A Character a day: (13) Isaac Morgan, pillar of strength

William Thomas would do very well as Grandpa Isaac

Isaac is David’s grandfather, but at the beginning of the story he is still a relatively young man, 57 years old, having married at the age of eighteen. He is fit and active, and acts as David’s mentor in all things to do with the management of the estate. He should, of course, be Master of the estate himself, but he is penniless and homeless, having declared himself bankrupt after giving the whole estate to his son (and David’s father) William some years before the commencement of the story narrative. That was done to save the estate from passing by default to Squires Watkins, Rice and Howell as a consequence of a fraudulent mortgage arrangement. 

 Isaac quite enjoys being a pauper with no responsibilities, and after David’s death he becomes Martha’s fierce protector and mentor. He knows everything that goes on in the local community, and he is still a magistrate with a good knowledge of the law. His sympathies are very much with the poor and the downtrodden, and this sets him on a collision course with other squires and magistrates who use the petty sessions to terrorise those who have committed minor offences and who live in conditions of squalor and deprivation. He has his cronies too, and enjoys nothing better than a few jars of ale in the company of colleagues and old friends in one of the Newport inns. He is an avid reader of whatever newspapers he can get his hands on, and is surprisingly well informed about what is going on in London, on the Continent and on the other side of the Atlantic. He and Grandma Jane make a formidable couple, doing their best, rather too frequently, to keep Martha out of trouble.