Voting Station

Charles Waterton

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Explorer

The Resume

    (June 3, 1782-May 27, 1865)
    Born in Wakefield, England, United Kingdom
    Explorer, naturalist and taxidermist
    Made four journeys exploring the Guiana Highlands of South America (1812-24)
    Wrote ‘Waterton’s Wanderings in South America’

Why he might be annoying:

    He would pretend to be a dog and bite the legs of his guests at dinner.
    When ill, he would bleed himself, ‘to cure anything and everything from backache to malaria.’
    When he was 47, he married a 17 year old girl.
    He had the wedding held at four in the morning.
    He dressed so shabbily that when he left his estate, he was often mistaken for a tramp.
    Combining his taxidermy skills and his devout Catholicism, one of his hobbies was sewing together parts from different creatures to create monstrosities that he would name after prominent Protestants.

Why he might not be annoying:

    During one of his expeditions, he helped subdue a 10-foot caiman (a reptile related to the alligator) by jumping on its back (1817).
    He was said to have raised taxidermy ‘from a sorry handicraft to an art,’ with his preserved animals being remarkably lifelike.
    His account of his travels inspired Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace.
    He built a nine-foot high wall around his estate and banned hunting on it, creating the world’s first nature preserve.
    He invented the bird nesting box.
    He remained spry in his old age, able to shimmy up trees on his estate into his 80s.
    William Makepeace Thackery wrote about him, ‘He lives as chastely as a hermit and gives his all to the poor.’

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 13 Votes: 46.15% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 5 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 14 Votes: 50.0% Annoying