Robert "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.

In the novel

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 because Scrooge is like any other employer at the time. Cratchit's son, Tiny Tim, is very ill. 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.

Family

The Cratchit family has been described as "impoverished, hardworking, and warmhearted". Seven members are mentioned in the original story, five of whom are named:

Notable portrayals

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

In popular culture

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