SHROPSHIRE'S MAD SQUIRE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18397, 12 May 1923, Page 2 (Supplement)

SHROPSHIRE'S MAD SQUIRE.

. ——*> WILD EXPLOITS RECALLED. Halston Hall, near Oswestry, which has just been purchased by Captain J. Eocles, of Preston, was the scene oj some of the maddest exploits of the 19th century. It was the home of Jack.Mytton, whose eccentricities earned, him the title of the " mad hatter," or tjfe " mad squire of Shropshire." His career was crammed full of excitement from the time he' could toddle until his Health at the early age of 38 in a debtor's prison in London. ~ He started lay bang espeljed from! school more than : once, and at the age. of 14 he was said to i have . overspent double his income .of £400 a year. A fortune .of from £30,000 to £40,000 was squandered in a. few^ears. Mytton kept both a bear and a monkey as pets, and was fond of terrifying his visitors with them. ; - One. Hay, disguised' as a beggar, he called at his own hall, and rated the servants "for. the mean fare they had given him. • ■,":'-' ." / : . <. ~; :";."-'/;-; ; .' ; ;-.'•'•"-."• The bear was brought out of the hall to frighten the . "beggar" but he recognised Jack.;n : . . •' ' ■ ■•' *._■ On another occasion, when a man applied for. the post of gamekeeper, Mytton disguised himself as a- sweep, and it was part of the test that the gamekeeper should fight the "sweep." There was a' great set-to, and after the fight Jack engaged the man. Who won is not stated. ' ? '~ -;■;•.'' . Mytton was very fond of his monkey, which used to ride, a white horse and accompany • his , master on some of his wild expeditions. .. Jack had held a commission in the 7th Hussars, but, , tiring of it, . sold out of the Army and, at the age of 23. married Miss Jones', a daughter of the late Sir Tirwhitt Jones, Bart., of Stanley Hall, Salop. , ' . • V She lived only a few years after the birth of a daughter— Mytton'a only child. . - ' . After his death in 1834, Mytton's body was taken to Halston and laid in the private chapel.'