Millican Dalton (20 April 1867 – 5 February 1947) was a British self-styled "Professor of Adventure".
Biography
Born on 20 April 1867 at
Nenthead
Nenthead ( ) in the county of Cumbria is one of England's highest villages, at around . It was not built until the middle of the 18th century and was one of the earliest purpose-built industrial villages in Britain.
History
Nenthead was a ma ...
,
Alston,
Cumberland, Dalton spent his early life in the northwest of England before his family moved to
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...
. He became an
insurance clerk in London, living in
Loughton
Loughton () is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex. Part of the metropolitan and urban area of London, the town borders Chingford, Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill, and is northeast of Chari ...
where he owned a cottage, and slept under canvas in the garden, but at the age of 36, he gave up this existence and went to live in a rough wooden shack, and in a cave (which he dubbed "The Cave Hotel") in
Borrowdale
Borrowdale is a valley and civil parish in the English Lake District in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England. It lies within the historic county boundaries of Cumberland. It is sometimes referred to as ''Cumberland Borrowdale'' ...
, from where he offered camping and adventure holidays, as reported in the BBC's ''
Countryfile
''Countryfile'' is a British television programme which airs weekly on BBC One and reports on rural, agricultural, and environmental issues in the United Kingdom.
The programme is currently presented by John Craven, Adam Henson, Matt Baker ...
'' programme broadcast on 20 September 2015. He latterly spent his summers in the cave , moving south to the wooden shed in
Buckinghamshire during the colder months. Loughton Town Council resolved in 2021
to erect a
blue plaque to him on the house he lived in the garden of, Walnut Cottage, Stony Path.
An
alternative lifestyler long before the term was created, Dalton –
vegetarian
Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter.
Vegetariani ...
,
pacifist and
teetotaller
Teetotalism is the practice or promotion of total personal abstinence from the psychoactive drug alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler or teetotaller, or is ...
– lived off his wits, surviving on a small income as a climbing guide.
Millican Dalton's Cave, as it is locally known, is on the eastern flank of
Castle Crag and consists of two inter-connected split-level caves formed by the
slate quarrying process. This cave was inhabited for nigh-on fifty years by Dalton. To this day, evidence of Dalton's existence can be seen in the upper chamber of the cave, where a carving on the caverns wall warns visitors "Don't Waste Worrds (sic), Jump to Conclusions". It is widely assumed that Millican Dalton carved this phrase, but M. D. Entwistle states in his book ‘Millican Dalton: A Search for Romance & Freedom’ (Mountainmere Research, 2022, second edition) that it was actually punched into the rock by a Scottish friend during a raging argument. The misspelling of words was to reflect a rolling ‘R’. This phrase held relevance to the argument as Millican often told his friend “Don’t waste words,” or “Don’t jump to conclusions.”
During the winter of 1946–47, Dalton's hut burned down, so he moved into a tent. This was too much for his 79-year-old frame, however, and he contracted
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...
, of which he died in
Amersham Hospital on 5 February 1947.
References
External links
The official visitor website for Keswick
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070625104240/http://www.timesandstar.co.uk/famousfolk/update_millicandalton.asp Dalton potted-bio
People from Alston, Cumbria
1867 births
1947 deaths
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