A socially ambitious young government official, who jilted Lily Dale to marry Lady Alexandrina de Courcy. His marriage was unhappy and after the death of his wife he attempted to renew his courtship of Lily, with no success.

"He was a tall, well-looking man, with pleasant eyes and an expressive mouth - a man whom you would probably observe in whatever room you might meet him. And he knew how to talk, and had in him something which justified talking ... had his opinions on things, - on politics, on religion, on the philanthropic tendencies of the age, and had read something here and there as he formed his opinion" - The Small House at Allington