Brigham Young in A Study in Scarlet

Who is Brigham Young?

Brigham Young appears in the historical flashback as the commanding leader of the Mormon community that founds and governs the Salt Lake settlement. He wants order, religious conformity, and the preservation of the community’s discipline; to that end he enforces rules about marriage and allegiance. In the story he personally intervenes at John Ferrier’s farm, reminding Ferrier of past charity and insisting that Lucy Ferrier be sealed to a faithful Mormon, giving her a month to choose between named suitors. His presence and the pervasive secret power that enforces his decrees create the coercive pressure that drives Ferrier and Lucy to attempt flight, precipitating John Ferrier’s death, Lucy’s forced marriage and decline, and Jefferson Hope’s lifelong quest for vengeance. Young never is the direct target of the crime investigated in London, but his orders and the culture of obedience he sustains are the inciting social forces behind the central tragedy.

In the book: Brigham Young appears in the novel’s historical flashback as the commanding leader of the Mormon settlement in Utah, embodying rigid religious authority and social control. His decrees and the strict community he oversees shape the fates of several key characters, setting in motion the personal grievances and motives that later ripple into the London crime investigated by Holmes and Watson—without being the direct focus of the central mystery.

Personality

Authoritative

He personally visits Ferrier’s farm and dictates terms for Lucy’s future, insisting on her sealing to a faithful Mormon (Chapter 3).

Rigid

The settlement under his leadership is described as organized and disciplined, expecting conformity from newcomers like Ferrier (Chapter 2).

Intimidating

His visit carries a veiled threat and is supported by the reputation of the Avenging Angels, which terrifies Ferrier into silence (Chapter 3).

Decisive

He issues the clear ultimatum that Lucy has one month to choose between the sons of Stangerson and Drebber (Chapter 3).

Character arc

Brigham Young enters the narrative as the unyielding prophet whose authority shapes life in the Salt Lake settlement. In his single recorded action he reasserts communal claims over individuals by reminding Ferrier of the Church’s past charity and by issuing an ultimatum about Lucy’s marriage. He does not undergo personal change in the flashback; rather, his fixed posture and the institutional power he embodies remain constant. The narrative follows the consequences of that posture: Ferrier’s fear, the family’s attempted flight, Ferrier’s death, Lucy’s forced marriage and decline, and Jefferson Hope’s ensuing oath of revenge. Young’s role is catalytic rather than dynamic — his firmness and the obedience he demands set the human tragedies in motion but the novel does not depict any remorse, doubt, or evolution in him. By the end of the flashback his authority has yielded irrevocable outcomes, illustrating how an uncompromising social order can produce long-reaching personal ruin.

Relationships

• John Ferrier He presses Ferrier to conform and to allow Lucy to be sealed to a Mormon, using the weight of Church authority to enforce compliance.
• Lucy Ferrier She is the subject of Young’s decree about marriage; his demand shapes her fate though she is not personally confronted by him beyond its consequences.
• Joseph Stangerson Stangerson is one of the Church men who cares for the Ferriers and is presented as a candidate for Lucy’s sealing under Young’s order.
• Enoch Drebber Drebber is named among the faithful Mormons to whom Lucy may be sealed, a choice imposed by Young’s community rule.
• Jefferson Hope Although Hope never confronts Young directly, Young’s demand triggers the chain of events—flight, death, and Lucy’s enforced marriage—that makes Hope a lifelong avenger.

Quotes by Brigham Young

“Brother Ferrier,” he said, taking a seat, and eyeing the farmer keenly from under his light-coloured eyelashes, “the true believers have been good friends to you.”

Chapter 3Young opens by reminding Ferrier of the Church's past charity as a preface to demanding conformity.

“It were better for you, John Ferrier,” he thundered, “that you and she were now lying blanched skeletons upon the Sierra Blanco, than that you should put your weak wills against the orders of the Holy Four!”

Chapter 3A menacing warning that exposes the coercive power behind the Church's directives.

Why Brigham Young matters

Brigham Young represents institutional religious authority and communal control; his brief but forceful interventions dramatize how systems of power can override individual will. Thematically, he embodies the collision between personal attachment and doctrinal demands, showing how rigid obedience and the threat of extralegal enforcement produce tragedy. His role links frontier theocracy to the novel’s later London crime, demonstrating Doyle’s interest in how distant social structures can have intimate, violent consequences for individuals.

Chapters with Brigham Young

• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5

More A Study in Scarlet characters

• Joseph StangersonMajor character
• John H. WatsonNarrator
• Sherlock HolmesProtagonist
• Enoch DrebberAntagonist
• Jefferson HopeAntagonist
• G. LestradeMajor character
• John FerrierMajor character
• Lucy FerrierMajor character