Millican Dalton

Who was Millican Dalton?

Millican Dalton was a self-styled "Professor of Adventure".

Born on 20 April 1867 at Nenthead, Alston, Cumberland, he spent his early life in the northwest of England before his family moved to Essex. He became an insurance clerk in London, but at the age of 36, he gave up this existence and went to live under canvas, in a rough wooden shack, and in a cave, from where he offered camping and adventure holidays. He spent his summers in the cave in Borrowdale, moving south to the wooden shed in Buckinghamshire during the colder months.

An alternative lifestyler long before the term was created, Dalton – vegetarian, pacifist and teetotaller – 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-levelled caves formed by the slate quarrying process. This cave was inhabited for nigh-on fifty years by Dalton. To this day, Dalton's legacy can be seen in the upper chamber of the cave, where he carved his own epitaph into the wall above where he slept. It reads: "Don't Waste Worrds, Jump to Conclusions".