Juno - yes, many rich eccentrics! And some rich sane people too!
The Duchess of Portland has a HUGE collection of natural history specimens and a menagerie in her garden. She was a true Enlightenment woman and hosted intellectuals and reasearchers in her huge home, Bulstrode Park. Sadly, her children didn't catch the collecting bug (which has been in her family for generations and they had problems with their own debts). So when she died, the collections were sold and the menagerie ran into ruin. If the collection has been left intact it would rival the British Museum as an example of Enlightenment collecting.