Sir Thomas Barrett-Lennard
There are animal-lovers, and there are animal-lovers. The extraordinarily long-lived Sir Thomas Barrett-Lennard (1761-1857) was one of the latter. At his mansion of Belhus, Essex, Barrett-Lennard had a tidy cemetery constructed exclusively for animals. Not only that, but the cats, dogs, and horses which he cherished as family members received a funeral service conducted by the vicar of nearby Aveley. They were carried to their grave in a coffin borne by the necessary number of footmen in a procession led by Barett-Lennard to the waiting vicar. Surprisingly, despite this eccentricity, Barrett-Lennard was married twice and served as an MP.
He even loved rats, perhaps the most-loathed of all animals designated as vermin. Where others would keep cats and terriers to kill all rodents foolish enough to make an appearance near agricultural produce, Barrett-Lennard instructed his servants to keep a bowl of water in the corn ricks to encourage the creatures. He also strictly forbade anyone to harm the no-doubt thriving population of rats that lived on his estates. Were a rat to be disturbed, it had to be gently caught in a sack and released contritely into the woods, allowing it to decide for itself where to infest next.
Barrett-Lennard was also extremely kind to people, an unusual quality in a nobleman. At a time when it was seen as improper for a gentleman to answer his own front door, he would do so himself rather than inconvenience his salaried-butler. Visitors were consequently often shocked by the terribly scruffy demeanour of Barrett-Lennard’s butler. In fact, his appearance was so unprepossessing that he was on several occasions tipped by strangers who mistook him for a gatekeeper. In his spare time, Barrett-Lennard, a highly-educated man, would compose Latin poetry and translate nonsense lyrics into Greek for his own amusement.