John Wallop, 3rd Earl of Portsmouth

Who was John Wallop, 3rd Earl of Portsmouth?

John Charles Wallop, 3rd Earl of Portsmouth, styled Viscount Lymington until 1797, was a British nobleman and lunatic.

The Earl was known from an early age to have an unsound mind, and his estate was placed under the control of four trustees. While Portsmouth had periods in which he appeared sane, he often engaged in a variety of bizarre and sadistic behavior. He whipped his servants, beat and bled his horses, and slaughtered cattle, shouting, with an ax. The Earl showed a remarkable mania for funerals, which he referred to as "black jobs". He attended them frequently, insisted on tolling the bells at Hurstbourne for funerals there, and sometimes flogged the ringers with the bellrope afterwards.

On 19 November 1799, Portsmouth married Hon. Grace Norton, the sister of one of his trustees, William Norton, 2nd Baron Grantley. The marriage was encouraged by Portsmouth's younger brother, Hon. Newton Fellowes, as Grace was 47 years old at the marriage and unlikely to produce an heir to displace Newton. However, Grace also played in important role in moderating Portsmouth's behavior and keeping his eccentricities out of the public eye. When, in 1808, she found herself no longer able to control the Earl, her relative, Dr. John Combe, was added to the household, to help suppress Portsmouth's manias.