The Underground Man

The Underground Man is a historical novel by Mick Jackson. It follows an eccentric older artistocrat called the Duke of Portland, who lives in isolation on his estate in Welbeck. The book is set in the Victorian era, and is loosely modeled on the real life and escapades of the eccentric William Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, who served as the fifth Duke of Portland. The story focuses on the Duke's life, but is particularly centered around the latest mission of the Duke to create a series of underground tunnels beneath his estate.

The novel opens in autumn. Jackson makes it clear that the Duke, who has lived in isolation for the vast majority of his last years, has a reputation among the community for being an eccentric. His mental and physical condition have both deteriorated in his older years, and his condition has been exaggerated by those in the nearby town, who imagine that he has turned into a monster. The Duke is not a monster, but he is peculiar – he spends most of his time in his rooms, alone, speaking only to his valet Clement and a few other members of the staff when necessary.

That autumn, the Duke has just completed the construction of an elaborate series of underground tunnels that seem to have no real meaning or function other than existing for the pleasure of the Duke. All of the tunnels lead to areas that are much easier to access above ground, but the Duke enjoys having the tunnels on his property. During this period, the Duke decides to get to know himself better. He has been haunted by a phantom dream, in which a young boy comes back again and again and tries to speak with him. He doesn't understand the meaning of this dream, which he believes is related to a long forgotten memory of his childhood. As he contemplates the origin of this phantom boy, the Duke wanders his estate looking for tokens left behind by his ancestors, and adding them to a growing collection of found objects and memorabilia.



While on one of his walks, the Duke finds the bust of a Fowler head – a diagram that maps the brain to reveal phrenological information about the human mind. The Duke begins to study the head, and becomes entranced by the idea of phrenology. He makes the decision, after many weeks of study, to travel to Edinburgh to meet with a leading phrenologist of the time, named Professor Bannister. Bannister talks to the Duke about phrenology, and also teaches him about a new medical technique called trepanning, which involves creating a small hole in the human skull to relieve the “evil spirits” that are contained inside.

The Duke, who feels himself to be haunted by the evil spirit of his own madness and the phantom of the boy, steals Professor Bannisters trepanning kit, and returns to his estate. He makes the decision to perform the procedure on himself, and creates horrific self-inflicted wounds that do not relieve any of his mental tensions, and instead only causes his madness to flare. He begins to hide from all his staff, fearing they will see his wounds, and insists on staying in his room until it is late at night, when he goes on naked midnight walks around his property.

As the Duke descends into full-blow madness, he begins to understand the origin of the phantom boy. He realizes that the boy is a memory of a dead twin brother who drowned when he was young. The Duke begins to understand that the phantom boy haunting him is his twin brother.



The novel ends on a cold, winter night, when the Duke is on one of his late night walks in the forest. A hunter catches sight of the man tromping through the forest and mistakes him for an animal. He shoots the Duke, and the next morning the Duke is found dead on the grounds.

Mick Jackson is a British author, and is best known for writing The Underground Man. The novel was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize and the 1997 Whitbread Award for a best first novel. Since then, Jackson has written a number of other novels, including Five Boys, The Widow's Tale, and Yuki Chan in Bronte Country. He has also published two short story collections: Ten Sorry Tales and The Bears of England.