Mad Jack Mytton – ‘This half-mad hunting creature’

  I love it when Folklore and history entwine, creating a composite story which isn’t quite either, a tale which dwells in the margins between what we know to be true and what we wish could be. Such stories are powerful and seem to take on a life of their own, inexplicably entwining with the paranormal.

Indeed- in the following account the paranormal events make for more realistic reading than the tales of this man’s life!  If you know a little about Shropshire, you may know who I am talking about- ‘Mad Jack Mytton’. Interestingly Mytton’s spirit is unlike many ghost stories in the region, (including some I’ve explored previously) in the sense that we already know a lot about the person he was before he died. To be honest with you all, with as much information as we have- it’s hard to know where to start in recounting the associated mayhem!  Thus, I have been unable to cover every moment of eccentricity, rather focusing on a few. Mytton has certainly become a quasi-folkloric figure, who fully embodies the Byronic ‘Mad, Bad and Dangerous to know’ archetype. His exploits are daft and daring and even slightly disturbing, with his behaviour breaking the boundaries of acceptable conduct. So, what made Mytton circumvent societal and behavioural expectations? Perhaps the toxic combination of money, madness and excess left him without any understanding of the real world. It would be easy to allow Jack Mytton to become the caricature, but it’s important to note that much of his behaviour, though comical really shows the fragility of his mental state. Though one of history’s great eccentrics, he was a human being too. Mytton is a divisive figure, and I want to unpick his legacy, with the help of his ghost. That’s the wonderful thing about ghost stories, they serve as conduits for the past- and through them we can further the narrative- we can understand. Mytton was a larger-than- life figure as we shall soon see- so why does his ghost manifest in such a tame way? I think that it provides an insight into the regret and unhappiness that coloured his life.

Much of what we know about John Mytton was from the accounts of James Apperley (another regency rake and early sports journalist) who wrote under the pen name ‘Nimrod’. Nimrod was a good friend of Mytton’s and was actually present during some of Mytton’s more outrageous behaviour. In fact, in his work ‘The Life of John Mytton’ written in 1877, Nimrod had to state that though unbelievable, he’d witnessed these events, and he wasn’t even covering the true extent of the behaviour.

“…yet I might hazard an imputation on my veracity were I to recount all the extraordinary deeds of this most extraordinary man, in various situations with hounds.”

The life of this ‘extraordinary man’ began on 30^th September 1796 at Halston Hall, Whittington (just outside of Oswestry). His family was of noble origin, squires whose lineage dated back over 500 years. Their estate was well over 132,000 acres and included a home worth 4.3 million by today’s standards. It produced an annual income of £10,000 (£716,000 in today’s money) all of this- John Mytton was set to inherit.  In 1806, Mytton was sent to the prestigious Westminster School to begin his education, which was certainly a worthy institution for a child of such dignified birth. Here he would learn the fundamentals of life and become an educated young noble. Well, that would have been the case if Mytton hadn’t got expelled after 3 terms for fighting a schoolmaster. As you can see, his erratic behaviour started early. After this minor discrepancy, Mytton found himself Harrow bound.  However, this too was short-lived, as he got expelled not long after. He managed to complete his education with the help of a string of tutors, who he tormented endlessly with his ‘practical jokes’ which included leaving a horse in one of their rooms (you know, the obvious schoolboy stuff).

After managing to scrape an education, Mytton joined the army at 16, and managed to make it to Cambridge. However, he found university life boring, and was said to have taken an allowance of 2,000 bottles of port to sustain him during his studies– he finished them off in his first term. Mytton left without a degree due to him lacking in the academic department and embarked on a grand tour. 

After his grand tour, he took a more full-time position in the army, joining the 7^th Hussars (partly due to the apparent fabulousness of the uniform) as a cornet; he spent a year with the regiment in France, as part of the army of occupation after the defeat of Napoleon I. Mytton’s military career mainly involved gambling and drinking before he resigned his commission. He re-joined the North Shropshire Yeomanry after returning to England and was promoted to Major in 1822. Astonishingly, he was still on the regimental strength at the time of his death 12 years later, despite his periods abroad and in prison.

Mytton really came into his own after returning to his country seat and taking up the duties of a squire.  The life of a squire afforded him time to indulge in his passions of horseracing, drinking, hunting, and gambling- among other things, but we will get to them shortly. However, in 1819, he entertained the idea of running for Parliament, as a Tory, which would follow his family tradition. What a better vocation for a noble young man with too much time on his hands?  And Mytton proved successful in his venture due to the fact that he secured his seat by offering voters £10 notes (spending more than £750,000 of today’s money). Due to his clever bribery- he became MP for Shrewsbury. However, this was perhaps John’s most short-lived endeavour, as he lasted just 30 minutes in the House of Commons in June 1819 before leaving.  He was said to find the debates incredibly dull and boring, and there is some cause to believe that he found it physically difficult to follow due to his incipient deafness. He didn’t stand in the next election but did become High Sheriff of Shropshire for 1823–24, and various other political roles in his life, though I am sure he gave these as much enthusiasm as his political career.

