Colonel Abercrombie

In the novel One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, Colonel Abercrombie is a patient of the dental practice at 58 Queen Charlotte Street. He had been treated by one of the dentists, Mr Reilly at about 11 o'clock on the morning when another dentist Mr Morley had been murdered.

According to Gladys Nevill, the secretary of the practice, Colonel Abercrombie was a long time regular patient of Mr Reilly. Hercule Poirot met him in the waiting room while both were waiting for their appointments. Abercrombie is described as a military-looking gentleman with a fierce moustache and a yellow complexion and "looked at Poirot with an air of one considering some noxious insect." Poirot observed that: "In verity, there are some Englishmen who are altogether so unpleasing and ridiculous that they should have been put out of their misery at birth." However, after his dental appointment, Poirot sees Abercrombie again, and considers that he is "not at all a bad-looking man".

The pageboy Albert Biggs, who had a tendency to mispronounce names, called Abercrombie "Colonel Arrow-bumby", leaving Poirot puzzled about his real name for a long time.