Harold Cartwright is a main character appearing in Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 and Grand Theft Auto: London 1961.
History[]
Background[]
Harold is in charge of the criminal Cartwright Gang and seems to have made his name and fortune in bars, pubs and pool halls, but is nonetheless not a significant player in the London criminal underworld. Cartwright is the first person to provide the protagonist with jobs. He claims to be confrontational and that he fears no one, but it is later revealed that he is a coward and is afraid of Albert and Archie Crisp.
In his description on the Official GTA London website, Harold says:
Events of Grand Theft Auto: London 1961[]
Cartwright hires the protagonist to help him in jobs, either for the Crisp Twins or for his own gang. His missions include wiping out two small-time gangs under the orders of Mr. Caukenbolls, by blowing up their hideouts and killing their members in a shoot-out, chauffeuring Caukenbolls and defending him from rival gangsters, then rescuing him from them.
After those events, the rival thugs are wiped out and Mr. Caukenbolls is taken to a safe place. Soon afterwards, Harold tells the protagonist to try and discredit Gene White, the leader of a rival gang, but in the end, the player kills him and recruits his girls. Harold and the protagonist then apparently have sex with the prostitutes and it was recorded, so the protagonist has to destroy trucks filled with the tapes. Next time, he asks the player to murder Poundage Fern and act as him in a car race in order to get the cup. First, the player murders his bodyguards, then Fern, and wins the race. A bit later, the protagonist steals a Jug Swinger, apparently for Harold's mother.
However, it is Endeavour Chambers' car, and the government takes the player as him. This leads to the protagonist to cross Hans Nemesis' actions for the first time. Another time, he tasks the player with delivering dolls for his little nephew, Ashley. The last job for him involves killing a guy who is blackmailing Harold. His son is killed as well. After that, the player meets Harold personally, who congratulates him on how well he has done.
Events of Grand Theft Auto: London 1969[]
Soon after the protagonist arrives in London in 1969 after doing a job for the Crisp Twins in Vice City in the United States, the protagonist is hired by Harold to help the mob deal with the Battersea Mods street gang who have been hassling the Crisp Twins recently. The protagonist is contacted by a representative of the Crisp Twins to go to the red telephone boxes in Southwest City to get information on the Battersea Mods from one of the contact's friends, known as Pretty Charlie, who is also a close associate of Harold.
Harold's stash of "purple hearts" is stolen by a man known as Chalkie, and the protagonist is tasked with retrieving the stolen drugs so Harold can use them to lure the Battersea Mods. The protagonist later disrupts one of the Mods' drug deals on the rooftop of a building in Westminster and steals their Mod Scooter containing stashed drugs for Harold and Pretty Charlie, and also helps them win a bet on a football game after kidnapping the football team for them so they can persuade them.
The Noles Brothers, one of Harold's rivals, began taxing £5000 and drugs from Harold and his gang, and the protagonist is hired by Pretty Charlie to wipe out the rival gang.
At some later point, Albert Crisp's personal stash of drugs is stolen and he blames Harold for stealing them after he disappeared. In order to find out where Harold is, the protagonist is told to go and meet Cyprus Phil in northeast City. Phil will deny knowing where Harold is, however, and Albert himself will order the protagonist to kill him. After killing Phil, Albert will tell the protagonist to go and find Harold's sister Beryl in central Soho and talk to her. She will deny knowing where Harold is too and Albert will angrily tell the protagonist to kill her as well.
Once Beryl is dead, the protagonist will be told that Archie Crisp has found out that Harold is trying to leave London in the back of his mate's green Myni, which will be driving around in south Hyde Park. After blowing up the car and killing Harold, the protagonist will need to go and fetch his red Locust which is parked behind his flat in east City, as Albert assumes the drugs are hidden in it. The car needs to be taken back to the garage in east Mile End where it is discovered that there were no drugs in the car or in Harold's flat, which means he did not steal them after all. Albert does not care, however, as Harold "was a useless prat anyway".
Mission Appearances[]
Grand Theft Auto: London 1969[]
Grand Theft Auto: London 1961[]
- When We Were Very Small - Phonebox 3 (Semi-Boss; Walkie talkie)
- When We Were Very Small - Ending (Boss)
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Chronologically in the series' timeline, Harold is the first voiced character in the Grand Theft Auto series, as well as the first to appear in a cutscene, with Sonetti's Right-Hand Man from the original game being the first overall in release date order.
- According to the Cartwright Gang contact in When We Were Very Small - Walkie Talkie Mission, Harold's mother was born in 1901.
- Harold Cartwright is the name of a former British cricketer.
References[]
- ↑ “Something worth noting is that, despite the game's central location, almost none of the staff at Rockstar Canada were actually British, except for Ed Zolnierczyk, who lived there briefly when he was a kid. [...] Though it's probably hard to imagine now, given the success the series has gone on to experience, the budget for Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 wasn't particularly great. As a result, many of the voices that brought the story to life belonged to members of [DMA Design] staff and whoever happened to be in the [Brick Lane] studio at the time.”— Ray Larabie - "THE MAKING OF GTA London, Rockstar's Daring Detour Into The Swinging Sixties", TimeExtension (November 29, 2022)