – heiress to the Court
Herbert Henry Asquith – the Prime Minister
Hon. Arthur Asquith – their son
Lord Northcote – a guest
Lord Hugh Cecil – another guest
Lord Cromer – another guest
Clovelly Villagers
Granny Smale aka Granny Pengilly – a tea-shop owner
Captain William Pengilly – her first husband
Harry Smale – her second husband
Annie Stoneman – her granddaughter
Ben and Mabel Stoneman – Annie’s parents
Susan, Hettie, Norman and Fanny – their children, Annie’s siblings
Mrs Emma Stanbury – Polly’s neighbour, a witness for the prosecution
Mrs Hannah Davies – her daughter
Stanley Davies – Mrs Davies’ son
Mr Edward Laurence Collins – an outsider
Mrs Amelia Collins – his wife
Alice, Mary and Bella – Daisy’s friends
Mrs Tuke – his wife
Abraham Tuke – their son, a reluctant soldier
Mrs Jones – a lodging house keeper
Eli – a carrier and a relative of Albert
Samuel Harris
Mrs Abbott
Sid Abbott
Tom Pengilly – coxswain of the lifeboat
Rose Harding – his wife
Billy Harding – his son
Wilf Badcock – his son
Richard Foley
Mrs Foley
Mrs Bushell
Steve Headon
Dick Cruse
Captain Charlie Bate
Tommy Bate – his son
Catherine Bate – Tommy’s wife
Captain Jim Jenn
Captain Jenn senior
Mr Moss – publican of the Red Lion
Tom Finch – gardener and organist
Will Oke – an unfortunate elderly man
Mrs Oke – his wife
Reverend Simkin
Miss Lott and Miss Hazard – schoolmistresses
George Reilly – a photographer
Mrs Howard – a postmistress
Encountered in Clovelly
Vera Wentworth, Jessie Kenney, Elsie Howey and ‘Mrs Pond’ – women with a purpose
Dr Crew, Dr Kay, Dr Toye and Dr Ackland
Thomas Sanders – the relieving officer
Mr Dennis – a magistrate
Frank Ifield – a singer
On the Western Front
Major Shilland
Corporal Squance
In Torquay
Mr Gilley – her husband
Laura Kate Cornelius – a former servant with social aspirations
Percy Cornelius – her husband, a butcher
Kathleen Cornelius – their daughter
Mr Meyers – Mrs Cornelius’ father
Francis Meyers ‘Mr Francis’ – Mrs Cornelius’ brother
Owen Meyers – another brother, a fallen soldier
Mrs Alice Meyers – Owen’s widow
Mrs Miller – impoverished gentry
Agatha Miller – her daughter, a dispenser
Winnie Hamm – a servant, Daisy’s friend
Louisa Taylor – superintendent nurse at Newton Abbot workhouse
Dr Cook
Eugene O’Brien and Mary Pickford – film stars
Charlie Chaplin – a comic genius
The History Interpreter - Janet Few 