Alfred Brangwen
The first character introduced in the novel, Alfred tends to the Marsh Farms. With his wife—an unnamed character—Alfred is the father of six children including Alfred, Frank, Alice, Effie and Tom. He dies after falling from a haystack and Tom takes over the farm.
Alfred Brangwen II
Tom’s brother and the father of Will. As a teenager he is sent to grammar school but struggles with academics, and later becomes a draftsman. Although he is originally described as “somewhat uncouth” he marries a woman from a good family and transforms into “something of a snob” (15). He later engages in an affair with a woman in Derbyshire.
Alfred is described as a “saturnine”—or gloomy—character. He is financially prosperous and enjoys culture, such as the poetry of Robert Browning. He has a distant relationship with much of his family, particularly with Tom, who feels that “his brother was bigger than himself” (133).
Frank Brangwen
The son of Alfred and the brother of Tom. He is handsome, though he drinks heavily and is described as being “weaker in character” than the rest of his family (16). He marries at the age of eighteen and has many children with his wife.
Alice Brangwen
The elder daughter of Alfred and the sister of Tom. She never appears directly in the novel but was said to have married a coal miner and settled in Yorkshire with her large family.
Effie Brangwen
The younger daughter of Alfred and the sister of Tom. Effie lives alone at the farm with Tom after their father dies before marrying and moving away from the farm.
Tom Brangwen
Tom is the protagonist of the first generation of the Brangwen family described in the novel. He is the youngest child amongst his siblings but he takes over the Marsh at the age of seventeen after his father’s death. He marries Lydia and they raise three children together: Anna, Tom and Fred. Halfway through the novel, Tom drowns when the canal running through the Marsh overflows.
Tom is a complex, highly sensitive character. He is stubborn and prone to outrage and heavy drinking, although he is also very kind, particularly to his step-daughter, Anna. Initially, he refuses to allow her to marry his nephew, William, although he later relents and supports them emotionally and financially. At times, Tom directs his anger at Lydia but elsewhere he is romantic and compassionate to her. Often, he is filled with existential anxiety and feels both inadequate and insecure with his place in the world. In particular, he feels a sense of cultural inferiority to people like his brother, Alfred, who can appreciate art and poetry. Nonetheless, he is a talented farmer and salesman who brings the Brangwens a great deal of prosperity. Above all, he is a relatable, if not always likable, character.
Tilly
The Brangwen’s servant. She is stern and loyal, and remains with the family for decades. It is revealed that she is in love with Tom, although it is unclear if it is in a romantic or familial way.
Lydia Brangwen (formerly Lansky)
Lydia is Tom’s husband and a major character in the first generation of the Brangwen family. Born and raised in Poland, Lydia married a doctor, Paul Lansky, in Warsaw and trained to work as a nurse. Lydia and Paul had two children together, both of whom died of diphtheria. They relocated to London where she gave birth to another daughter, Anna, before Paul died. After relocating to Cossethay, Lydia meets Tom and they are married. In addition to Anna, they have two sons: Tom and Alfred.
Lydia is prone to depression and angry outbursts, although she works hard to take care of her family. She shares a tumultuous marriage with Tom, but admits to loving him after he drowns. While Tom and Anna are quite close, Lydia is more reserved with her daughter, although she later develops a close relationship with her grand-daughter, Ursula. Several years after Tom, she dies of an undisclosed illness.
Paul Lansky
Lydia’s first husband who died before the novel begins. Trained as a doctor, Paul becomes heavily involved in the fight for Polish nationalism. He becomes obsessed with the cause, and even after Lydia and Paul immigrate to London he had “his life locked into a resistance and could not relax again” (50). He begins to waste away and soon dies, leaving Lydia a widow with their young daughter, Anna.
Baron Rudolph Skrebensky
Father of Anton Skrebensky. Like Lydia, Rudolph is Polish and relocated to England to become a vicar in a countryside church. He is admired by those around him, particularly the young Anna Brangwen who likes his “extravagance and his exuberant manner” (93). He marries an English nobleman, Millicent Maud Pearse, and they raise Anton in the fictional town of Briswell.
Millicent Maud Pearse
Wife of Rudolph and mother to Anton. Appearing briefly in the novel, Millicent is the educated, attractive wife of Rudolph. Described as a “little, creamy-skinned, insidious thing,” Millicent flirts openly with Tom and toys with his affections.
