Did Uncle Lamb know about time travel in Outlander?

Claire was raised by her Uncle Lamb, an archaeologist, in the world of Outlander. It meant that she got to travel the world and learn about different cultures and pieces of history. Could she have learned about something more if Uncle Lamb had kept her informed?

There are a lot of theories from fans that Uncle Lamb knew all about time travel. There are even theories that his family line, the Beauchamp line, is the one responsible for Claire’s genetic abilities to travel through time.

Is it possible that he knew all about it? Why didn’t he try to travel through time if he did?

Uncle Lamb may have carried the time travel gene in Outlander

One thing that I will agree with is that Uncle Lamb could have carried the time travel gene. Claire had to get the gene from at least one of her parents, and the Beauchamp line makes sense. After all, we know that the Beauchamp line dates back centuries in France.

However, it’s not likely the Beauchamp line itself. There’s a chance that it goes back to Comte St. Germain. He is a time traveler in the books, and we know that Percy Wainwright went searching for Fergus believing him to be the son of the Comte. This would suggest that Fergus could time travel. We also know that Fergus is the son of Amelie Beauchamp.

So, this would suggest that Fergus could be the one to continue the line of time travelers through the Beauchamp line, eventually leading to Henry and Quentin Beauchamp, Claire’s father and uncle.

This doesn’t mean that everyone with the gene can travel. The gene could be dormant, meaning that someone wouldn’t be able to travel through the portals. This suggests that Uncle Lamb, considering how much traveling her did, likely had a dormant gene.

Uncle Lamb may have known he couldn’t time travel

So, what about him knowing about time travel? You would think with his job that he would have come across stories of those who believed time travel was possible. Even if it wasn’t time travel, there could have been people who thought there were portals maybe to another world. Uncle Lamb would have come across the stories, but that doesn’t mean he would believe them.

While he would have listened to the stories, he would have also needed to weigh up the chances of superstition and possibility. As he went through different countries, he may have even come across where the portals were supposed to be and nothing happened. You see, while he knew about the stories, that doesn’t mean he knew how it all worked. What we know of Uncle Lamb, he wouldn’t have likely spent as much time as Geillis did in researching and actually considered a blood sacrifice to make it possible.

Uncle Lamb would have understood a little of genetics considering that science started in the mid-19th century. That doesn’t mean he would have considered time travel as a genetic possibility. So, maybe he never even considered that he would have the ability to time travel. If he had or if he had thought Claire could time travel, would he have risked taking her to portals?

It’s hard to know considering how little we actually know of Uncle Lamb’s personality. We know he didn’t have children of his own and he treated Claire more adult than most guardians would, but he had to have still loved her as his own. After all, if he didn’t, he would have left her at the boarding school regardless of her feelings. So, it would suggest that he didn’t know about time travel, or he just believed that he and Claire couldn’t do it.