Bede, Matthias, called Thias

Adam's father. He had been a good carpenter and an affectionate father, but had taken to drink, and had caused much unhappiness to his wife and sons. At the opening of the story he is drowned in Willow Brook while coming home drunk from Treddleston. George Evans, father of Robert Evans (" Adam Bede "), has been suggested as the original of Thias Bede, but there is no evidence to bear this out, as George Evans was a man of steady character, not a drunkard. An uncle of George Eliot's was drowned in the same way as Thias Bede, and that probably furnished the suggestion for Thias's death.

<em>Adam Bede</em>

Text