Colonel Mark Wilks (1759-1831) was born at Kirk Michael Vicarage, the son of the Reverend James Wilks. He served in the Madras army and was Political Resident at the Court of Mysore before being appointed Governor of St Helena by the East India Company in 1813. He was governor when Napoleon arrived in exile in 1815, and the two men developed a mutual respect; Napoleon later lamented his replacement by the "rough and tactless" Sir Hudson Lowe. Wilks was also a member of the House of Keys and Speaker, and a distinguished oriental scholar and historian.