Anna Brangwen
The daughter of Lydia and the step-daughter of Tom. Anna was born in London shortly before the death of her father, Paul Lansky, and is later brought to Cossethay where her mother marries Tom. Anna is depicted as a fiercely independent girl, “at once shy and wild” and “always at outs with authority” (92, 95). She struggles to make friends with her peers, and instead prefers to spend time with Tom. She develops an incredibly close, caring relationship with her step-father but remains distant with her father.
At the age of eighteen, Anna develops an intense relationship with Tom’s nephew, Will. They are married, and begin a volatile relationship. Like her mother, Anna is prone to anger, depression, and isolation. At times, she can be cruel, as when she mocks the cathedral that Will adores, thus ruining the experience for him. Unlike her husband, Anna is not religiously inclined, and she struggles to understand her husband’s faith. Nonetheless, they fall in and out of love with one another and end up having nine children by the novel's conclusion, including Ursula, Gudrun, Theresa, Catherine and William. Much to Ursula’s disapproval, Anna is said to care only about “the children, the house, and a little local gossip” (328).
William (Will) Brangwen
The son of Alfred and the nephew of Tom. Like his father, Will is trained as a draughtsman and moves to Ilkeston at the age of twenty to take a job at the local lace factory. There, he meets Anna and begins courting her. He is a skilled craftsman and artisan, and he spends much time at work on a wood-carving of Adam and Eve which he later destroys in a fit of rage. He proposes to Anna, and despite Tom’s initial disapproval, he is persistent and they are soon married.
Like Anna, Will can be angry, hateful, and prone to drastic changes in his mood. Sometimes he loves Anna but just as often he is “coiled round a centre of hatred” for her (142). In passing, it is revealed that Will can be physically violent towards his wife. Given this, it is somewhat ironic that Will is devoutly religious. He feels deeply moved by cathedrals and christian imagery, which Anna mocks. He also has an artistic sensibility, and collects reproductions of Renaissance artists such as Raphael. He spends much of his time working in the fields.
Of his children, Will grows closest to his eldest daughter, Ursula, and like Tom and Anna, they develop a close relationship. As Ursula grows up and rebels against her parent’s wishes, Will is stern yet supportive. As Will also ages, he becomes less angry and more engaged in the community, later moving the family to Nottingham to take up a job teaching wood-work to young boys. Like Tom before him, Will is a difficult character and one in which Lawrence invests deep psychological detail.
Tom Brangwen II
Eldest son of Tom and Lydia, half-brother of Anna. Tom is described as a highly attractive, intelligent character with a “refined manner” (224). He trains as an engineer, and later travels around the world before taking up a job as the manager of a collier in Wiggiston. He is kind and generous, and often brings presents for his young niece, Ursula. Later in the novel, he marries Ursula’s former lover, Winnifred Inger. Ursula grows disgusted with his role in the mining industry, and she concludes that “his only happy moments, his only moments of pure freedom, were when he was serving the machine” (325).
Fred Brangwen
Younger son of Tom and Lydia, half-brother of Anna. Fred is much more like his father than his daring, attractive brother. Like his father, he is sensitive and enjoys reading. He takes over the farm following Tom’s daughter and later marries a school-mistress.
Ursula Brangwen
Daughter of Will and Anna. Ursula is the protagonist of the third and final generation of the Brangwen family depicted in the novel. From a young age, she is described as being fiercely independent and self-assured. She is very close with Will to the point that it is said that “only her father occupied any permanent position in the childish consciousness” (203). She works with him in the fields and travels with him to the markets.
As she ages, Ursula becomes highly ambitious. She desires a place for herself in the world, and actively stands up against the prejudice that women face. While attending school, Ursula engages in a sexual relationship with her teacher, Winifred Inger, who later marries her uncle Tom. Ursula then becomes a teacher and starts a relationship with Anton Skrebensky. Although he proposes, she rejects him several times. The novel ends when she fears that she is pregnant and writes a letter to Anton agreeing to marry him, only to discover that he has married another woman.
Ursula is a highly introspective character. She has a close, almost sacred, connection with nature and she intensely mourns the degradation of the environment caused by the Industrial Revolutions. Throughout the novel, she struggles with her religious faith, at times being devout and at other times regarding religion as “a tale, a myth, an illusion” (263).
