Mad Jack Mytton the icon behind Plowden & Fallow’s SQUIRE JACK fragrance
The Epitome of english eccentrics
John ‘Mad Jack’ Mytton, born in 1796, is the epitome of an ‘English eccentric’, frivolous and carefree, flamboyant, with an endless thirst for adrenaline and excitement. The many stories collated from Mytton’s short life to many may sound like the work of a fictional writer, however, this is not the case.
The life of young Mad Jack started with a few short stints at various schools with too many expulsions to mention, for a plethora of reasons. Post school, Mad Jack then embarked on a university course at Cambridge, and as one does in preparation for the most serious of academic studies he began by ordering a delivery of several thousand bottles of port, port being his favourite poison and naturally Mad Jack would start his mornings with a bottle or two. Having found university boring he joined the military serving initially in the Shropshire Yeomanry followed by the Hussars. In this line of work he enjoyed spending his time drinking, gambling, flirting and generally enjoying France, post the first Napoleonic war.
squire jack: earning the title ‘mad’
On his return to England Mad Jack began earning a name for himself having inherited his families’ vast wealth and estate, residing at Halston Hall in Shropshire. It was here that he really set about earning the ‘Mad’ title in front of his name, living of his yearly income of £750,000 in today’s money. With this vast wealth he amassed some rather bizarre collections. He is reputed to have owned over 3100 shirts, and nearly 1000 boots. Jack also owned large numbers of animals, around 20 racehorses and nearly 2000 dogs some of which resided in Halston Hall with Mad Jack. The most favoured animals were dressed in fine costumes and regularly enjoyed a diet of steak and imported French champagne. Aside from these animals, Mad Jack also purchased a Bear and a monkey from a travelling zoo. The monkey was Jack’s drinking companion on many an occasion, dressed in fine costume. However, its love for the drink was eventually the animal’s undoing.
As can be imagined, the stunts were more extreme than his purchasing habits. Mad Jack initially bought his way into parliament by giving his constituents £10 each, only turning up once after finding it boring. Having not enjoyed politics, Jack embarked on some even more bizarre activities, from setting himself on fire to cure a bout of hiccups, to other countless stunts normally involving horses, jumping toll gates, to crashing carriages on purpose for ‘the experience’. Jack was also well known to ride or run naked throughout the countryside even on the coldest of days when he ‘felt too warm’ stripping off all his clothes as he went along. Whilst as can be imagined Mad Jack’s life was short, dying aged 37. He is well remembered and was well liked by all and, despite his vast spending he was not a selfish or ungenerous man and his life is fondly recounted in numerous stories and local folk law.
Squire jack: the woody, oriental unisex fragrance by plowden fallow
Plowden & Fallow’s Squire Jack Eau de Parfum takes inspiration from the tales and life of perhaps the greatest eccentrics to have ever graced these lands; we feel we have done Mad Jack justice in this composition. Squire Jack is a playful, opulent composition, combining ingredients such as lavender, bergamot, nutmeg, and frankincense over notes such as sandalwood, cedar, oakmoss and vetiver, to name just a few. To view Plowden & Fallow’s Squire Jack, in either a full 100ml bottle or as a 2ml sample, please click on the product links below.
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(Reference: Nimrod (pseud. C. J. Apperley). Memoirs of the late John Mytton, Esq. 1903.)
