Reputedly Hirst's eccentricity began when his betrothed died of smallpox after he rescued her from a flooding river.
His first success was his later favourite, a bull he named "Jupiter" and trained to behave as a horse so he could ride him and use him to pull his carriage.
Hirst hung the walls of his house with bits of old rope and iron and wrote doggerel verse.
Eventually he married his housekeeper; during the ceremony he wore a toga and insisted that the formalities should be conducted in sign language.
He announced that he was pleased to find his monarch a "plain-looking fellow" and invited him to visit him in Rawcliffe for a good brandy.
His will left £12 to twelve old maids who were to follow his coffin and two musicians, a fiddler and a bagpiper, who were to play happy songs.
Rumour claims that Hirst had had his own coffin built with windows and shelves, which he kept in his front room and charged people to sit in.