Mytton married for the first time in 1818 to Harriet Emma Jones, who was the daughter of Sir Thomas Jones. She unfortunately, died in childbirth in Clifden, Somerset on 2^nd July 1820. Mytton married a second time to Caroline Mallet Giffard from Chillington Hall in October 1821 at Brewood, Staffordshire. This marriage was far from happy, and as Mytton’s erratic behaviour escalated, she ran away in 1830 and lived the rest of her life estranged from him.

To say he was ill suited for matrimony would be an understatement.

    In fact, Nimrod states ‘that Mr. Mytton’s conduct in the marriage state is in great part indefensible, and can only be palliated by a due allowance, which must not be denied him, for that sort of insane delirium under which he so frequently laboured…”

Mytton’s behaviour to the women in his life was incredibly abusive, which makes it easy to understand why Caroline ran off. He is rumoured to have thrown his first wife Harriet’s lapdog into the fire during a jealous rage, because poor John was not getting enough attention. However, Nimrod states that “he merely took it up in his arms, threw it halfway up to the drawing-room ceiling, and caught it, without injury.” Hmmmm…

He is also charged with attempting to drown Harriet. Though Nimrod makes light of that too, suggesting that ‘He merely, one very hot day, pushed her into the shallow of his lake at Halston, a little over her shoes.”  Regardless of the truth, the unpredictably of the man would have been enough to push anyone over the edge.  His children did not escape their father’s bizarre interactions, he is said to have enjoyed tossing them into the air as babies, then as they grew, he ignored them for long periods at a time, only to pelt them with oranges- I’m not sure what we can say about that one really…

Like I had mentioned previously, Mytton’s true passions were gambling, hunting and horse racing.  Mytton appeared to have an aptitude for cruelty and had hunted foxes proficiently with a pack of hounds from the age of ten and did so in any kind of weather. He was remarked to have the constitution of a bull, wearing only a light jacket, thin shoes, and linen trousers in winter (complete with silk stockings of course). But with the thrill of the chase, Mytton frequently cast off his troublesome clothes and hunted naked, thrashing his way through the Shropshire countryside in snow or storm undeterred. He once continued hunting after breaking his ribs. It is said that Mytton would hunt anything- and used to lead his stable boys on rat hunts, which I suppose is one way to pass the time.

He kept numerous pets, including up to 2,000 dogs, a pack of harriers, a giraffe, and a bear. His favourites were fed on steak and champagne; he was said to keep 15-20 horses in training at any given time, and he also let his favourite horse Baronet have free range inside Halston Hall. Baronet was often found to be lying in front of the fire with Mytton, as the two enjoyed each other’s company. He was also an enthusiastic dogfighter and gambled on the outcome of fights between bulldogs, mastiffs, and terriers. He also apparently beat his own fearless bulldog with his bare fists and was said to have bitten fighting dogs with his own teeth, even standing upright with a mastiff held in his own jaws without using his hands to support the weight.  This is appalling by today’s standards, but during a time when dogfighting was an accepted mode of entertainment, Mytton’s apparent fearlessness would have shocked spectators, and furthered belief in his instability.

Apart from hunting, Mytton frequently indulged his love of horseracing and gambling, often at the same time. He spent large sums of money on his passions (though there wasn’t much that he didn’t spend money on) he undeniably had several successes in the gambling and horseracing world. He also trained horses and invested heavily in broodmares and young stock. Mytton took his gambling very seriously; indeed, there was little he would not do for a bet.  He even involved the local children of Dina’s Mawddwy to gamble, holding contests and tests for them, with cash prices ranging from half a crown to half a guinea. Such contests included testing their bravery, to see who would roll down the whole of Moel Dina’s, a local hill.  It seems like Mytton was constantly looking for a source of amusement or entertainment. In 1826 he rode a horse into the Bedford hotel, (near the Leamington spa town hall), up the grand staircase and onto the balcony, then jumped from it over the terrified diners and through the window as a bet. He won, and one can imagine was also the talk of the town.

Mytton was also a drinking man and could drink eight bottles of port wine a day with a helping of brandy. He managed to kill one of his horses, Sportsman, by making it drink a bottle of port. Certainly, by now you may be getting a picture of Mytton as a man who lacked basic sense or understanding of fear – and you may be right. He frequently got into accidents- he was already erratic and suffering from poor mental health, so the eight bottles of port a day would have merely amplified this. Nimrod describes him as ‘positively liking accidents’ and frequently threw himself between the hooves of dangerous and nervous horses. Perhaps this was why his life was described as "a series of suicide attempts”.  He often rode high speed around the local area and did anything he could to put himself or others in danger.

