diff --git a/doc/ReferenceOfClasses.md b/doc/ReferenceOfClasses.md
index 5bab56dc..b82d109e 100644
--- a/doc/ReferenceOfClasses.md
+++ b/doc/ReferenceOfClasses.md
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ Constructed from user's login and password or OAuth token or nothing:
     g = Github()
 
 You can add an argument `base_url = "http://my.enterprise.com:8080/path/to/github"` to connect to a local install of Github (ie. Github Enterprise).
+Another argument, that can be passed is `timeout` which has default value `10`.
 
 Attributes
 ----------
diff --git a/github/Github.py b/github/Github.py
index 360ae0eb..e34204a2 100644
--- a/github/Github.py
+++ b/github/Github.py
@@ -24,10 +24,11 @@ import Legacy
 import GithubObject
 
 DEFAULT_BASE_URL = "https://api.github.com"
+DEFAULT_TIMEOUT = 10
 
 class Github( object ):
-    def __init__( self, login_or_token = None, password = None, base_url = DEFAULT_BASE_URL ):
-        self.__requester = Requester( login_or_token, password, base_url )
+    def __init__( self, login_or_token = None, password = None, base_url = DEFAULT_BASE_URL, timeout = DEFAULT_TIMEOUT):
+        self.__requester = Requester( login_or_token, password, base_url, timeout )
 
     @property
     def rate_limiting( self ):
diff --git a/github/Requester.py b/github/Requester.py
index be96e597..680ed417 100644
--- a/github/Requester.py
+++ b/github/Requester.py
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ class Requester:
         cls.__httpConnectionClass = httpConnectionClass
         cls.__httpsConnectionClass = httpsConnectionClass
 
-    def __init__( self, login_or_token, password, base_url ):
+    def __init__( self, login_or_token, password, base_url, timeout ):
         if password is not None:
             login = login_or_token
             self.__authorizationHeader = "Basic " + base64.b64encode( login + ":" + password ).replace( '\n', '' )
@@ -47,13 +47,13 @@ class Requester:
         self.__hostname = o.hostname
         self.__port = o.port
         self.__prefix = o.path
+        self.__timeout = timeout
         if o.scheme == "https":
             self.__connectionClass = self.__httpsConnectionClass
         elif o.scheme == "http":
             self.__connectionClass = self.__httpConnectionClass
         else:
             assert( False ) #pragma no cover
-
         self.rate_limiting = ( 5000, 5000 )
 
     def requestAndCheck( self, verb, url, parameters, input ):
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ class Requester:
         if self.__authorizationHeader is not None:
             headers[ "Authorization" ] = self.__authorizationHeader
 
-        cnx = self.__connectionClass( host = self.__hostname, port = self.__port, strict = True )
+        cnx = self.__connectionClass( host = self.__hostname, port = self.__port, strict = True, timeout= self.__timeout )
         cnx.request(
             verb,
             self.__completeUrl( url, parameters ),