The Family

Get to know the inhabitants of Quartermaine Hall.

Upstairs

Charles and Elizabeth Quartermaine, with their children Isabella, Felix and Georgie – I think there are probably also two little sisters, one of them still a baby, but they’re yet to be named. There’s also an older son who has left home, but visits occasionally with his wife. Other visitors include Elizabeth’s parents, Charles’s rather formidable mother (Grandmama) and family friends. Rarer still are visits from Charles’s siblings: his clergyman brother, and his rather dashing sister, who has married an American.

Downstairs

The Quartermaine family understand that, for their loyal and longstanding staff, the house is just as much ‘home’ as it is to any of them. The children’s first encounter, of course, is with Nanny, who has loyally nursed all six children. But they also get to know the rest of the staff: the butler, Mr Willoughby; the housekeeper, Mrs Baxter; and Mrs Trescothick (i.e. ‘Cook’), whose goodwill is absolutely essential if the children are to succeed in pilfering jam tarts from the kitchen or licking out mixing bowls. There are at least a couple of maids; a footman; and a gardener, and probably more, but I’ve no idea how many of this small army we can afford to bring to life in twelfth scale…