As one can imagine- polite company ostracised Mytton for his scandalous conduct. He even had a period of house arrest, whist his mother was trying to get him committed for his erratic behaviour. However, this just seemed to encourage him more. He spend a lot of time with his tenant farmers and local people, and once picked a fight with a tough Shropshire miner who just so happened to disturb his hunt. The bare-knuckle fight lasted 20 rounds before the miner gave up. Another time, he arrived terribly late to his own dinner party, at his own hall, riding a bear. Unsatisfied with its speed, he kicked the bear in an attempt to make it go faster, but it bit into his calf. Mytton didn’t seem to mind too much- he kept the bear as his pet and lovingly christened it ‘Nell’. Like his horse Baronet, Nell had free reign- until it attacked a servant, so Mytton reluctantly had it killed. 

Nimrod describes an incident occurring whilst Mytton was staying in Calais (to avoid his creditors no less). He came down with a terrible bout of hiccups just before bed. But Mytton knew exactly what to do to rid himself of such an ailment.

"'Damn this hiccup!!' -He declared, in a thunderous way.

 ‘I’ll frighten it away'; -he announced and quickly grabbed a lit candlestick, bringing the flame to the tail of his shirt, and setting himself on fire. The shirt was fine cotton, so he was almost instantly enveloped in flames. In shock and sheer panic, a servant and another guest beat out the flames. Eventually putting Mytton out.

Mytton smiled and declared - ‘The hiccup is gone, by God!', and then got into bed naked as if nothing had happened!

Money appeared to have little value to Mytton. Nimrod excellently described him as ‘a perfect stranger to the science of economy’ an uncontrollable spendthrift; Mytton had spent his inheritance in a mere 15 years and fell into deep debt.  He spent large amounts of money on fine clothing, food, Brandy, and Champagne, as well as exhibiting more bizarre behaviour, such as burying large amounts of money on his estate, or merely dropping it and forgetting where it was. His long-suffering agent suggested reducing his expenditure to £6,000 a year for six years to keep his estate, but the stalwart Mytton declared “I wouldn't give a damn to live on £6,000 a year!" and sold his estate at Dinas Mawddwy to John Bird. After this, he fled to Calais to avoid his creditors. 

Mytton’s end came in 1834. He had returned to England the previous year, and the creditors had caught up with him. Unable to pay, he ended up in King’s Bench prison in Southwark. He is described as being reduced to a "round-shouldered, tottering, old-young man bloated by drink, worn out by too much foolishness, too much wretchedness and too much brandy" The death certificate read Delirium Tremens- and his body was interred in the private chapel at his ancestral home. Mytton’s last journey, from the prison to his ancestral home was said to spread grief across the county. Afterall, he’d been generous to many of his tenants. Church bell’s tolled, and people lined the streets to watch their squire come home. Interestingly, the ode at Mytton’s funeral was read by another future ghost ‘Tom Moody’ (who’s ghost story is interesting in itself) who lamented -

“Mourn! But no tears – they honour not the grave of such as Mytton was, the kind, the brave. His was a restless soul – too wildly prone to wear the show of vices not his own.”

 Though Mytton’s body had returned to the earth, a man like him doesn’t rest easy. His ghost is said to haunt the ‘The Mytton and Mermaid’ (known then as the Berwick arms) the place his body spent its final night before being interred. His apparition appears frequently but is strongest on his birthday (30^th of September). One might think that such a spirit would embody the decadence and debauchery of his life, but this is far from the case. ‘Mad Jack’ cuts an impressive figure- in his bold riding coat and high boots, but stands silently, looking out the window, towards the River Severn, and the Atcham Bridge- the route his funeral procession took. The whole image is incredibly sad, and the prevailing mood in the room is one of melancholy. Visitors have also reported shadows moving in the darkness, low moods, and low sounds of crying as well as seeing Mytton staring out, as if full of regret.

 The juxtaposition between the life he lived, and his ghost is important. In life he rode bears and fought Miners- his life was a thunderous roar tearing across the pages of Shropshire’s history, yet his end seems like a quiet whisper. Perhaps his ghost is enduring to demonstrates this- to remind us that this ‘half mad hunting creature’ was in fact a man, plagued by poor mental health and sadness. Though it makes for good storytelling, Mytton’s life demonstrates a very unhappy individual, beset by dissatisfaction, and chasing after temporal pleasures, trying to find meaning or enjoyment in a life.  One can imagine there were times when Mytton felt very lost and knowing what he was reduced to and how he died alone is very sad. Perhaps there were times when he wondered what his life meant.  Mytton’s ghost gives us a great insight into the man behind the stories- and though unlikeable, to witness that melancholy figure silently watching as the world shifts and changes, would be an incredibly poignant visitation.