Joseph Mylchreest (c. 1839 - 28 December 1896), known as 'the Diamond King', was born in Peel and apprenticed as a ship carpenter before travelling through Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and the Americas as a prospector, eventually striking success at the Kimberley diamond fields in South Africa in the 1870s (the mine he developed became known as the Balfontein Mine). He returned to the Isle of Man in 1888 a wealthy man, becoming a magistrate and Member of the House of Keys for Peel and a notable benefactor of Manx causes; a memorial window to him survives in Kirk Michael Church, and his South African career is said to have inspired an episode in Hall Caine's novel The Manxman.