The Waterton Story

The Waterton Family

Charles the Catholic

The Last Years
 
 
 

Features

As an English Catholic, Waterton inherited some of the seige mentality which had been a fact of life for generations.  This is undoubtably one of the causes of his famous eccentricity. 
 

Walton Hall itself is a symbol of the state of Catholicism at in the country at the time.  It stands on a small isolated island connected to the estate only by a small bridge.  Some feel that Waterton's later move to build a wall around his estate was as much a continuation of this defensive psychology as it was in the interest of the wildlife it protected.

Despite his love of wildlife he nourished a hatred of the brown rat.  Jacobite tradition had associated this rodent with the Protestant Royal family of Hanover that had become such a scourge of English Catholics.  Waterton covered his estate in traps for these rats and left poisoned treats around their haunts so that he could watch them die.  He brought a wild hunting cat back from South America with the specific intention of using it to kill his rats.  On one occasion the squire was seen swinging a rat around by its tail before dashing its head against a wall with the cry "Death to all Hanoverians". 

He was also well known for his humour.  After compiling a report on the subject of religion among the Indians of South America during his travels, he submitted it to the Holy Father.  Through his impressive connections he was also able to secure an audience with the Pope to discuss his report further.  However, on arriving in Rome he met up with an old school friend and they immediately set about causing mischief.  They climbed the dome of St Peter's and ascended the lightning conductor to tie a pair of white gloves to the upper-most point.  They then continued to the Castle of St. Angelo where they climbed onto the statue of the Guardian Angel and performed various gymnastic feats.

The Holy Father heard about the incident and was not amused.  Ordering the pair to retrieve the gloves immediately, he cancelled his appointment with Waterton, having no wish to meet the acrobatic Englishman with so little respect for the Vatican and its property.

He used his skills in taxidermy to poke fun at those who had opposed Catholicism.  Lizards, snakes and all manner of other creatures were used to create a monstrosity named "Queen Bess at Lunch", while the corpse of the first Gorilla known in England had a pair of donkey's ears sewn on and was christened "Martin Luther after the fall".

There was a serious side to the Squire as well.  When it came to building Saint Austin's church he was on hand with a donation to get things started.  Reports suggest that he contributed £100 in the first instance with a further £300 coming from his brother the Jesuit.  In later years he continued his patronage of the church.  However, whereas the other wealthier parishioners made use of bench rents to secure the best seats at the front of the church, Waterton sat at the back with the poor.  He generally dressed in such a way that those who did not know better mistook him for a farm labourer or a vagrant.  He was even described as looking as if he had been recently released from prison.

Waterton was not slow to do his part for defending Catholicism in Wakefield.  In June 1836 a group arrived in Wakefield from London to form a local branch of the Protestant Reformation Society.  A covert aim of the group was to promote as much antagonism and ill feeling towards local Catholics as possible.  Waterton and his friends were not prepared to stand by and let this happen.  He and his colleagues attended the meeting and it descended into anarchy.  Whenever the word "Popery" or "Papist" was used, there was immediately a response and objection from the Catholics present.  Waterton and his friend's demanded to know what was meant by the word "popery", but when the visiting speaker attempted to reply he was immediately cut short...
 

The meeting eventually was eventually called to a halt with little progress made.