Such lack of interest in the Isle of Man, a cause of bewilderment in 1811, has continued to prevail. Resident antiquarians, full of Victorian fervour, endeavoured to secure the ‘light of catholic publicity’, vaunting the significance of ‘local peculiarities of the most interesting and important nature’:

Inhabited by an aboriginal tribe of the great Celtic family, with language, institutions, and laws peculiar to itself . . . to this day a separate realm, independent of the Imperial Parliament, and under its native and aboriginal Legislature . . . The Central Isle of the British Group, connected with Scotland geographically and...

According to A. W. Moore the Isle of Man underwent epochal change in 1866. Governor Loch’s reforms marked ‘the termination of what might be called the medieval history of Man’.¹ Technically, the last vestiges of ‘feudalism’ were extinguished when the British Crown acquired the Atholls’ manorial rights and privileges in 1829 (at a cost of £417,114), but the onset of ‘modernity’ has always been identified with Loch’s reforming regime.² Little interest has been shown in the preceding decades, either as a coda to feudalism or the prelude to reform.³ In remedying this neglect this chapter aims to explore the complex...

This political survey of the Isle of Man between 1900 and 1979 has a dual focus: the political and constitutional development of the Island from strict colonial rule to self-government, and the changing role and purpose of government in Manx society. It will make only passing reference to internal political conflicts during elections and in the House of Keys, as this requires further research. Although the works of Samuel Norris¹ and Jeffrey Vaukins² throw considerable light on elections and policy-making, both focus on the Raglan era. Research in progress by the author into elections and policy-making over the whole of...

The 1980s and early 1990s proved a period of major change for both the political structure and economy of the Isle of Man. A ministerial system of government replaced the traditional boards, concentrating executive power in the hands of a minority of Tynwald members. Unprecedented economic growth in the latter half of the 1980s, led by the financial services sector, allowed the new Council of Ministers to spend generously on public services and capital projects. But there were counter-effects. Organised opposition appeared in Tynwald for the first time, raising the prospect of party politics, and rapid development created social and...

The period from 1830 to the end of the twentieth century saw five main phases in the development of the Isle of Man’s economy. The first, from 1830 to 1863, was a period in which most of the population lived in the countryside and struggled to feed and clothe themselves through the traditional occupations of agriculture, fishing and mining, though it was beginning to be apparent that the Island had its attractions as a holiday resort and, as is underlined in an earlier chapter, as a suitable residence for the genteel poor. A number of factors combined from 1863 onwards...

The history of labour movements is a hitherto neglected area of Manx historiography. Little has been written on this subject, except for memoirs by a few participants. Samuel Norris’s major work, focusing on the reform movements of 1903 to 1919, is a substantial contribution to Manx history, but refers to labour movements only peripherally: Norris made common cause with labour leaders on issues of constitutional reform, but was himself an independent Liberal.¹ Less well-known voices, from within the Manx Labour Party, are to be found in the illuminating but sketchy accounts by Alfred Teare and Cecil McFee.² This chapter will...

This chapter of theNew History, co-ordinated with considerable skill and diligence by Fenella Bazin and Martin Faragher,¹ not only addresses the gamut of cultural behaviour on the Island but also stresses the interactive flow between various forms of cultural expression – cosmopolitan, popular, indigenous and ethnic. Taken together, the individual expert contributions add much to our understanding of the complex cultural and social history of the Island, as embodied not only in art and learning but also in attitudes, beliefs, associations and ordinary behaviour – the ways of being, speaking, thinking and acting that guide and shape life. In accordance with...