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Bob Cratchit

Bob Cratchit is a fictional character in the Charles Dickens 1843 novel A Christmas Carol. The overworked, underpaid clerk of Ebenezer Scrooge, Cratchit has come to symbolise the poor working conditions, especially long working hours and low pay, endured by many working-class people in the early Victorian era.

Bob Cratchit

A Christmas Carol 1843

Charles Dickens

Bob

Male

Money accountant (Clerk)

Mrs. Cratchit (named Emily in some adaptations)

Martha
Belinda
Peter
Tiny Tim
an unnamed son (named Matthew in some adaptations)
an unnamed daughter (named Lucy or Gillian in some adaptions)

English

In the novel[edit]

When Cratchit timidly asks Scrooge for Christmas Day off work so he can be with his family, he notes it only comes once a year. Scrooge reluctantly agrees on the condition that Cratchit comes to work early the day after Christmas.


Cratchit and his family live in poverty[1] because Scrooge is too miserly to pay him a decent wage. Cratchit's son, Tiny Tim, is very ill.[1] According to the Ghost of Christmas Present, Tim will die because the family is too poor to give him the treatment he needs. While Scrooge is the "ogre" of the Cratchit family, with Cratchit's wife, calling him out for his stinginess, Bob mildly insists that they toast his health for Christmas Day.


After Scrooge decides to change his ways on Christmas Day, he anonymously sends a Christmas turkey to Cratchit for his family's dinner. The next day, Scrooge states that he will increase Cratchit's salary immediately and promises to help his struggling family.

Mrs. Cratchit, Bob Cratchit's wife, who is named Emily in some adaptations.

[1]

Martha Cratchit, the eldest daughter, who works as an apprentice at a milliners.

[1]

Belinda Cratchit, the second daughter.

[1]

Peter Cratchit, the heir, for whom his father is arranging employment at the weekly rate of five shillings and sixpence.

[1]

Timothy "" Cratchit. The youngest child, he is desperately ill and walks with a crutch.[1]

Tiny Tim

The Cratchit family has been described as "impoverished, hardworking, and warmhearted".[1]


Seven members are mentioned in the original story, five of whom are named:[1]

in A Christmas Carol; or, Past, Present, and Future (1844)

Edward Richard Wright

in A Christmas Carol; or, Past, Present, and Future (1859)

J. L. Toole

in the 1910 film A Christmas Carol

Charles S. Ogle

in the 1935 film Scrooge. Calthrop bore a remarkable resemblance to Cratchit as illustrated in the original published edition of A Christmas Carol.

Donald Calthrop

in the 1938 film A Christmas Carol

Gene Lockhart

Patrick Whyte in the 1949 The Christmas Carol

television film

in the 1951 film Scrooge

Mervyn Johns

in the 1954 television film A Christmas Carol

Bob Sweeney

in the 1956 television film The Stingiest Man in Town

Martyn Green

in the 1958 parody record "Green Chri$tma$"

Daws Butler

in the 1962 animated television movie Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol

Jack Cassidy

in the 1970 film Scrooge

David Collings

in the 1971 animated short film A Christmas Carol

Melvyn Hayes

in the 1977 television movie A Christmas Carol

Clive Merrison

in the 1978 animated television movie The Stingiest Man in Town

Sonny Melendrez

impersonating Paul Lynde as Cratchit in the 1978 television movie Rich Little's Christmas Carol

Rich Little

(as Porky Pig) in the 1979 animated short film Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol

Mel Blanc

(as Thatcher) in the 1979 television film An American Christmas Carol

R.H. Thomson

(as Mickey Mouse) in the 1983 animated film Mickey's Christmas Carol

Wayne Allwine

in the 1984 television movie A Christmas Carol

David Warner

(as Grace Cooley) in the 1988 film Scrooged

Alfre Woodard

(as Kermit the Frog) in the 1992 film The Muppet Christmas Carol

Steve Whitmire

(as Barney Rubble) in A Flintstones Christmas Carol, 1994

Frank Welker

(as Roberta Cratchit) in the 1995 television film Ebbie

Wendy Crewson

in the 1997 animated film A Christmas Carol

Michael York

in the 1998 television movie Ebenezer

Albert Schultz

in the 1999 television movie A Christmas Carol

Richard E. Grant

in the 2000 television movie A Diva's Christmas Carol. Here Bob's character is merged with Scrooge's fiancée Belle.

Brian McNamara

in the 2001 animated version Christmas Carol: The Movie

Rhys Ifans

(as Bob the Tomato) in An Easter Carol, 2004

Phil Vischer

(as Porky Pig in a similar but not identical role) in the 2006 video Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas

Bob Bergen

in the 2009 animated version A Christmas Carol

Gary Oldman

(as Rainbow Dash) in the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode A Hearth's Warming Tail.

Ashleigh Ball

(as Dennis Tyde) in Mischief Theatre's A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong.

Jonathan Sayer

as Catherine Beadnell in Barbie in a Christmas Carol

Kandyse McClure

in the 2019 miniseries A Christmas Carol

Joe Alwyn

In 's Christmas special A Nature Carol, a mouse named Bob Scratchit is Cratchit's mouse counterpart.

Nature Cat

in Starkid Productions' A VHS Christmas Carol.

Joey Richter

(voice) in Scrooge: A Christmas Carol.

Johnny Flynn

Some adaptations have tried to depict Cratchit to have also been the clerk of Jacob Marley, when he was alive.

Cratchit by Alexander Knott premiered at London's Park Theatre, with John Dagleish as Bob. The play "explores what might happen if Cratchit was visited by the Ghost of Christmas yet-to-come and shown a bleak vision of the future, where the gap between rich and poor has grown beyond measure."[3]

[2]

The character has been featured in the 2002 musical comedy .

Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge

The character of Bob Cratchit has been featured in works based on A Christmas Carol.