In his A Reader’s Guide to Dorothy Richardson’s Pilgrimage, George H. Thomson identifies over 40 characters in Dawn’s Left Hand, perhaps the largest cast of any of the books in the novel. This will not be a comprehensive list.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Alma Wilson | A former schoolmate of Miriam’s now married to the writer Hypo Wilson. She corresponds to Amy Catherine Robbins Wells, wife of H. G. Wells. |
| Amabel | Thomson introduces her as “An adventurous and determined young woman of upper middle class British background who has made her family send her to Paris to study art and who is continuing an affair with her lover, Basil. She becomes Miriam’s most intimate female friend in the course of this book. She corresponds to Veronica Leslie-Jones, who later married Benjamin Grad (Michael Shatov). |
| Arnold Kingfisher | The speaker at Mrs. Redfern’s Lycurgan party. |
| Mrs. Bailey | The landlady at Miriam’s former lodging on Tansley Street. |
| Basil | Amabel’s lover, an older man. |
| Mr. and Mrs. Cleeke | A patient of Mr. Hancock, and his wife. |
| Family from Cryodon | A family Miriam encountered on the train to Switzerland in Oberland … and in the village … and on the train back to Paris. |
| Eleanor Dear | A woman Miriam first encountered in The Tunnel. Miriam sees her as manipulative and playing to the stereotype of the helpless female. She reappears in Revolving Lights, now married to Rodkin and with two children (Lancelot and Lobelia) and Miriam recalls her in The Trap. |
| Dr. Densley | A Scotsman and Eleanor Dear’s doctor, first introduced in The Tunnel. He proposes to Miriam in this book, but she declines to respond. |
| Mrs. Despard | Mrs. Charlotte Despard, a real-life leader of the Suffragette movement. |
| Donizetti | The owner of the restaurant Miriam visits with Hypo. |
| Arnold Engelhart | A zealous Lycurgan. |
| Eve | A new servant at Wimpole Street. |
| Eve Henderson | Miriam’s older sister, apparently deceased now. |
| Florrie and Grace Broom | Sisters and former students of Miriam’s at the school run by the Perne sisters (Backwater). They remain friends and visit Miriam in The Trap. |
| Mr. Hancock | A dentist and Miriam’s employer. She remains working for him for over eleven years. Corresponds to John Henry Badcock. He becomes engaged and Miriam meets his fiancée in The Trap. |
| Harriet Henderson | Miriam’s youngest sister, married to Gerald Ducayne. |
| Harry Dancey | The organist at All Saints, the church Miriam attended with her family when they lived in Barnes before her father’s bankruptcy. |
| Hawkins | A dental technician at the Wimpole Street practice. |
| Selina Holland | A spinster and night-school teacher with whom Miriam takes the flat in Flaxman Court with very little contemplation. She ultimately proves too rigid and disapproving for Miriam’s liking. |
| Hypo Wilson | A writer of growing fame and husband of Alma Wilson. Corresponds to H. G. Wells, whom Dorothy Richardson would later have an affair with and become pregnant by, eventually losing the child to a miscarriage |
| Jan and Mag | Long-time friends of Miriam’s who room together and represent the independent “new woman” on the turn of the 20th century. Jan is based on Elie Schleusser, a German translator, and Mag on a daughter of the Heath family for whom Alice Richardson (Eve Henderson) once worked as a governness. |
| Lancelot and Lobelia Rodkin | Eleanor Dear’s young son and daughter. |
| Mrs. McCrosson | A tall, stately woman at Mrs. Redfern’s Lycurgan dinner. |
| Michael Shatov | A Russian Jew who begins taking English lessons from Miriam. Their relationship then develops intellectually and romantically, though Miriam ultimately refuses him. He remains a friend and ultimately marries Amabel, who rooms with Miriam in Dawn’s Left Hand. Corresponds to Benjamin Grad. |
| Mr. and Mrs. Orly | The senior couple in the dental practice at Wimpole Street and his wife. They live in a flat that’s part of the practice building. |
| Perrance and his wife | A man who repairs sculptures for a living and who lives with his wife on the ground floor at Flaxman Court. Miriam often hears them arguing at night. |
| Rachel | Another young woman at the Lycrugan dinner, in whom Miriam confides. |
| Mrs. Redfern | The hostess of the Lycurgan dinner Miriam attends. |
| Emil Reich | A real-life lecturer and writer on European history and politics whom Miriam admires. |
| Rodkin | The Russian Jew who marries Eleanor Dear. |
| Sarah Henderson | Miriam’s oldest sister, married to Bennett Brodie. Corresponds to Frances Richardson. |
| Lord Wilderham | A patient of Mr. Hancock’s. |
| William Butler Yeats | The Irish poet, who lives in a flat that Miriam could see from the one she shared with Selina Holland. |