The Marquis of Queensberry, a hotheaded Scotsman who was prone to violence. It could have been because he was punch drunk; Queensberry was a champion pugilist and created rules of boxing still in use today. He tended to settle things by fist and gun. He was well known for abusing his wife and children and had even brawled openly with one son in downtown London. The marquess was an avowed and belligerent atheist who saw nothing wrong with disrupting services by shouting. Once he disrupted the premiere of a play that he felt too pious and in front of the Prince of Wales attempted to whip a cabinet minister because he feared the man was courting his oldest son.

Queensberry seemed obsessed with sex, perhaps because his second wife had sought an annulment soon after marriage because of "malformation of the parts of generation, frigidity and impotence." His first marriage had ended because of his adultery.