Bob Cratchit

“	To Mister Scrooge, the founder of the feast!	”
— Bob, showing that his employer's poor spirit cannot diminish his own

Robert "Bob" Cratchit is the abused, underpaid clerk of Ebenezer Scrooge in the Charles Dickens story A Christmas Carol.

In the story, Cratchit is first seen at work, where he copies letters by hand in an underheated "dismal little cell", "a sort of tank". He is repeatedly described as "little" and clothes himself in a tattered white comforter, since he cannot afford a coat. Cratchit is treated poorly by Scrooge and given a weekly salary of "but fifteen bob", insufficient to feed his family a proper Christmas dinner. Nevertheless, he remains loyal to his employer, even in face of the protestations of his wife.

Scrooge invisibly visits Cratchit and his family in their small Camden Town home on Christmas Day as well as on a future Christmas. He is accompanied on these visits by the Ghost of Christmas Present and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, respectively. It is partly through concern for the plight of Cratchit's youngest son, the frail and crippled Tiny Tim, that Scrooge makes the transformation from miser to philanthropist, offering Cratchit a raise and "discussion of his affairs".

An interesting point of departure for adaptations of the story is whether or not Scrooge's final joyful encounter with Bob occurs with his family on Christmas Day itself, or, keeping to the novel, on the morning of the 26th at the counting-house. Many presentations opt to go with the Christmas Day meeting, presumably to give more visible closure to the family's story and actually see them all happy for their new good fortune. This may also provide a "show, don't tell" moment for the described future bond between the former miser and Tiny Tim.

Children

Six Cratchit children are mentioned in the original story, four of whom are named:

• Martha, the eldest daughter, who works as an apprentice at a milliner's
• Belinda, the second daughter
• Peter, the heir, for whom his father is arranging employment at the weekly rate of 5 shillings sixpence
• An unnamed younger son
• An unnamed younger daughter
• Tiny Tim, the invalid youngest son

Portrayals

Picture	Performer	Feature	Year	Notes
	Donald Calthrop	Scrooge	1935	Calthrop bore a remarkable resemblance to Cratchit as illustrated in the original published edition of A Christmas Carol.
	Gene Lockhart	A Christmas Carol	1938
	Mervyn Johns	Scrooge	1951
	Harry Townes	Kraft Television Theatre: "A Christmas Carol	1952
	Voiced by Jack Cassidy	Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol	1962
	David Collings	Scrooge	1970
	Porky Pig (voiced by Mel Blanc)	Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales	1979
	Mickey Mouse (voiced by Wayne Allwine)	Mickey's Christmas Carol	1983	Disney's mascot previously portrayed the Bob Cratchit role in the record album An Adaptation of Dickens' Christmas Carol, Performed by The Walt Disney Players, which inspired the animated special.
	David Warner	A Christmas Carol	1984
	Grace Cooley (portrayed by Alfre Woodard)	Scrooged	1988
	Kermit the Frog (puppeteered by Steve Whitmire)	The Muppet Christmas Carol	1992
	Barney Rubble (voiced by Frank Welker)	A Flintstones Christmas Carol	1994
	Richard E. Grant	A Christmas Carol	1999
	Brian McNamara	A Diva's Christmas Carol	2000	Bob's character is merged with Scrooge's fiancée Belle.
	Zach Nichols (voiced by Andrew Francis)	Adventures from the Book of Virtues: "A Christmas Carol"	2000
	Rhys Ifans	Christmas Carol: The Movie	2001
	Porky Pig (voiced by Bob Bergen)	Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas	2006
	Voiced by Gary Oldman	A Christmas Carol	2009
	Rainbow Dash (voiced by Ashleigh Ball)	My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: "A Hearth's Warming Tail"	2016	Rainbow Dash plays a character similar to Bob Cratchit named Snowdash, whose role is merged with Fred. Unlike Cratchit, she does not have a family and is scornful of her employer's dismissal of the holiday season.
	Joe Alwyn	A Christmas Carol (2019)	2019