Major General Roger Aytoun was a soldier at the Great Siege of Gibraltar who came to notice when he married an ageing widow and was given Hough Hall in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. Aytoun was known as ''Spanking Roger'' because of his love of fighting.

Life

Aytoun had the same name as his grandfather. His father was called John and his mother was Isobel and his maternal grandfather was Robert Rollo. Aytoun took part in a race on

Kersal Moor Kersal Moor is a recreation area in Kersal, Greater Manchester, England which consists of eight hectares of moorland bounded by Moor Lane, Heathlands Road, St. Paul's Churchyard and Singleton Brook. Kersal Moor, first called Karsey or Carsal ...

which traditionally was done with the competitors running without clothes. The race was run each

Whitsun Whitsun (also Whitsunday or Whit Sunday) is the name used in Britain, and other countries among Anglicans and Methodists, for the Christian High Holy Day of Pentecost. It is the seventh Sunday after Easter, which commemorates the descent of the ...

and the spectacle attracted large crowds and entertainers who transformed part of the moor into a giant fair. The sight of Aytoun's six-foot-four inch frame was said to have inspired a Manchester widow, Barbara Minshull, to propose marriage to him.Lancashire
QI Minshull lived at Chorlton Hall and she also owned Hough Hall and Garret Hall. Her fortune was due to her late husband who had been a successful apothecary. Roger Aytoun was given Hough Hall when they married in 1769. Aytoun was known to be addicted to both drink and gambling and he married the 65-year-old widow even though he was so inebriated that he needed assistance to stand at the wedding. Aytoun moved into his new bride's home which was Hough Hall in Moston in Manchester. Having acquired the Chorlton Hall estate by his marriage Aytoun undertook its development in the 1770s when an area between Piccadilly, Portland Street, Princess Street and the River Medlock was laid out and sold.Hartwell, Clare (2001). ''Manchester''. Pevsner Architectural Guides. London: Penguin Books. ; p. 12 Aytoun's new bride lived for another fourteen years. He remarried after his first wife died to Jean Sinclair who was the daughter of John Sinclair of Balgregie. He died at Inchdarney on 1 October 1810''The Edinburgh Annual Register''; Volume 2; Volume 3, Part 2
Page 364, Sir Walter Scott ed. 1810 and he was succeeded by his son.

Legacy

Aytoun spent his fortune but his name is remembered in Aytoun Street in Manchester and there is a pub named the ''Spanking Roger''. His image was captured by John Kay who drew Aytoun beside the future Charles X of France who was a foot shorter than he was.The Great and the Small Are There
John Kay, Scran, retrieved 21 February 2015

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aytoun, Roger People from Manchester 1810 deaths