Mango: the life and times of Squire John Mytton of Halston, 1796-1834

by Jean Holdsworth

A good biography of Mad Jack Mytton, 1796-1834: "A man of excess in whatever he did, he amazed even his contemporaries who are not renowned for their restraint." Mytton's father was a country squire, living at Halston Hall near Oswestry, with land on both sides of the border. The Myttons were prosperous and secure, having farmed unostentatiously at Halston Hall since 1549. Mytton junior, spoilt, irresponsible and probably insane, applied himself to bankrupting the family with gambling, drinking and and ostentatiously bad behaviour. This is a readable and detailed account of how John Mytton achieved success and fame in his chosen field. It gives considerable insight into the period between the end of the Napoleonic Wars and, almost, the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837. Behaviour like Mytton's was widely fashionable at the time, confined neither to a particular social class, nor to those sharing Mytton's personality disorders. This book inadvertently shows exactly why the Victorian age became what it did, as the children of the latter part of Mytton's era grew up damaged and disgusted at the behaviour of so many of their parents. The numerous black and white illustrations are all contemporary, and are included for their relevance to the text. These include a series of illustrations by Henry Alken and T.J. Rawlins, of incidents from Mytton's life, taken from Nimrod's Memoirs of the Life of John Mytton.

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1972