Timothy Stedding, first known as Squashy Hat in Pigeon Post, is a friend and mining colleague of James Turner. He is a tall, thin and shy man who habitually wears a squashy felt hat. So when they decide he is a rival prospector, they call him Squashy Hat.
A telegram from Captain Flint to the household at Beckfoot says ".. Be kind to Timothy, Give him the run of my room", so they decide Timothy must be an Armadillo, and make him a hutch. Captain Flint finds the letter he wrote home in his pocket on board ship.
Timothy goes to Beckfoot, but is too shy to introduce himself when he sees all the children there: "There were children popping up all over the place. It was like a school feast ... You wouldn't have gone in yourself ... How could I tell you hadn't bunged me into the middle of a holiday school? .... " But in an emergency he is decisive, eg in the fire (PP34) or when the Great Aunt goes missing (PM25).
Later he is a good friend, particularly with Dick who likes "stinks", in The Picts and the Martyrs when they test samples of copper ore - and cope with the Great Aunt, who decides Timothy not Dick is the burglar of Beckfoot.