His 9,000-acre estate boasted an underwater ‘man cave’ but when his gold mine fraud was exposed he killed himself in jail cell

was his route to riches. Floating numerous mines on the London market he became the richest man in Britain, and possibly the world.

With a love of the good life, he splashed out on every conceivable luxury. At his vast Lea Park estate in Witley, Surrey, he tried to “emulate the life of the Roman emperors”, according to one observer.

The mansion had 32 bedrooms and seven reception rooms decorated with gold leaf and priceless art treasures. It took several minutes to walk from one end of the house to another.

The cedar-panelled ballroom could accommodate hundreds of dancers and boasted a pipe organ, a minstrel’s gallery and a ceiling based on the Sistine chapel in Rome. The mansion’s huge glass conservatory rivalled Kew Gardens for splendour. The sole job of one servant was to tend to Wright’s orchids.

Out in the grounds, the 600 workmen at his permanent disposal attended to his every whim.

On one notorious occasion he told them to move a hill because it was blocking his view. They cut it down in slices and rebuilt it on another part of his land.

Taking a fancy to a 30-ton marble dolphin’s head while in Italy, Wright shipped it to Southampton. It was too big to go through railway tunnels, so he had it hauled to his estate on a traction engine, widening the highway where necessary and digging out the road beneath bridges.

He put up a palatial stable block for 50 horses, complete with central heating and an equine hospital. He had his initials WW carved in stone above the stable entrance. “The whole thing was a blatant sumptuousness which must have embarrassed the horses,” noted one critic.

A team of Italian boatmen were on hand to take Wright and his pals on “journeys of adventure” across his three lakes in electric launches, sailing craft and rowboats. The first port of call was a subterranean waterfilled passageway, its entranceway halfconcealed by trees and shrubs in the grounds.

Guests were encouraged to imagine themselves in the Blue Grotto at Capri as they floated past caves bathed in blue light

Wright’s pride and joy was his electrically lit underwater smoking room.

Costing the modern equivalent of £2 million, the dome-shaped retreat was reached by a 350ft tunnel which led directly out into the lake.

More than 200 panes of glass, each

Lea Park, late destroyed by