Ada Waverly

In the short story The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly, Ada Waverly was the wife of country squire Marcus Waverly and mother of Johnnie Waverly.

She was the daughter of a self made man, a prominent steel manufacturer who had worked his way up from an office boy. Although she was obviously distressed when her son was kidnapped, Hastings observed that she had a shrewd, "rather hard type of countenance" that seemed to indicate that she had inherited many of her father's qualities.

Ada held most of the money in the family and was inclined to be tight-fisted. This presented a challenge to her husband Marcus, who was, as Poirot observed, somewhat of a bon viveur and needed money especially to restore his country house, Waverly Court.

Portrayals
Ada Waverly was played by Julia Chambers in the film adaptation of the story in episode 3 of Series 1 of ITV's Agatha Christie's Poirot drama series. Several scenes were added to illustrate her miserliness. In one,she told Poirot that in her conversation with Hastings, she had been assured that Poirot's fees were very reasonable. In another, Poirot had to breakfast on kedgeree when he was looking forward to "the famous English breakfast". That, and the fact that dinner conprised only a small cutlet and one potato each, suggested to Hastings that the family was impoverished.