Mad Jack Fuller  John Fuller (20 February 1757 – 11 April 1834), better known as "Mad Jack" Fuller (although he himself preferred to be called "Honest John" Fuller), was Squire of the hamlet of Brightling, in Sussex, and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1780 and 1812. He was a builder of follies, philanthropist, patron of the arts and sciences, and a supporter of slavery. He purchased and commissioned many paintings from J.M.W. Turner. He was sponsor and mentor to Michael Faraday. Fuller was born on 20 February 1757 in North Stoneham, Hampshire. He was christened in the village of Waldron, near Heathfield in Sussex, in the south of England. His parents were the Reverend Henry Fuller (15 January 1713 – 23 July 1761) and his wife Frances, "née" Fuller (1725 – 14 February 1778). He lost his father in 1761, when he was four. At the age of ten, in 1767, he began his education at Eton College, a famous public school in Berkshire. On 7 May 1777, Jack Fuller's uncle Rose Fuller, MP died, leaving Jack his Sussex estates and Jamaican plantations. Jack Fuller thus took possession of the Rose Hill estate (now Brightling Park) at Brightling, Sussex at the age of 20. In 1779, John "Mad Jack" Fuller, at the age of 22, was captain of a light infantry company in the Sussex Militia. In 1796, Fuller was appointed High Sheriff of Sussex, for a period of one year, and in 1798, he became a captain in the Sussex Gentlemen and Yeomanry Cavalry. In 1780, at the age of 23, Jack Fuller was elected to Parliament. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Southampton from 1780 to 1784, and for Sussex from 1801 to 1812. Fuller, a noted drunk, on 27 February 1810 was involved in an incident with the Speaker in Parliament, which led to him being seized by the Serjeant-at-Arms and to public disgrace. At that time he was serving on a committee that was enquiring into the reasons behind the disastrous Walcheren Expedition the previous year. Fuller was a staunch supporter of slavery. He owned a Jamaican plantation, along with the slaves who worked it, which he had inherited from his uncle, Rose Fuller. In one debate he claimed that West Indian slaves lived in better conditions than many people in England.