He was different to both his glamorous and successful brother, Robert, and brother Fred, the gentle giant.

In many ways, he was quite successful, but was a one-off, going his own oft times dangerous and dark ways.

He was certainly adventurous, often reckless, occasionally cruel and sadistic, but always brave.

As such, he became quite notorious and was nicknamed Crackers.

George Lee was born in 1859 at the Foresters Arms in the Old Market Place.

He was the third son of the Victorian licensing enterpreneur Thomas Lee and was just 15 when his father died.

The Rose & Crown, which his family owned, had been put into trust for him when he was 13.

But he'd already chosen a career - as a horse dealer, which involved much wheeler-dealing and travel.

His job took him all over Britain and sometimes to Dublin where he bought fine Irish horses.

George was also a part-time soldier with the Knutsford Volunteer Militia and then with the Knutsford troop of the Cheshire Cavalry Yeomanry in 1883.

His reputedly darkest deed, though, was in 1886 when he was 27.

He had reneged on a deal in Dublin and virtually rustled a herd of horses back to Knutsford, selling some to his brother Fred.

The Irishman followed him back to Knutsford and traced some of the horses to Mr Lee at the Hat and Feather.

Right horses. Wrong Lee.

Fred Lee tried to placate the man by plying him with ale while making frantic attempts to contact his brother.

George eventually arrived at the pub - long after closing time.

A row - then a fight - broke out, the angry Irishman throwing a wild punch at George.

George retaliated - and killed the man on the spot.

The brothers, agreeing to bury the body, carted it across the narrow cobbled King Street, through a dark alley opposite the inn then on to the Moor, where they buried it.

Many years later a skeleton was found, but no-one knew who it was.

That alley - opposite what is now The Belle Epoque - never had an official name.

But in Lee family folklore it is referred to as Skeleton Alley. But no-one knows whether the story is true or not.

Two years later, the now 29-year-old George and owner of the Rose & Crown took the licence of the Lord Eldon from his older brother, Robert, preferring to keep the Rose & Crown as a managed house.

It is thought that at some time he undertook the known restoration of the inn.

Ten years were to pass peacefully, during which time he sold the Rose & Crown to Salford brewery Groves and Whitnall, investing his profits in buying property in Manchester Road and Brook Street.

The rent from his property supplemented his income from the Lord Eldon. He was also superintendent of Knutsford Fire Brigade, earning the princely sum of £30 a year.

In 1898 with trouble brewing in South Africa, George became restless.

He relinquished his licence of the Lord Eldon, resigned from the fire brigade and moved into one of his houses in Manchester Road.

George could smell a fight. That year war had broken out with the Boers in South Africa.

In 1990 - aged 41 and beyond military age - George joined the Cheshire Yeomanry.

He and his colleagues - accompanied by 400 Cheshire horses - departed for Capetown.

After 18 months of fighting and 5,000-miles of marching, they returned to Cheshire in June 1901.

He took up a position as Master of Ceremonies at Blackpool's world famous Tower Ballroom.

Local folk assumed George had gone soft. But the truth soon emerged. In the winter the ballroom was used for BOXING promotions.

He died childless in 1934. He was 75. He was buried with his long-suffering wife in Knutsford cemetery.

When his death was announced, it was said that many in Knutsford felt he should be buried face down so he could 'scratch his way to hell'.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.