# Timothy Forsyte — The Forsyte Saga character guide

> Timothy Forsyte in The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Timothy, Mr. Timothy, Uncle Timothy, old Timothy, Timothy Forsyte, Poor Mr. Timothy

**First appearance:** 0006-part-i-i-at-home-at-old-jolyon-s

## Snapshot

The reclusive Forsyte uncle who keeps to his green drawing-room among his sisters and the effigies of three generations, outliving nearly everyone he refuses to bury.

## Who they are

Timothy presides over the family's most static household, where Aunt Ann sits reading and knitting beneath a plume of dyed pampas grass and no Forsyte is permitted to die. His horror of death and change makes him the purest embodiment of the family's instinct to take precautions against encroachments on its property, including mortality itself. As the older generation thins around him, his stubborn survival becomes the saga's quiet joke about what the Forsytes are really made of.

## Relationships

### [Soames Forsyte](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_forsyte_saga_se/characters/soames_forsyte)

_family_

A formal uncle-nephew relationship with Timothy as a reclusive, judgmental family elder.

### [Soames Forsyte](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_forsyte_saga_se/characters/soames_forsyte)

_family_

A formal uncle-nephew relationship with Timothy as a reclusive, judgmental family elder.

### [Soames Forsyte](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_forsyte_saga_se/characters/soames_forsyte)

_family_

A formal uncle-nephew relationship with Timothy as a reclusive, judgmental family elder.

## In the story

### [Death of Aunt Ann](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_forsyte_saga_se/chapters/part-i-ix-death-of-aunt-ann)

Keeps his bed after being told of Ann's death; will get up after the funeral.

### [I: Mrs. Macander’s Evidence](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_forsyte_saga_se/chapters/part-iii-i-mrs-macander-s-evidence)

Absent from the dinner but his home is the setting; his aunts consider telling him about Mrs. MacAnder's stock tips but never do.

### [At Timothy's](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_forsyte_saga_se/chapters/part-i-i-at-timothy-s)

Uncle Timothy, who did not attend the funeral; his home on Bayswater Road serves as the family gossip hub.

### [Timothy Stays the Rot](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_forsyte_saga_se/chapters/part-ii-xi-timothy-stays-the-rot)

Emerges from years of seclusion to voice his conservative views on the war and family matters.

### [Encounter](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_forsyte_saga_se/chapters/part-i-i-encounter)

Aged uncle, nearly 100, still taking an interest in food; George suggests someone should visit him.

### [The Mausoleum](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_forsyte_saga_se/chapters/part-i-iv-the-mausoleum)

The last surviving old Forsyte, now deaf and childlike, taking his daily walk.

### [Purely Forsyte Affairs](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_forsyte_saga_se/chapters/part-ii-v-purely-forsyte-affairs)

Gradman has prepared an inventory of his estate in anticipation of his death.

### [Timothy Prophesies](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_forsyte_saga_se/chapters/part-ii-xi-timothy-prophesies)

Very old and senile, propped up in bed; he mutters about Consols going up and tells Soames to 'hold on,' embodying the family's fixation on investments.

### [The Last of the Old Forsytes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_forsyte_saga_se/chapters/part-iii-xi-the-last-of-the-old-forsytes)

The last of the old Forsytes, dies at an advanced age, having been cared for by Smither and Cook.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_forsyte_saga_se/characters/timothy_forsyte
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_forsyte_saga_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_forsyte_saga_se/characters