The Sign of Four - Characters

 

SPOILERS!!!

These are the characters for future reference:

Regular characters

• Dr Watson is the narrator in the Sherlock Holmes adventures. Dr Watson was in the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers, and he was wounded during the Second Afghan War. In London he needed to find lodgings, and through an acquaintance he met Sherlock Holmes, and  now they share lodgings. In this book Watson meets Mary Marston, who he falls for, and at the end of the book he announces to Holmes that he and Mary are to be married. 
• Sherlock Holmes is a consultant detective. He has a wide knowledge of many subjects, which is required by his profession. He is intelligent, morose, and he loves playing the violin and is agood at singlestick.  In this novel we also discover that he is an addict to cocaine.
• Wiggins is a street urchin who leads a group that help Holmes in his enquiries. The grouo is called Baker Street Irregulars.
• Mary Morstan (27) is a young woman who comes to see Holmes. She tells them that her father went missing ten years ago, and six years ago she was contacted through an advertisment in the Times and every year she is sent a pearl. Now she has been sent a note, telling her that she has been wronged and the person wants to see her. This person is Thadeus Sholto, the son of her father's best friend, and he tells her that her father died after an argument with his father. His father was scared of being held responsible for his death so he buried the body in secret. Sholto tells her that the reason of the discussion was a treasure that her father brought from India, and now his twin brother has found, and half of it belongs to Mary. At the end of the book the treasure is lost, and Mary agrees to marry Watson. 
• Inspector Athelney Jones is the Scotland Yard detective that is in charge of the investigation. He arrests Thadeus Sholto and all the servants, believing that they all conspired to kill Bartholomew. Then he has to let them go as Thadeus proves that he was not in the house when his brother was murdered. Jones resorts to Holmes and he helps Holmes to apprehend Small.
• Mrs Forrester is Mary's employer. She works as a governess for this family. 
• Mr Lestrade is a detective of Scotland Yard. He appears in other stories and novels, but not in this one.
• Tobias Gregson is another detective of Scotland Yard. He doesn't appear in the novel either

Characters in this novel:

• Captain Arthur Morstan was Mary's father, who died after an argument with Sholto. 
• Major John Sholto was Morstan's fellow officer, and they had been guards of Small, who told them about a buried treasure. Sholto deceived Small and took the treasure to England. Sholto argued with Morstan about the treasure, and Morstan died and Sholto buried him in secret because he was worried that he would be held responsible. During these years Sholto lived in fear that Small would come after him, and when he was dying, he saw Small out of the window. Tha night Sholto died and told his sons about the treasure.
• Thadeus Sholto is Major Sholto's son. He thought that Mary had been wronged by his father, so when his brother finds the treasure, he thinks that Mary deserves half.
• Bartholomew Sholto is Thadeus's twin brother. When Thadeus takes Holmes, Watson and Mary to see him, they find him dead. He had been killed by a poisonous dart. 
• Jonathan Small is the man who Holmes goes after when Bartholomew Sholto was murdered. Small was a prisoner in India because he had taken part in the attack to a man with three other men to steal a box with the jewels belongting to a Rajah. Small wanted his freedom and told Sholto and Morstan about the treasure. They agreed that they would help him gain his freedom, but Sholto stole the box, and when Small ran out of prison, he was determined to get what was his and his three other friends. Jonathan went with a native, who killed Bartholomew, and then he tried to escape, but Holmes stopped him. 
• Lai Chowdar was Bartholmoew's servant, and at the end of the book Holmes suspects that he was the one to help Small with information.
• McMurdo is an ex-prize fighter who was a servant in Mr Sholto's household.
• Mrs Berston is Sholto's housekeeper.
• Sherman is a bird stuffer who owns Toby, the dog Holmes uses to follow the scent of Small.
• Toby is the dog that Holmes used to go after Small. 
• Mordecai Smith is the owner of the steam launch that Small uses to escape.
• Jim Smith is Mordecai's son.
• Tonga is the Indian native that kills Bartholomew. He helps Small to escape from the prison in India.