THE TUNNEL DUKE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 March 1941, Page 6

THE TUNNEL DUKE

. LIFE'S SECRET ACTIVITIES. ' William John Cavendish BentinckScott, fifth Duke of Portland, was born , in 1800. By the death of his elder brother he succeeded to his seat in Parliament. . where he represented King’s Lynn till , 182 G. The turf and the management of his house at Welbeck in Nottinghamshire occupied most of his time. Living the life of a recluse, unmarried, and seeeing little or no society, it is said that he even refused to allow the work-people engaged on his estates to show any respectful recognition on meeting him. It was net till after his death that the full extent of his life's activities were discovered. He had been so absorbed with his hobby of tunnelling that when the new Duke arrived planks had to be laid down to enable his family to enter the hall which was without a floor. The other rooms I were all painted pink with parquet i floors, and all bare and without furniI lure. The drawing-rooms were high —a floor of bedrooms having been abolished in order to make them more lofty. An underground passage led up through a trap door into the building which had once been a riding school but was now lined with mirrors and [ had crystal chandeliers hanging from every corner of the rafted roof, painted to represent a sunset. In the great kitchen the Duke's perpetual chicken was always roasting on a' spit, so that whenever he should ring for it, one should be ready for eating. One tunnel, about, a mile and a-quar-ter long, had a carriage drive to Worksop, overhead windows throwing a ghostly light down at regular intervals. He showed a marked kindliness to his employees, providing them with donkeys to ride to and from work, and umbrellas to shelter them from rain. When he travelled he never left his own carriage, but had it placed in a railway truck on the train and kept, the blinds drawn. He died in December, 1879.