Who was Charles Waterton?

The story of Charles Waterton is diverse and controversial.

We know a lot about his life from his books and the many hundreds of letters he wrote. Over 100 of Waterton's letters are in the Wakefield Museums and Castles collection.

Charles Waterton created a nature park where guns were banned and wildlife was encouraged to thrive. This was also considered very strange in the 1800s. Only today do we realise how important it was.

Portrait of Charles Waterton, a middle-aged white man with short hair, in smart clothes. He is seated at a desk, with a taxidermy red bird perched on his finger, some books on the desk and a taxidermied cat's head on top of the books.

Charles Waterton by Charles Wilson Peale in 1824. On display at the National Portrait Gallery

Charles Waterton's birth and childhood

Charles Waterton was born in 1782. He died in 1865.

Waterton was fascinated with nature from an early age. He wrote about it as a child. He first went to school in Tudhoe, County Durham. Waterton's teacher at Tudhoe did not support his interest, and punished him with beatings.

Things improved when he moved to Stonyhurst College in Lancashire. Here, it was encouraged. Stonyhurst College now look after much of Waterton's collection of taxidermy.

Charles Waterton's family background

Charles Waterton was born into a very wealthy and ancient family. The Waterton family can be traced back to the Norman Conquest in 1066. Waterton's ancestors settled at Walton Hall, near Wakefield, in the 1400s.

The family were involved in major historical battles such as Agincourt. Charles Waterton’s ancestor, Robert Waterton, was appointed Constable of Pontefract Castle in the late 1300s. King Richard II was in Robert’s custody at Pontefract Castle when he died there in 1400. Robert Waterton is mentioned in Shakespeare’s play 'Richard II'.

The Waterton family remained Catholic following the English Reformation in the 1530s. The Reformation was the break from the Catholic Church in England. It created the Church of England. It began widespread discrimination against people who stayed Catholic.

Waterton was a Catholic man in a Protestant country. He lived when Great Britain had a vast empire across the world. As a Catholic, Waterton could not do many of the jobs that other aristocrats could. He was not allowed to have a high profile career in politics, law or the military.

These barriers shaped his political and economic and choices. He was a Chartist and campaigned for the separation of church and state. He also supported the first Catholic MP, Daniel O’Connell.

Charles Waterton's travels and 'wanderings'

Waterton travelled extensively around Europe after he left school. In his early 20s, Waterton travelled to South America to oversee his family’s plantations in what is now Guyana. These plantations relied on the forced labour of enslaved African people. The work of enslaved people undoubtedly contributed to the Waterton family’s wealth. Read more about Charles Waterton's links to slavery.

While in Guyana, Waterton spent much of his time exploring rainforests and documenting wildlife. His experiences there were shaped by the wider system of British colonial rule and enslavement.

Waterton explored the interior of Guyana in South America in four ‘wanderings’. He was one of the first Europeans to do this. He documented biodiversity, collected specimens and met local Indigenous people.

Waterton's book 'Wanderings in South America', about his travels, was a bestseller. It inspired many future naturalists, including Charles Darwin.

Charles Waterton brought his South American travels back to Wakefield. His museum at Walton Hall showcased the amazing creatures he had seen. Visitors had a chance to study animals they could never see in the wild in the UK. In one year alone 18,000 people visited Waterton's museum.

There were regular therapeutic visits from the nearby West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum (later the Stanley Royd Hospital). The patients came to view his home and grounds.

Charles Waterton's environmental campaigning

Waterton was one of the first environmental campaigners.

In the 1840s and 1850s he had a long legal battle against Edward Simpson. Simpson owned a soap works located near Waterton's estate. Making soap in those times involved boiling fats. These released toxic sulphuric acid fumes.

Waterton noted that whenever the wind blew from the north, it brought destruction to the "once flourishing and beautiful groves of fir trees in the Grotto". This "acid rain" effectively killed trees and hedgerows throughout the surrounding area.

Waterton’s long campaign against the pollution from Simpson’s soap works is now recognised as an early example of environmental activism.

Sir David Attenborough recognises Waterton's contribution to the development of modern-day environmental activism. He spoke about Waterton for a video playing in our A World of Good gallery. Waterton's environmental campaigning inspires Wakefield Museums and Castles' commitment to take action on the climate crisis and 'Do a World of Good'.

Charles Waterton's taxidermy methods and collection

Waterton collected most of his specimens himself. His collection is broad. South American birds perch next to Italian owls and local pheasants. Waterton collected some unusual animals in Yorkshire too. He knew the owners of Wombwell’s travelling animal menagerie. They gave him a chimpanzee and a baboon.

Waterton had a special method to preserved animal skins. ‘Allow me to inform you that there are no stuffed animals in this house’ Waterton told a visitor to his museum in 1856. He demonstrated this by pulling the head off a preserved polecat. There was nothing inside.

He used a chemical called mercuric chloride. This made the skin hard. He began by scraping away much of the inside of the animal’s skin. He then stood the animal in roughly the right position. He stressed that you had to observe the live animal or bird carefully to make sure the position of the museum specimen was correct. He made minor adjustments every day, until he thought that the animal was lifelike.

Waterton's most famous exhibit was an eleven-foot caiman. He preserved it after capturing it in South America. At the time, there was a well known drawing of him riding on the back of the caiman. The illustration featured in national newspapers.

Waterton even used his taxidermy skills to create imaginary creatures. They were designed to mock the government and the Church of England. One of the most famous is 'John Bull and the National Debt'. They are a window into his thoughts, emotions and beliefs.

A taxidermied porcupine in a tortoiseshell with an almost human face surrounded by six bizarre taxidermied animal creations

'John Bull and the National Debt': A porcupine in a tortoiseshell with an almost human face. It is so weighed down by the National Debt of £800 million that it is overcome by six devils. The six devils include an angler fish augmented with snake skin; a small caiman with spines made from either bird claws or spurs from the legs of cockerels or pheasants; spiny finned fish mixed with a toad's lower half.

After Waterton died in 1865, the collection went to his old school, Stonyhurst College. Stonyhurst had encouraged him to learn more about the natural world.

The collection still exists. It was on loan to Wakefield Museum from 1967 for over 50 years. The loan was recalled, and it is now on display in the Stonyhurst College museum.

Charles Waterton's marriage and later years

Charles Waterton married Anne Edmonstone (1812 – 1830) in 1829. He was 47 and she was 17. This age difference reflects the power dynamics and social norms of the period, particularly within patriarchal (male-dominated) societies.

Anne was of partial Arawak descent, and born in Guyana in South America. This was another factor that shaped how her life was recorded and interpreted. Anne’s father was Waterton’s friend, Charles Edmonstone. Anne sadly died weeks after the birth of their son, Edmund Waterton (1830 – 1887).

Waterton never remarried. Anne’s older and younger sisters, Eliza and Helen, moved to Walton Hall. They helped to manage Waterton’s nature park and raise Edmund. They lived with Waterton until his death in 1865. More about the incredible lives of the Edmonstone sisters.

Waterton must have been a challenging person to live with. He had some strange habits. He played tricks on visitors by pretending to be one of the estate workers or barking like a dog. He could scratch behind his ear with his big toe.

Famously, he was still climbing trees when he was 80.

Charles Waterton's death and burial

Charles Waterton died on 27 May 1865. He was 82.

Waterton is buried on his former estate in Walton. He was buried between two oak trees by the lake in an area known as Stubbs Wood. He had a solemn Catholic funeral and his body was taken by boat to his resting place.

The oak trees are no longer there and the water has receded, but Waterton’s grave remains.