Daphne Winkworth


Dame Daphne Winkworth is a recurring fictional character from the Blandings Castle and Jeeves stories of English comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being a menacing and scowling woman who is rarely seen to smile. She is an intimate acquaintance of Bertie Wooster's Aunt Agatha, another old harridan character. She is the widow of Sir P. B. Winkworth, the noted historian. She has also been a guest at Blandings Castle, making her, along with Roderick Glossop, one of the links between the worlds of Jeeves and Lord Emsworth. She used to be the headmistress of a girls' school in Eastbourne prior to retirement.

Overview

Dame Daphne's seat is at Deverill Hall, Hampshire, a large Tudor Manor which has been at its present location in the village of King's Deverill for longer than anyone can really remember. She lives with her four sisters, all of whom have never been married and have spent their entire lives within the walls of Deverill Hall. They are: Emmeline, Myrtle, Charlotte, and Harriet. Dame Daphne, however, is the widow of noted historian Sir P. B. Winkworth, though she wouldn't discuss the subject. She has a daughter, Gertrude Winkworth, and a son, Huxley, who appears in the Blandings Castle series with his mother.
In The Mating Season, Dame Daphne's daughter Gertrude is engaged to Drones Club member and actor Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright, though Dame Daphne does not approve of the match. Aunt Agatha wants Bertie Wooster to marry Gertrude, a proposal against which Bertie protests vehemently, one reason being that when in company they would be known unflatteringly as Bertie and Gertie. Gussie Fink-Nottle is summoned to Deverill Hall for inspection by Dame Daphne, since she is the godmother of Gussie's fiancée Madeline Bassett and wants to ensure that he is suitable marriage material; when Gussie is unable to come after being arrested for swimming in the Trafalgar Square fountain, Bertie goes to Deverill Hall pretending to be Gussie. Bertie's true identity is not revealed until the end of the novel when Aunt Agatha comes to Deverill Hall.

Adaptations

Dame Daphne was featured in one episode of the 1990–1993 British TV series Jeeves and Wooster adapting The Mating Season, played by Rosalind Knight.

Appearances

Dame Daphne is featured in: