John 'Mad Jack' Fuller
Encyclopedia
John Fuller better known as "Mad Jack" Fuller (although he himself preferred to be called "Honest John" Fuller), was Squire of the hamlet of Brightling
, in Sussex
(now East Sussex
), and is well known as a builder of follies
, and as a philanthropist
, patron of the art
s and science
s, and a supporter of slavery
. He purchased and commissioned many paintings from J.M.W. Turner. He was sponsor and mentor to Michael Faraday
.
, Hampshire
. He was christened in the village of Waldron, near Heathfield
in Sussex (now East Sussex), in the south of England
. His parents were the Reverend Henry Fuller (15 January 1713 – 23 July 1761) and his wife Frances, née Fuller (1725 – 14 February 1778).
He lost his father in 1761, when he was four. At the age of ten, in 1767, he began his education at Eton College
, a public school in Berkshire
.
On 7 May 1777, Jack Fuller's uncle Rose Fuller
, MP died, leaving Jack his Sussex estates and Jamaican
plantations. Jack Fuller thus took possession of the Rose Hill estate (now Brightling Park) at Brightling, Sussex at the age of 20.
, for a period of one year, and in 1798, he became a captain in the Sussex Gentlemen and Yeomanry Cavalry.
In 1780, at the age of 23, Jack Fuller was elected to Parliament
. He was Member of Parliament
(MP) for Southampton
from 1780 to 1784, and for Sussex
from 1801 to 1812.
Fuller, a noted drunk, on 27 February 1810 was involved in an incident with the Speaker
in Parliament, which led to him being seized by the Serjeant-at-Arms
and to public disgrace. At that time he was serving on a committee that was enquiring into the reasons behind the disastrous Walcheren Expedition the previous year. Despite other drunken instances, his parliamentary career is probably most notable for his staunch support of slavery. In one debate he claimed that West Indian slaves lived in better conditions than many people in England.
On 17 July 1781, Fuller's sister Elizabeth married Sir John Palmer Acland, a grandson of Sir Hugh Acland, 6th Baronet
MP, in St. Marylebone in London
.
In 1790, at the age of 33, he proposed marriage to Susannah Arabella Thrale,(daughter of Henry Thrale
and Hester Thrale
) but was rebuffed. In fact, he never married, and is not known to have had any children.
In 1811, a pyramid
-shaped building, often referred to as "The Pyramid", was erected in the churchyard
of the Church of St. Thomas à Becket in Brightling as a future mausoleum
for Jack Fuller.
Fuller retired from politics in 1812, not standing for re-election in the General Election of that year
.
in London. He acted as mentor and supporter of the young Michael Faraday. In 1818 he loaned the Institution £1000 (about £100,000 in today's value) and later wrote off this debt. In 1828 he established the Fuller medal of the Royal Institution and in early 1833 he founded the Fullerian Professorship of Chemistry
to which Michael Faraday was appointed as the first professor. Later he also endowed the institution with the Fullerian Professorship of Physiology.
In 1818, Fuller built the Observatory
at Brightling which had been designed by Robert Smirke
, and in 1822, he endowed Eastbourne in Sussex with its first lifeboat
. In 1828, he financed the building of the Belle Tout lighthouse
, on the cliff at Beachy Head
, near Eastbourne. The first Belle Tout lighthouse was a temporary wooden structure that started service on 1 October 1828. The construction of the permanent granite lighthouse began in 1829 and it became operational on 11 October 1834. On Thursday, 18 September 1828, Jack Fuller bought Bodiam Castle
for 3000 guineas at auction to save it from destruction.
On the afternoon of Friday, 11 April 1834, Fuller died at his home, 36 Devonshire Place, London. He was buried under the Pyramid in Brightling churchyard. The main beneficiaries of his will were his nephew, Peregrine Palmer Fuller Palmer Acland (1789–1871)and General Sir Augustus Elliot Fuller(1777-1857) who was John Fuller's first cousin once removed.
Brightling
Brightling is a village and civil parish in the Rother District of East Sussex, England. It is located on the Weald eight miles north-west of Battle and four miles west of Robertsbridge....
, in Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
(now East Sussex
East Sussex
East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...
), and is well known as a builder of follies
Folly
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but either suggesting by its appearance some other purpose, or merely so extravagant that it transcends the normal range of garden ornaments or other class of building to which it belongs...
, and as a philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
, patron of the art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
s and science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
s, and a supporter of slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
. He purchased and commissioned many paintings from J.M.W. Turner. He was sponsor and mentor to Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday, FRS was an English chemist and physicist who contributed to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry....
.
Early life
Fuller was born on 20 February 1757 in North StonehamNorth Stoneham
North Stoneham is a settlement and ecclesiastical parish in south Hampshire, England. It was formerly an ancient estate and manor. Until the nineteenth century, it was a rural community comprising a number of scattered hamlets, including Middle Stoneham, North End, and Bassett Green, and...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
. He was christened in the village of Waldron, near Heathfield
Heathfield, East Sussex
Heathfield is a small market town, and the principal settlement in the civil parish of Heathfield and Waldron in the Wealden District of East Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, England.-Location:...
in Sussex (now East Sussex), in the south of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. His parents were the Reverend Henry Fuller (15 January 1713 – 23 July 1761) and his wife Frances, née Fuller (1725 – 14 February 1778).
He lost his father in 1761, when he was four. At the age of ten, in 1767, he began his education at Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
, a public school in Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
.
On 7 May 1777, Jack Fuller's uncle Rose Fuller
Rose Fuller
Rose Fuller was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1756 to 1777.Fuller was the son of John Fuller, of Brightling, Sussex, and his wife Elizabeth Rose, daughter of Fulke Rose of Jamaica. He studied medicine at Cambridge University and was also a student at Leyden in the...
, MP died, leaving Jack his Sussex estates and Jamaican
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
plantations. Jack Fuller thus took possession of the Rose Hill estate (now Brightling Park) at Brightling, Sussex at the age of 20.
Political career
In 1779, John "Mad Jack" Fuller, at the age of 22, was captain of a light infantry company in the Sussex Militia. In 1796, Fuller was appointed High Sheriff of SussexHigh Sheriff of Sussex
-History:The office of High Sheriff is over 1000 years old, with its establishment before the Norman Conquest. The Office of High Sheriff remained first in precedence in the counties until the reign of Edward VII when an Order in Council in 1908 gave the Lord-Lieutenant the prime office under the...
, for a period of one year, and in 1798, he became a captain in the Sussex Gentlemen and Yeomanry Cavalry.
In 1780, at the age of 23, Jack Fuller was elected to Parliament
Parliament of Great Britain
The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland...
. He was Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) for Southampton
Southampton (UK Parliament constituency)
Southampton was a parliamentary constituency which was represented in the British House of Commons. Centred on the town of Southampton, it returned two Members of Parliament from 1295 until it was abolished for the 1950 general election....
from 1780 to 1784, and for Sussex
Sussex (UK Parliament constituency)
Sussex was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832...
from 1801 to 1812.
Fuller, a noted drunk, on 27 February 1810 was involved in an incident with the Speaker
Speaker of the British House of Commons
The Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the House of Commons, the United Kingdom's lower chamber of Parliament. The current Speaker is John Bercow, who was elected on 22 June 2009, following the resignation of Michael Martin...
in Parliament, which led to him being seized by the Serjeant-at-Arms
Serjeant-at-Arms
A Sergeant-at-Arms is an officer appointed by a deliberative body, usually a legislature, to keep order during its meetings. The word sergeant is derived from the Latin serviens, which means "servant"....
and to public disgrace. At that time he was serving on a committee that was enquiring into the reasons behind the disastrous Walcheren Expedition the previous year. Despite other drunken instances, his parliamentary career is probably most notable for his staunch support of slavery. In one debate he claimed that West Indian slaves lived in better conditions than many people in England.
On 17 July 1781, Fuller's sister Elizabeth married Sir John Palmer Acland, a grandson of Sir Hugh Acland, 6th Baronet
Sir Hugh Acland, 6th Baronet
Sir Hugh Acland, 6th Baronet was the son of John Acland and Elizabeth Acland.-Succession:He succeeded his grandfather as baronet on the latter's death on 9 March 1714...
MP, in St. Marylebone in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
In 1790, at the age of 33, he proposed marriage to Susannah Arabella Thrale,(daughter of Henry Thrale
Henry Thrale
Henry Thrale was an 18th century English Member of Parliament and a close friend of Samuel Johnson. Like his father, he was the proprietor of the large London brewery, H. Thrale & Co....
and Hester Thrale
Hester Thrale
Hester Lynch Thrale was a British diarist, author, and patron of the arts. Her diaries and correspondence are an important source of information about Samuel Johnson and 18th-century life.-Biography:Thrale was born at Bodvel Hall, Caernarvonshire, Wales...
) but was rebuffed. In fact, he never married, and is not known to have had any children.
In 1811, a pyramid
Pyramid
A pyramid is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge at a single point. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilateral, or any polygon shape, meaning that a pyramid has at least three triangular surfaces...
-shaped building, often referred to as "The Pyramid", was erected in the churchyard
Churchyard
A churchyard is a patch of land adjoining or surrounding a church which is usually owned by the relevant church or local parish itself. In the Scots language or Northern English language this can also be known as a kirkyard or kirkyaird....
of the Church of St. Thomas à Becket in Brightling as a future mausoleum
Mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the...
for Jack Fuller.
Fuller retired from politics in 1812, not standing for re-election in the General Election of that year
United Kingdom general election, 1812
The election to the 5th Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1812 was the fourth general election to be held after the Union of Great Britain and Ireland....
.
Later life
Fuller was a supporter and sponsor of the Royal InstitutionRoyal Institution
The Royal Institution of Great Britain is an organization devoted to scientific education and research, based in London.-Overview:...
in London. He acted as mentor and supporter of the young Michael Faraday. In 1818 he loaned the Institution £1000 (about £100,000 in today's value) and later wrote off this debt. In 1828 he established the Fuller medal of the Royal Institution and in early 1833 he founded the Fullerian Professorship of Chemistry
Fullerian Professor of Chemistry
The Fullerian Chairs at the Royal Institution were established by John 'Mad Jack' Fuller.-Fullerian Professors of Chemistry:*1833 Michael Faraday* 1868 William Odling* 1874 John Hall Gladstone* 1877 James Dewar* 1923 William Henry Bragg* 1942 Henry H...
to which Michael Faraday was appointed as the first professor. Later he also endowed the institution with the Fullerian Professorship of Physiology.
In 1818, Fuller built the Observatory
Observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geology, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed...
at Brightling which had been designed by Robert Smirke
Robert Smirke (architect)
Sir Robert Smirke was an English architect, one of the leaders of Greek Revival architecture his best known building in that style is the British Museum, though he also designed using other architectural styles...
, and in 1822, he endowed Eastbourne in Sussex with its first lifeboat
Lifeboat (rescue)
A rescue lifeboat is a boat rescue craft which is used to attend a vessel in distress, or its survivors, to rescue crewmen and passengers. It can be hand pulled, sail powered or powered by an engine...
. In 1828, he financed the building of the Belle Tout lighthouse
Belle Tout lighthouse
The Belle Tout lighthouse is a decommissioned lighthouse and British landmark located at Beachy Head, East Sussex. It has been called "Britain's most famous inhabited lighthouse" because of its striking location and use in film and television...
, on the cliff at Beachy Head
Beachy Head
Beachy Head is a chalk headland on the south coast of England, close to the town of Eastbourne in the county of East Sussex, immediately east of the Seven Sisters. The cliff there is the highest chalk sea cliff in Britain, rising to 162 m above sea level. The peak allows views of the south...
, near Eastbourne. The first Belle Tout lighthouse was a temporary wooden structure that started service on 1 October 1828. The construction of the permanent granite lighthouse began in 1829 and it became operational on 11 October 1834. On Thursday, 18 September 1828, Jack Fuller bought Bodiam Castle
Bodiam Castle
Bodiam Castle is a 14th-century moated castle near Robertsbridge in East Sussex, England. It was built in 1385 by Sir Edward Dalyngrigge, a former knight of Edward III, with the permission of Richard II, ostensibly to defend the area against French invasion during the Hundred Years' War...
for 3000 guineas at auction to save it from destruction.
On the afternoon of Friday, 11 April 1834, Fuller died at his home, 36 Devonshire Place, London. He was buried under the Pyramid in Brightling churchyard. The main beneficiaries of his will were his nephew, Peregrine Palmer Fuller Palmer Acland (1789–1871)and General Sir Augustus Elliot Fuller(1777-1857) who was John Fuller's first cousin once removed.
External links
- "John Mad Jack Fuller: Squire of Brightling" — The Life and Times of John "Mad Jack" Fuller
- Mad Jack's Morris — Hastings based Morris team founded in 1976 and named after John Mad Jack Fuller. The site includes a photo of his pyramid grave.
- BBC News story