Three Men in a Boat characters

Appears from the start

The first-person narrator, a Londoner with a talent for discovering his own symptoms in medical reference books. He joins George and Harris in prescribing themselves a boating holiday and recounts the expedition, its digressions, and earlier disasters with a mixture of observation and self-justification.

Appears from the start

J.'s friend, who works at a bank and supports the plan for a restorative holiday. He cannot leave work with the others and arranges to join them at Weybridge. George is confident about practical matters and music, though his results regularly fail to support that confidence.

Also known as Harris

Appears from the start

The third man in the proposed holiday party. Harris readily diagnoses himself as overworked and contributes firm views on food, camping, and the division of labor. He tends to direct work from a comfortable position and is capable of becoming lost even when certain he knows the way.

First appears in chapter 2

J.'s fox terrier, whose appearance suggests innocence more than his conduct does. Montmorency is delighted by fights, cats, and opportunities to obstruct a task, and the three men treat his reactions as a fourth vote in their discussions.

First appears in chapter 5

J.'s housekeeper, who wakes the party on the morning they mean to depart. The men have misread the time and initially believe they have been roused in the middle of the night.

First appears in chapter 3

J.'s uncle, remembered for attempting to hang a picture without professional help. The small job occupies the entire household as he loses tools, injures himself, damages the wall, and continues insisting that the task is simple.

First appears in chapter 4

A friend who asks J. to take two strong-smelling cheeses from Liverpool to London. The favor makes J. unpopular with fellow railway passengers and creates further trouble when the cheeses reach Tom's household.

First appears in chapter 6

An attendant at the Hampton Court maze. Harris eventually encounters him after trying to guide a growing group of visitors to the exit; the keeper enters the maze to lead them out and becomes confused as well.

First appears in chapter 17

An elderly angler at a riverside inn who claims that the enormous trout in a display case is his catch. Several other visitors tell J. and George incompatible stories of catching the same fish.