In his boyhood, Waterton held the position of self-appointed rat-catcher and general vermin-exterminator for the College. He continued this rather violent brand of interest in the animal kingdom into his later years, becoming an eminent naturalist and explorer. In 1804 he travelled to what was then British Guiana to take possession of his uncle’s estates. During his time there, he made a number of explorations, often barefooted, into the wilds of South America, capturing and preserving the animals he encountered not by the usual method of taxidermy, but by soaking the specimens in a cocktail of highly poisonous chemicals he called ‘sublimate of mercury’. On his return to England in the 1820’s he settled into the role of the eccentric English gentleman, building a nine foot wall around his estate Walton Hall in Yorkshire, and creating one of the world’s first nature reserves. In a time of flamboyant hairstyles, he sported a severe crew-cut and it is said he wore a variation on his old Stonyhurst uniform for most of his life. ‘The Squire’, as he came to be called by the people of Walton Village, was also in the habit of demonstrating his agility by scratching behind his ear with his big toe and inviting residents of the Wakefield lunatic asylum to visit his estate.

It is an acknowledged fact that Stonyhurst boasts an admirable cast of quirky personalities, both throughout its history and in the present day. Not least amongst its idiosyncratic inmates are the preserved specimens of the Waterton collection, housed in the Long Room. This diverse collection of creatures - which includes birds, beetles, bats and, rather bewilderingly, a large crab clutching a crucifix between its front claws – were captured and preserved for posterity by Stonyhurst’s original eccentric Charles Waterton.

Waterton’s collection of specimens, displayed at Walton Hall during his lifetime, came to Stonyhurst in the early 1900’s. Such a collection, though ingeniously preserved, is by nature very fragile and needs careful preservation and, occasionally (in the case of the carapaced specimens) a good dust. While on his expeditions in South America, Waterton would share the food hunted by his Amerindian guides, his diet including monkey, toucan and armadillo. It is therefore unsurprising that a charming family of the latter mammalian creatures should form a part of his collection. Thus, ‘dusting the armadillos’ is not, in fact, an obscure euphemism, but a run-of-the-mill afternoon activity at Stonyhurst. Being hard-shelled, these armadillos are fortunately not amongst those of their feathered and furred companions who were treated to a bath in noxious fluids as a part of the preservation process, and can thus be given a careful clean on occasion to ensure they continue to look their best.