Character sketch of George from Three Men in a Boat?

George is a bank clerk who works on Saturdays and so joins the boating trip up the river. It is George's idea to take the river trip, and his friends are surprised that he should come up with such a sensible idea. He is teased by his friends for having large feet and sleeping a lot. His tendency to sleep in adds irony to the story of when his watch stops one night and he wakes up in the middle of the night thinking he is going to be late for work. He bathes, dresses and eats and rushes to the bus stop before he notices nobody else is on the street and that it is dark out. He cannot get back to sleep the rest of the night.

George buys a banjo for the trip, imagining that he will learn to play it from a book. His friends are skeptical. They do allow him to try and J describes the situations with sarcastic politeness.

George not only is the one who suggests the trip in the first place, he is the first to suggest the three men cut the trip short by taking a train home for the last section.