Editing Our Mutual Friend (section)

===Minor characters===
* '''Mr Inspector''' – a police officer, who acts as a witness to several important events, such as when the corpse from the river is mistakenly identified as John Harmon, when Gaffer Hexam is taken into custody, and when the real John Harmon is named.<ref name="Hawes, Donald 1998"/> In general, he is "imperturbable, omnicompetent, firm but genial, and an accomplished actor",<ref name="Collins, Philip 1968"/> who commands authority. However he is not particularly effective in his administration of the law, and this leads to doubt about the justice system in the novel.
* '''Mr John Podsnap''' – a pompous man of the upper middle class, married to Mrs Podsnap and the father of Georgiana, who is smug and jingoistic. Some critics believe that Dickens used Podsnap to satirise [[John Forster (biographer)|John Forster]], Dickens's lifelong friend and official biographer. However, Dickens insisted he only used some of Forster's mannerisms for this character, who was in no way to represent his closest friend. Forster, like Dickens, rose with difficulty from an impoverished middle-class background.<ref name=Ackroyd1991>{{cite book |last=Ackroyd |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Ackroyd |title=Dickens |location=New York |publisher=Harper-Collins |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-06-016602-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/dickens00ackr_1 }}</ref> The character of Podsnap was used to represent the views of "Society", as shown in his disapproval of Lizzie Hexam and Eugene Wrayburn's marriage.<ref name=Ihara1998 />
* '''Mrs Podsnap''' – the mother of Georgiana Podsnap. Though she embodies the materialistic ideals of her husband and daughter, Mrs Podsnap is the least prominent of the family. She is described as a "fine woman"<ref name=Dickens1989ed /> in her embodiment of the typical upper middle class wife.
* '''Mrs Wilfer''' – Bella's mother, a woman who is never satisfied with what she has. Her haughtiness is apparent in the way she acts at the Boffins' home and when Bella and Rokesmith return after their wedding. Her animosity towards her husband, her greed and discontent contrast with her husband's good nature and provide an image of what Bella could become, should she not change.
* '''Lavinia Wilfer''' – Bella's younger sister and George Sampson's fiancée. Vocal and opinionated, she is the only character who will stand up to Mrs Wilfer by matching her derisiveness and audacity. In some ways, she acts as a foil to Bella, and while Bella overcomes her desire for money and appreciates other aspects of life, Lavinia remains resentful in her poverty.
* '''George Sampson''' – Lavinia Wilfer's suitor, who was originally in love with Bella. He provides comic relief and a contrast with the idyllic relationship between Bella and Rokesmith/Harmon.
* '''Mr Melvin Twemlow''' – the well-connected friend of the Veneerings, who is often cultivated for his supposed influence with powerful people, such as his first cousin, Lord Snigsworth. Mrs Lammle tells him about their plot to marry Georgiana Podsnap and Fledgeby, to whom Twemlow owes money. Though Twemlow is introduced as being as insensible as a table at the Veneerings' dinner party, he comes to reflect a wise way of thinking. His wearing of a collar and cravat creates a "picturesque and archaic" impression,<ref name="Romano, John 1978"/> and he proves himself a "true gentleman in his response to Wrayburn's marriage".<ref name="Romano, John 1978"/>
* '''Mrs Betty Higden''' – a child-minder, who takes in poor children and cares for them, including Johnny, the orphan whom the Boffins plan to adopt before he dies in the children's hospital. She is old and poor, and portrayed sympathetically as pitiable. She is so terrified of dying in the workhouse that, when she begins to grow sick, she runs away to the country and ends up dying in Lizzie Hexam's arms. Mrs Higden draws readers' attention to the miserable lives led by the poor, and the need for social reform.
* '''Johnny''' – the orphan great-grandson of Betty Higden. The Boffins plan on adopting Johnny, but he dies in the Children's Hospital before they are able to do so.
* '''Sloppy''' – a foundling who assists Betty Higden in taking care of children. Raised in the workhouse, he has a learning disability, but is nevertheless adept at reading the newspaper for Mrs Higden. He is portrayed as inherently innocent because of his disability, and carts away Wegg at the end of the novel. 
* '''Jesse "Gaffer" Hexam''' – a waterman and the father of Lizzie and Charley, who makes a living by robbing corpses found in the river Thames. His former partner, Rogue Riderhood, turns him in for the murder of John Harmon after Harmon's body is supposedly dragged from the river. A search is mounted to find and arrest Gaffer, but he is discovered dead in his boat. Gaffer's opposition to education prompts Lizzie to sneak Charley away to school, though she stays with her father. As a result, Gaffer disowns Charley as a son. In a sense, Gaffer predicted the alienating effect education would have on Charley.
* '''Pleasant Riderhood''' – the daughter of Rogue Riderhood, who works in a pawn shop, and, like Jenny Wren and Lizzie Hexam, is another daughter caring for her abusive father as though he were her child, and who, in vain, tries to steer him along the path of right.<ref name="Adrian, Arthur A. 1984">{{cite book |last=Adrian |first=Arthur A. |title=Dickens and the Parent-Child Relationship |url=https://archive.org/details/dickensparentchi0000adri |url-access=registration |location= Athens |publisher=Ohio University Press |year=1984 |isbn=978-0821407356}}</ref><ref name="Slater, Michael 1983">{{cite book |last=Slater |first=Michael |title=Dickens and Women |location=Stanford |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=1983 |isbn=9780804711807}}</ref> She eventually marries Mr Venus.
* '''Mr and Mrs Veneering''' – a nouveau-riche husband and wife whose main preoccupation is to advance in the social world. They invite influential people to their dinner parties where their furniture gleams with a sheen that they also put on to make themselves seem more impressive. They "wear" their acquaintances, their possessions, and their wealth like jewellery, in an attempt to impress those around them. Veneering eventually goes bankrupt and they retire to France to live on the jewels he bought for his wife.
* '''Miss Abbey Potterson''' – mistress of the Six Jolly Fellowship Porters, she keeps the inn respectable, and only allows patrons to drink as much as she sees fit. She is likened, humorously, to a schoolmistress, linking her to the novel's concern with education.<ref>{{cite book |last=Schlicke |first=Paul |title=Dickens and Popular Entertainment |location=London |isbn=9780044451808 |publisher=Unwin Hyman |year=1988}}</ref>
* '''Miss Peecher''' – a school teacher who is in love with Bradley Headstone. She is a "good and harmless" character, though she displays an "addiction to rules and forms".<ref name="Romano, John 1978"/> In addition, she shows a "naive confidence in the outward appearance of things",<ref name="Romano, John 1978"/> as demonstrated by her love of Headstone, a villain who gives the impression of being good.
* '''Mr Dolls''' – Jenny Wren's alcoholic father. Jenny calls him her "bad child", and treats him accordingly.<ref name="Adrian, Arthur A. 1984"/><ref name="Slater, Michael 1983"/> His real name is not known to Eugene, so Eugene calls him "Mr Dolls". As his daughter is really named Fanny Cleaver, his name might be Mr Cleaver, but he is never called by a name other than "my bad child", or "Mr Dolls" in the novel.
* '''George Radfoot''' – third mate on the ship bringing John Harmon back to England, whose dead body, found in the river by Gaffer Hexam, is identified as being Harmon, because of the papers found in his pockets. He had been involved in crimes and schemes with Riderhood, who most likely was responsible for trying to kill Harmon and killing Radfoot.