Thomas Wilson (1663-1755) served as Bishop of Sodor and Man from 1697 until his death, an episcopacy of fifty-eight years. He is regarded as one of the greatest bishops of the diocese, remembered for his strict moral discipline, his promotion of education and the Manx language, and his charitable works. He was also notable for his resistance to civil authority when it encroached upon ecclesiastical matters, at one point being imprisoned in Castle Rushen by the governor.
Thorwald is a Norse figure commemorated on the Isle of Man through runic cross-slabs, most notably the Thorwald's Cross at Kirk Andreas, which depicts scenes from Norse mythology, including the figure of Odin being consumed by the wolf Fenrir. The cross is one of the finest examples of Norse-influenced art on the Island and dates from the tenth century.
Walter Lutwidge was an important merchant in early eighteenth-century Whitehaven whose letter books provide a valuable window into the tobacco trade that brought significant prosperity to the port. He boasted around 1740 that he was worth £30,000, and there is evidence that he and a relative named Thomas Lutwidge were heavily involved in defrauding the customs in the early 1720s. His precise family connection to Charles Lutwidge, the Revestment-era customs enforcer on the Isle of Man, is uncertain.
William Bligh (1754-1817) was a Royal Navy officer and colonial administrator, best known as captain of HMS Bounty at the time of the mutiny led by Fletcher Christian in 1789. His connection to the Isle of Man is through the Christian family: Fletcher Christian was of Manx descent, from the Christian family of Milntown in Lezayre, and the mutiny brought international attention to this prominent Manx family.
William Brew was a Manx emigrant who settled in the Cleveland, Ohio area during the nineteenth century, forming part of the significant Manx community that established itself in the industrial cities of the American Midwest.
William Callow was one of seventeen named Manx merchants who signed a petition to the Governor in 1769 documenting the economic devastation caused by the Revestment of 1765.
William Cashin was involved in an assault against Daniel Laimster on the Isle of Man in May 1765, just days after the Revestment Act took effect. Laimster's petition against him is one of the earliest documented post-Revestment disputes.
William Christian is recorded in Northampton County, Virginia, in 1652. He was a member of the Christian family of Manx origin who settled in colonial Virginia, forming part of the early wave of Manx emigration to the American colonies.
William IV (1765-1837) was King of the United Kingdom and Lord of Mann from 1830 to 1837. During his short reign, the final settlement of the Atholl claims to residual rights on the Isle of Man was completed, and the Island began a period of administrative reform.
William K. Corlett was a Manx emigrant who settled in the Cleveland, Ohio area during the nineteenth century. The Corlett family was a well-known Manx surname, and William formed part of the significant Manx community in the American Midwest.
William M'Cowle was a garrison soldier on the Isle of Man who fired the fatal shot at the execution of William Christian (Illiam Dhone) at Hango Hill on 2 January 1663. Of the file of soldiers drawn up for the duty, his was reportedly the only shot that took effect, and he was said to have been rewarded with a grant of land in the north of the Island.
William Montacute, 1st Earl of Salisbury (1301-1344), was granted the lordship of Mann by Edward III in 1333. He and his successors held the lordship until it was sold to Sir William le Scrope in 1392. His period of lordship represented one of the transitions in the Island's medieval governance between English and Scottish control.
William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806) served twice as Prime Minister. His governments were involved in the ongoing governance of the Isle of Man following the Revestment, including the continued negotiations with the Atholl family over compensation for their residual rights on the Island.
William Qualtrough of Kentraugh was one of four men exempted from the general pardon alongside William Christian (Illiam Dhone) following the 1651 Manx rebellion. Unlike Christian, he submitted to the lord's mercy and was pardoned on 4 February 1663, on condition of bonds and good behaviour. Within two years he was elevated to Deemster and reinvested in his estate by the 8th Earl of Derby's own order.
William Wattleworth of Castletown was a Manx landowner who served as one of the named sureties for the pardon bond of Samuel Ratcliffe following the 1651 rebellion. As surety, he pledged his own estate against Ratcliffe's good behaviour for the remainder of his life.
William Wilberforce (1759-1833) was a British politician and philanthropist who led the campaign against the transatlantic slave trade. His connection to the Isle of Man relates to the broader political context of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, during which Manx merchants and ship-owners were involved in various aspects of Atlantic commerce.
William Windham (1750-1810) was a British politician and Secretary at War. His connection to the Isle of Man relates to his involvement in the political affairs concerning the Island's governance during the late eighteenth century.
