My next contribution is William Cavendish Scott Bentinck, 5th Duke Of Portland who moved all the furniture out of estate Welbeck Abbey and moved into a handful of rooms, all painted pink and all fitted with a toilet basin.
He then built an large underground dwelling for himself connected by 15 miles of tunnels including a billiard room, a 250 ft long library and an observatory capped with a glass dome.
He went out of his way to avoid anyone but his valet, having two sets of letterboxes fitted (one for mail in and one for mail out), his tenants and workmen on his estate were instructed to ignore him on the few occasions he did venture out in daylight (wearing two overcoats and an unusually tall hat carrying a very large umbrella).
He was more likely to step out at night preceded by a servant lady carrying a lantern 40 yards ahead of him.
He liked horses much more than people, building an large riding school with 100 horses (none of which he ever rode).
Despite his eccentric behaviour he was very popular with his staff who were very well treated he even built a roller skating rink for their use.
Rumours of him having a secret identity (which he killed off) were sadly quashed when his suspected alter ego's body was exhumed and proved to not be him at all, though strangely his estate tried to prevent the body being examined further adding to the mystery.