Matthew Stobbold
Reverend Matthew Stobbold was an 19th century Christian priest of Middletown's church, but also believed in Darwin's evolution, claiming they were "not incompatible with the main tenets of [his] beliefs".
Biography[[edit] | [edit source]]
Soon after their daughter was born, Matthew Stobbold' wife died, and so Betty, his daughter, fulfilled the role of housekeeper, which unfortunately made her withdrawn as she had "no one to speak to" but her father, and even he didn't make enough time to speak to her. (PROSE: The Burning [+]Loading...{"page":"134","1":"The Burning (novel)"})
Later in life, when Betty was almost "a woman", Matthew met Isaac Dobbs, Alistair Gaddis and the Eighth Doctor (who had amnesia at this time) at Robert Urton's house, intending to see repairs to the local dam. However, Urton was more cold and withdrawn than usual, and so the three withdrew to Stobbold's home, with Stobbold believing the Doctor to be affiliated with Dobbs and Gaddis, and Dobbs & Gaddis believing him to be affiliated with Stobbold. Despite this initial confusion, the three got along reasonably well, and investigated the fissure seemingly caused by an earthquake the day before, and Gabbis died, which affected Dobbs and Stobbold but didn't seem to affect the Doctor. Later on, the Doctor suggested to Dobbs and Stobbold that they spy on a demonstration being held by Nepath, but due to his ethical standards, Stobbold declined to participate and was critical of the Doctor and Dobbs's participation. The pendant Nepath had given Stobbold to give to his daughter turned out to have controlled her, effectively killing her personality. Whilst the fire Nepath had been dealing with was enveloping the town, Reverend Stobbold attempted to use his authority as a priest to override Colonel Wilson's drive to not destroy the dam in order to put out of the fire, saying it was his "faith that the Doctor was right". The dam was destroyed, and Stobbold managed to save his daughter, with whatever power the fire elemental had over her being eliminated, returning her personality. (PROSE: The Burning [+]Loading...["The Burning (novel)",""])
