The Sun.
London, England, 1832-01-02 00:00:00

DEATH OF JOHN AIITFORD.

This wretched man, whose depraved and vicious
habits had long rendered him an alien to his kin-
dred, and an outcast of society, died last week in
St. Giles's workhouse. He was born at Mitford
Castle, in Northumberland, had served as a sub-

officer in the fleets under Hood and Nelson, and
was related to the noble family of Redesdale. A
correspondent, who gives us an account of his death,
accompanies it with the following particulars :

" His name will be long remembered in connec-
tion with Lady Percival in the Blackheath affair, for
his share in which he was tried, but acquitted. For
many years Mitford has lived by chance, and slept
three nights out of the week in the open air, when
his finances did not admit of his paying 3d.
for a den in St. Giles's. Though formerly a nau-
tical fop, for the last fourteen years he was ragged
and loathsome; he never thought but for the neces-
sities of the moment; and having had once given
to him an elegant pair of Wellington boots, sold
them for a shilling; the fellow who bought them
put them in pawn fur fifteen shillings, and came
back in triumph with the money. " Ah," said
Jack, " but he went out in the cold for it." lie
was the author of " Johnny Newcome in the Navy."
The publisher gave him a shilling day till he finished
it. Incredible as it may appear, he lived the
whole of the time in Bayswater fields, making a

bed at night of grass and nettles. Two penny
worth of bread and cheese and an onion was Isis daily
food, the rest of the shilling he expended in gin.
He thus passed 43 days, washing his shirt and stock-
ings himself in a pond, when he required clean linen.
He was latterly employed by publishers of a humble
class, and ota certain description. Efforts had at various
times been made to reclaim him, but without effect. A
Mr. E—, a printer and publisher, having an
eye to busi:iess, took him into the house, and en-
deavoured to render him " decent ;" for a few days
he was sober, and Lord Redesdale (through the in-
strumentality of Mr. James Green, of Will's Coffee-
house, Portugal-street, who 'was formerly a brother
officer of Mr. Mitford's, and fought with him at the
battle of the Nile) enabled him to make a respec-
table appearance; indeed it is but justice to his
Lordship to state that he has numberless times
evinced a disposition to support Mitford in respecta-
bility ; but the wretched man was too deeply
plunged in vice and low habits to be reclaimed.—
Whilst editing a catchpeuny publication, Mr. E.
was obliged to keep him in a place half kitchen and
half cellar, where, with a loose grate tolerably
filled, a candle, and a bottle of gin, he passed his
days ; and, with the covering of an old carpet, his
nights; never issuing from his lair but when the
bottle was empty. Sometimes he got furious with
drink, and his shoes have been taken from him to
prevent his migrating, he would then run out with-
out them, and has taken his coat off in winter and
sold it for half a pint of gin. A short time before
his death be wrote a song—" The King is a true
British Sailor"—and sold it to seven different pub-
lishers. This miserable man was buried by his
friend. He has left a wife and family; but they
have always been and are still provided for by Lord
Betlesdale. It will be some consolation to those
who knew Mitford to read the following—the last
letter he ever wrote—as it shows that lie has ended
days in comparative comfort. The letter is ad-
dressed to one who had some hand in getting him
into the workhouse :