Ursula can also be considered a feminist. She asserts her place in the world and desires “to see beautiful things, and have the joy of them for ever” (377). She fights her parents to be allowed to work as a school-teacher, and overcomes sexism at the job. With her friend Maggie, Ursula engages in the suffragette movement to secure women the vote. She also rejects Anton’s proposals because she wants freedom and not the “enforced domestic life” of her mother. In Ursula, Lawrence created a strong, powerful female character with relatable aspirations at a time before women even had the right to vote.
Anton Skrebensky
The son of Baron Rudolph Skrebensky and Millicent Maud Pearse. Anton meets Ursula during a month leave from his position in the army when he is twenty-one and she is sixteen. He is described as being well-mannered and funny though “almost ugly” (270). He and Ursula begin an intense courtship before he is forced to return for service. Later, he is sent to serve in the Boer War in present day South Africa. When he returns, he and Ursula continue their tumultuous relationship. When she rejects his proposals for marriage, he accepts a post as an officer in colonial India and marries the daughter of his Colonel.
In many ways, Anton is the representation of the individual in mass, modern society. He drives an automobile and believes that he has an obligation to both the citizens of England and the institution of the British Empire. Unlike characters earlier in the novel, he spends much of his time in cities like London. He and Ursula also have sexual intercourse before they are married, which was not as common at that time.
Yet in a distinct difference from the male archetype at the time, Anton is also highly emotional. Her behavior often upsets him deeply and when Ursula rejects his proposal he begins to sob uncontrollably in public, which shocks her. Near the end of their relationship he feels that “his manhood was cruelly, coldly defaced” (433). Like many characters in the novel, he is prone to depression and he feels “like a corpse” after Ursula and him split up (423). He, along with Ursula, finds solace in a connection to nature but comes to detest the “blind, sordid, strenuous activity” of industrial capitalism (431).
Winifred Inger
Winifred is the mistress at Ursula’s school, and later, her lover. She is described as a “fearless seeming, clean type of modern woman” and she inspires Ursula with her self-assuredness and independence (311). She is involved in the suffragette movement and has a large circle of educated friends. After Winifred moves to London after the end of the school year, she and Ursula drift apart. Ursula then decides to introduce Winifred to her uncle Tom. The two admire each other's strength and independence and agree to marry.
Gudrun Brangwen
Daughter of Will and Anna, sister to Ursula. In contrast to her elder sister, Ursula, Gudrun is described as quiet “strangely placid, almost passive” (204). She is close with Ursula, though she is said to live in a world “of her own difference and being” (243). She later attends Art School and develops a talent for sculpture. Although she is successful and wants to try life in London, her parents forbid her. Compared to Ursula she is described as “the more beautiful of the two” (401).
Maggie Schofield
Ursula and Maggie become friends while working at St. Philips School. She is described as “rather beautiful [and] meditative” and she offers Ursula support during the many challenges of the school year (351). Maggie is actively involved in the suffragette movement and desires freedom and agency for women. She comes from a family of gardeners, and her brother, Anthony, proposes to Ursula.
Anthony Schofield
Maggie’s brother. Anthony works as a gardener and is described as “strong and well-made” (383). Ursula admires his tenderness and attentiveness, yet she rejects his proposal for marriage.
Mr. Harby
The headmaster at St. Philips School. Harby is a stern, unpleasant man. He routinely intervenes in Ursula’s classes and offers her little support when the class grows unruly. He comes to represent the “strength and male power” which makes it so difficult for women like Ursula to gain acceptance in the professional world. Although he seems ready to fire Ursula, she eventually wins his quiet respect after she beats a misbehaved student.
Miss Violet Harby
Mr. Harby’s daughter. Violet also teaches at St. Philips and Ursula feels inferior to her because “she could keep order and inflict knowledge on a class with remarkable efficiency” (358)
Mr. Brunt
A teacher at St. Phillips. He warns Ursula that she will be fired by Mr. Harby if she does not begin to discipline her students.
Vincent Williams
A misbehaved student in Ursula’s class. He is routinely insubordinate and encourages the other students to disobey her. Finally, she loses her patience and beats him brutally with a cane. His mother then comes to the school and complains that he suffers from a heart condition and that the beating made him ill. He returns to class and is better behaved.
Dorothy Russell
A friend of Ursula’s from university. She inherits an estate in Sussex where Anton and Ursula visit her. Dorothy encourages Ursula to marry Anton.
