Bertie Wooster

Bertram Wilberforce "Bertie" Wooster is the foppish, dim-witted, and very wealthy co-protagonist of P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves stories. A British aristocrat and member of the "idle rich", he always appears alongside his highly intelligent "gentleman's personal gentleman" Jeeves, whose genius manages to extract Bertie or one of his friends from numerous awkward or difficult situations.

Family

Bertie, who is apparently an orphan, has at least two aunts and two uncles from the Wooster family, though Wodehouse alludes to his father's having had many siblings. Only his aunts—Aunt Dahlia and Aunt Agatha, sisters of his late father—play major roles in the stories; his uncles, while mentioned in passing, are not recurring characters.

Related Topics:
Aunt Dahlia - Aunt Agatha

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Bertie has at least five uncles, three of which he has acquired by marriage: Tom Travers, Aunt Dahlia's husband; Spenser Gregson, Aunt Agatha's first husband; and Percy Craye, Earl of Worplesdon, her second; Henry Wooster, a "looney" of whom the family is deeply embarrassed; and Willoughby Wooster. Henry's twin sons Claude and Eustace—Bertie's cousins—play significant roles in several stories, as do Aunt Dahlia's children Angela and Bonzo Travers and Aunt Agatha's young son Thos (Thomas) Gregson.

Related Topics:
Tom Travers - Spenser Gregson - Percy Craye, Earl of Worplesdon - Henry Wooster - Willoughby Wooster - Claude and Eustace - Angela - Bonzo Travers - Thos (Thomas) Gregson

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At first, Bertie depends on his Uncle Willoughby for financial support, but upon his uncle's death, Bertie apparently inherits a vast fortune. Nevertheless, he is perpetually afraid of his Aunt Agatha, who considers him a spineless invertebrate and a burden on society; his Aunt Dahlia, on the contrary, likes him very much, often inviting him to stay at her country estate, Brinkley Court. Bertie's Aunt Dahlia often uses the threat of banning Bertie from Brinkley Court and the produce of her peerless chef Anatole, to make him bend to her will. For instance, in the novel The Code of the Woosters, Bertie is forced to steal a cow creamer for his Aunt Dahlia, who wants it for her husband (Uncle Tom), who wants it for his collection. The cow creamer rightfully belongs to Uncle Tom, but with the use of trickery, was purchased by Sir Watkyn Bassett (a rival collector and the magistrate who fined Bertie five pounds one Boat Race Night). Bertie asks Madeline Basset for an invite and goes through a harrowing experience at Totleigh Towers, but is ultimately crowned with success.

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Bertie also has a cousin named Gussie, mentioned in the first Jeeves story, Extricating Young Gussie, in which his and his cousin's last name is Mannering-Phipps. Wodehouse apparently changed his mind afterward, though the Bertie in the first story is undoubtedly the same as that of the later stories; indeed, Bertie refers on several occasions to the "rummy affair" of Gussie.

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