# Arthur Carstairs — The Wisdom of Father Brown character guide

> Arthur Carstairs in The Wisdom of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Arthur, Mr. Arthur Carstairs

**First appearance:** 0007-the-head-of-caesar

## Snapshot

A young heir who inherited his father's Roman coin collection and became its ascetic priest, dressing like a monk until a sale calls him to London.

## Who they are

Arthur Carstairs took over the family Collection and turned into a pagan priest dedicated to its temple, mixing Roman halfpence with the honour of the Carstairs name. He takes no pleasures, spends nothing on himself, and patters about in an old dressing-gown among brown-paper parcels no one else may touch. His idolatrous devotion to the coins sets him against his pleasure-loving brother and gives the household its strange, stifled atmosphere.

## In the story

### [The Head of Caesar](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wisdom_of_father_brown_se/chapters/the-head-of-caesar)

The man with the false nose; a coin collector who blackmailed his siblings and committed suicide when exposed.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wisdom_of_father_brown_se/characters/arthur_carstairs
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wisdom_of_father_brown_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wisdom_of_father_brown_se/characters