Charles was a keen local historian and was writing a history of Nottinghamshire but died in 1796 before it was completed. His eldest son, Joseph, had been disinherited for extravagance so the estate passed to his brother, Colonel Henry Francis Mellish. The Colonel loved horse racing and his horses won the St Ledger in 1804 and 1805. His mother wrote to her friends asking for help to stop her son wasting his inheritance. However the Colonel 'lost' the Blyth estate through gambling debts.