Editing Charles Waterton (section)

==Walton Hall==
In the 1820s Waterton returned to Walton Hall and built a nine-foot-high wall around three miles (5&nbsp;km) of the estate, turning it into the world's first [[wildfowl]] and [[nature reserve]], making him one of the world's first environmentalists. He also invented the [[Nest box|bird nesting box]]. The Waterton Collection, on display at [[Stonyhurst College]] until 1966, is now in the [[Wakefield Museum]]. Waterton owned a dog who was prominent in the foundation of the modern [[English Mastiff]] and may be traced back to in the pedigrees of all living dogs of this breed.<ref>{{cite book |title=The History of the Mastiff |first=M. B. |last=Wynn |date=1885 |publisher=William Loxley |location=Melton Mowbray |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofmastiff00wynnrich |page=151}}</ref> Waterton was voted as an honorary member of the [[Yorkshire Philosophical Society]] in its founding year of 1822.<ref>{{cite report |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/250126#page/57/mode/1up |title=Annual Report of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society: List of Members |date=1823 |page=49}}</ref>

On 11 May 1829, at the age of 47, Waterton married 17-year-old Anne Edmonstone, the granddaughter of an [[Arawak peoples|Arawak]] Native. His wife died shortly after giving birth to their son, [[Edmund Waterton|Edmund]], when she was only 18. After her death he slept on the floor with a block of wood for a pillow, "as self-inflicted penance for her soul!"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.trivia-library.com/c/biography-of-explorer-charles-waterton.htm |title=Biography of Explorer Charles Waterton |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305005709/http://www.trivia-library.com/c/biography-of-explorer-charles-waterton.htm |archive-date=5 March 2016 |via=trivia-library.com}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=December 2013}}<ref name="tweedie">{{cite book|last1=Tweedie|first1=Mrs. Alec|author-link=Ethel Brilliana Tweedie|title=George Harley, F.R.S. The Life of a London Physician|date=1899|publisher=The Scientific Press, Limited|pages=273–276}}</ref>

Waterton was an early opponent of [[pollution]]. He fought a long-running court case against the owners of a soap works that had been set up near his estate in 1839, and sent out poisonous chemicals that severely damaged the trees in the park and polluted the lake. He was eventually successful in having the soap works moved.

Waterton died in May 1865, after fracturing his ribs and injuring his liver in a fall on his estate. His coffin was taken from the hall by barge to his chosen resting place, near the spot where the accident happened, in a funeral cortege led by the Bishop of Beverley, and followed at the lakeside by many local people. The grave was between two oak trees, which are no longer there.