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Illustrated portrait of Father McGuire

A character in A Clergyman's Daughter

Father McGuire

The Roman Catholic priest of Knype Hill, a very large rotund man who dwarfs his bicycle and is balanced on top of it like a golf-ball on a tee, under a black and very dusty shovel hat. His face is rosy, humorous and a little sly. He rides towards Dorothy Hare with a faintly amused air and then passes without a sign, which the narration identifies as the Cut Direct. He and the Rector had once wrangled disgracefully over an open grave.

The book

Cover of A Clergyman's Daughter by George Orwell
A Clergyman's DaughterGeorge Orwell, 1935

Orwell's second novel: a rector's daughter loses her memory, wakes up on a London street, and finds out what England does with a penniless woman.

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At a glance

In the book
The Roman Catholic priest of Knype Hill
The quarrel
With the Rector, over robing in St Athelstan's at a funeral five or six years earlier
Where he appears
Chapter 1

Who they are in the book

Spoiler-free

Father McGuire is the Roman Catholic priest at Knype Hill, the Suffolk town where the book opens. He and Dorothy Hare, the daughter of the Church of England rector, work the same lanes on the same errands, and they pass each other on bicycles in a country road in the first chapter. That is the entire encounter, and it is the only time he appears.

He does not acknowledge her. She turns pink, makes an endeavour to smile, and gets out an unhappy "Good morning"; he rides straight past, his eyes sweeping over her face and on into vacancy with an admirable pretence of not having noticed her existence. The narration names the manoeuvre: it is the Cut Direct. Dorothy, who is by nature unequal to delivering one, rides away struggling with uncharitable thoughts, which meeting him never fails to produce in her.

The quarrel behind it is five or six years old and belongs to the two clergymen, not to her. There is no Roman Catholic cemetery at Knype Hill, so Father McGuire was holding a funeral in St Athelstan's churchyard, and he and the rector disputed whether he might robe in the church. They wrangled disgracefully over the open grave and have not spoken since. The rector's view is that it is better so.

How the book draws them

Appearance, manner, and tone — as the book sketches them, in our words.

  • The hat firstA black, very dusty shovel hat comes round the corner of the hedge before the man under it does.
  • The size of himA very large, rotund man, so large that he dwarfs the bicycle beneath him and seems to be balanced on top of it like a golf-ball on a tee.
  • The faceRosy, humorous, and a little sly.
  • The mannerUntroubled and faintly amused, all the way up the road, and unchanged by the encounter at the end of it.
  • The Cut DirectHis eyes sweep easily over Dorothy Hare's face and then beyond her into vacancy, with an admirable pretence of not having noticed her existence. She has already begun to smile.
  • The graveFive or six years earlier, at a funeral in the Anglican churchyard, he and the rector argued over whether he might robe in the church and wrangled disgracefully over the open grave. They have not been on speaking terms since.
  • What Dorothy doesTurns pink, and her hand moves instinctively to the gold cross under her dress. Afterwards she rides on fighting the uncharitable thoughts he always leaves her with.
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