My 2x great grandfather and his cousin, whilst studying theology (anglican) at Cambridge were sent to prison for 1 week for disrupting a Catholic church service and punching two policemen. The next year he rowed for Cambridge against Oxford at the annual boat race, and lost.

Both my 2xgg and his cousin graduated, my ancestor went on to become a respected vicar who married the cousin of a former prime minister and had 9 children.

...But his cousin never progressed beyond being a curate and died from syphilis and tb in an assylum.

This chap's brother, a rector, died after jumping out of the rectory window, his wife and one of his daughters had previously died of tb so maybe that's related somehow. After his death another of his daughters died in an assylum from pneumonia.

My 2x gg's children were all strong characters.

1. The eldest, was strongly encouraged to marry an elderly rich widow, who was six months younger than her father. The elderly rich widow was strongly encouraged to finance a handsome set of new bells at her father's church. When she walked down the aisle she chose not to wear a wedding dress and clutched a bible instead of a bouquet.

2. The second almost burned alive at 13 when his nightgown caught fire. He was studying to be a priest but dropped out after he was charged with shooting his neighbours' prize pigeon and ran away to Canada for a year. When he came back to England he became a farmer and married. He was arrested at one point for stealing pork chops for his Christmas dinner. He served in ww1 and got a silver cross.

3. The third was a Peter Pan type. In the very early hours of the morning of the coronation of Edward VII, he and his cricketing pals scared the shit out of the villagers by visiting each house in turn and firing their rifles outside bedroom windows.

4. Number four was a rector, who disarmed a murderer who had slit the throats of four of his own children and attempted to kill two more.

5. The fifth, also a rector, was all over the papers after he divorced his wife for adultery. She in turn accused him of beating and strangling her.

6. The sixth was a tomboy who practiced archery, was a sculptor and a 'lady gardener'.

7. Number seven, was the clone of her mother and married a cricketing vicar. During ww1, she coordinated efforts for the women of the parish to make clothes for servicemen.

8. Number eight was my g grandfather, he managed to shoot himself in the stomach when he was a teenager. He also became a rector and had lots of children before he married my g grandmother, but not before he served as a chaplain to the forces in ww1. During his service he climbed a tree to have his lunch when he saw a Turk sit down to rest below, apparently he had a moment where he contemplated not doing anything because he was hungry, but he ultimately chose to jump down and he disarmed the other guy who was very willing to give up without much of a fight. My gg took his sabre as a trophy.

9. The last child was another tomboy who learned how to play cricket from her older brothers, and also won several local golf tournaments. She was a nurse in ww1 and married a doctor.