MR STUKELEY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 February 1941, Page 3

MR STUKELEY

MAN OF ECCENTRIC WAYS. It is said that Laurence Sterne’s famous character. Uncle Toby, was sketched from the eccentric Mr Stukeley. a gentleman of fortune who relived into the country for the purpose, he declared of discovering perpetual motion. Ho never found it. of course, but he was a perpetual problem to his neighbours in the reign of George the First. During Queen Anne’s day this odd individual followed all the Duke of Marlborough’s victories in miniature by making plans of them on one of the floors of his house, building fortresses of soil and lime, and capturing them precisely as the Duke overcame his enemies. Indeed, Mr Stukeley besieged and captured a town of his own making on the very day the Duke was master of it in reality while lighting in Flanders. Odd Mr Stukeley kept his money loose about him. It was piled up on shelves in the pantry. He kept 2000 guineas on the top of a chest of drawers in his bedroom. Another 500 lay on the floor for 25 years gathering dust all the time.

In some respects he was a miser, loving to hoard up his money. At others he would invite a dozen or so at an inn. paying all expenses cheerfully. He confessed he was afraid of two things —being murdered for his money, and dying from disease caught by infection. He died at 70. having lived the last 30 years of his life as a recluse.