Charley Bates

Charles "Charley" Bates is a supporting character in the Charles Dickens's 1838 novel Oliver Twist. He is a young boy and a member of Fagin's gang of pickpockets. Bates acts as the best friend to the Artful Dodger, whose skills he admires unreservedly. Bill Sikes's murder of Nancy shocks him so much that at the end of the novel he leaves London to become an agricultural labourer.