Friday, January 22, 2010

Meeting the Criteria for "A Son of a Savage," Millican Dalton











Millican Dalton . . .
• born April 20th 1867 in Nenthead in the Pennines.
• named Millican after his mother's maiden name.
• quaker.
• attended the Friends School in Wigton.
• father died when he was aged 7.
• family moved south and lived at Walnut Cottage, Stony Path, Essex.
• worked in London as an insurance clerk.
• keen cyclist and camper.
• left London aged 30.
• built a forest hut at Marlow Bottom, Buckinghamshire where he lived during the winter months.
• worked as secretary to the Holiday Fellowship in Newlands for a couple of years.
• camped at High Lodore.
• moved to a cave under Castle Crag in the 1920's.
• named his cave "The Cave Hotel".
• mountain guide.
• styled himself 'Professor of Adventure'.
• offered 'Mountain rapid Shooting, Rafting, Hair-breadth Escapes.'
• was always addressed as 'The Skipper '.
• made his own clothes.
• vegetarian.
• grew potatoes on the terrace outside his cave.
• baked his own bread.
• ate hazelnuts picked from the woods around his cave.
• collected ample firewood from the surrounding countryside.
• climbed trees in winter to keep fit for climbing.
• bachelor.
• a popular guide among the lady climbers.
• invented trousers that could convert into shorts.
• took the Daily Herald.
• pacifist.
• often wrote to Churchill demanding he stop the war.
• admired George Bernard Shaw.
• had strong views on almost everything.
• teetotaller.
• smoked Woodbine cigarettes.
• drank large ammounts of coffee.
• washed infrequently.
• was more likeable when he was standing down wind.
• built a raft named Rogue Herries.
• lit a fire on top of Napes Needle to mark his 50th accent and made a pot of coffee.
• during the cold winter of 1947 his hut burned down; undaunted he moved into a tent.
• contracted pneumonia.
• spent his last few days in a hospital ward.
• died on the 5th February 1947 in Amersham aged 79 years.




2 comments:

  1. This is another of your perfect posts...This is great...

    All the best,

    "Tavarua"

    ReplyDelete
  2. "Don't waste words, Jump to conclusions."

    -Millican Dalton

    ReplyDelete