Official report from Lieutenant Governor Richard Dawson to the Secretary of State (Lord Suffolk) certifying the establishment of a flax and hemp refining manufactory on the Isle of Man by the Baroness Aichelburg in December 1777. The report includes details of personnel, imported materials, and exports, reflecting post-Revestment economic development and industrial initiatives on the island.
Official report from Lieutenant Governor Richard Dawson to Secretary of State Lord Suffolk certifying the establishment and operation of a flax and hemp refinery on the Isle of Man in 1777-1778. The report documents the arrival of the Baroness Aichelburg with 25 workers, the acquisition of land and buildings, production statistics, and workforce attrition, providing evidence of early industrial development on the Island post-Revestment.
A letter from Lieutenant Governor Richard Dawson to Secretary of State Lord Suffolk dated 31 October 1778, reporting on the critical arrears in payment to civil officers on the Isle of Man. Dawson details the cascading consequences of the unpaid salaries and requests priority payment of revenue officers' salaries to relieve the situation. This document illuminates post-Revestment governance challenges and fiscal management of the island.
Report from Lieutenant Governor Richard Dawson to Secretary of State Lord Suffolk regarding three years of unpaid salaries for Isle of Man's civil establishment officers. Dawson explains the administrative and financial crisis caused by arrears, requests priority payment to civil officers over contingent expenses, and notes the damage to government dignity and officer morale. The letter reflects post-Revestment tensions regarding revenue collection, officer compensation, and governance sustainability.
Letter from Lieutenant Governor Charles Smelt to J. King (Home Office) dated 14 September 1805, requesting financial support for government house expenses, salary adjustment, and permission to establish a garden at the castle. Includes postscript listing Isle of Man volunteer and fencible corps strength (1,177 total). Administrative record of post-Revestment governance and military preparedness.
Letter from Lieutenant Governor Castletown Smelt to J King at the Home Office, reporting his return to the Isle of Man and requesting financial adjustments including quarterly salary payments, an Inspectorate of Volunteers appointment, and funds to establish a garden at the castle. Includes militia strength returns for the island.
Official correspondence from Lieutenant Governor Smelt to Home Secretary Lord Sidmouth regarding a dispute over the appointment of surgeon to the Governor's household on the Isle of Man. The letter details Smelt's 1812 appointment of Dr John Jeffcott and challenges the Duke of Atholl's subsequent appointment of H. Oswald in 1813, highlighting constitutional tensions over executive authority and appointment procedures.
Administrative letter from Lieutenant Governor Smelt to Home Secretary Lord Sidmouth regarding the contested appointment of a surgeon to the Isle of Man's Civil Establishment. The dispute arose when Duke of Atholl (Governor-in-chief, then absent) appointed H. Oswald in December 1812, while Smelt had appointed Dr John Jeffcott in March 1812. Highlights tensions between the Governor and Lieutenant Governor over patronage and qualifications.
Letter from Lieutenant Governor Smelt to Lord Viscount Sidmouth reporting on the ruinous state of the House of Keys assembly building and requesting approval for its rebuilding. Includes architectural plans and detailed cost estimate (£1,039 10s) prepared by Thomas Brine, Clerk of Works. Demonstrates post-Revestment governance infrastructure and the condition of Manx parliamentary institutions in the early 19th century.
Letter from Lieutenant Governor Charles Smelt to Home Secretary Lord Viscount Melbourne, dated 14 November 1832, in which Smelt requests continued employment as Governor in Chief due to ill health and financial circumstances. The document includes contemporary obituary notice from the Manx Sun announcing Smelt's death on 28 November 1832 after 27 years service as Lieutenant Governor. Contextualizes post-Revestment governance and the administrative continuity of the Island following the 1765 purchase of sovereignty.
A letter from Lieutenant Governor Colonel Charles Smelt to Home Office minister Lord Viscount Melbourne, dated 14 November 1832, requesting appointment as Governor in Chief due to declining health and financial hardship after 27 years of service. The letter reveals tensions between official salary and living costs for the Crown's representative. Includes contemporary obituary noting his death 14 days later.
Official correspondence from Lieutenant Governor Smelt to the Home Office under-secretary regarding the military garrison on the Isle of Man post-Revestment (1765). Discusses the necessity of maintaining troops for revenue collection support, harbour security during herring fishing season, and proposes improvements to barracks facilities. Provides insight into civil-military relations and police deficiencies on the Island.
Official correspondence from Lieutenant Governor Charles Smelt to Phillips at the Home Office regarding the permanent military presence in the Isle of Man following the 1765 Revestment. Smelt assesses military necessity, discusses garrison duties (revenue protection, herring season fisheries enforcement), criticizes deficient police structures, and proposes barracks accommodation improvements for the 74th and 80th Regiment depots.
Letter from Lieutenant Governor Charles Smelt to Under-Secretary of State Phillips reporting on House of Keys concerns about illegal importation of ~30,000 gallons of illicit spirits from France by merchant John Burrow, and the broader impact of smuggling and fraudulent warehousing on Isle of Man's reputation and revenue. Contextualizes post-Revestment governance challenges and customs enforcement.
Lieutenant Governor Smelt reports to the Under-Secretary of State on the House of Keys' concerns regarding illegal spirit imports from France and grain warehousing schemes that have damaged revenue and the Island's reputation. The letter discusses a smuggling operation by John Burrow and customs enforcement challenges, reflecting post-Revestment governance and revenue protection issues.
Extract of a letter from Lieutenant Governor Smelt to Under Secretary of State Beckett responding to complaints and accusations made by the Duke of Atholl to Home Secretary Sidmouth. The letter addresses disputes over the Government House at Castle Rushen, including its repair, occupation, access, and the constitutional position of the Lieutenant Governor versus the Duke's residual claims. The correspondence illuminates post-Revestment tensions between Crown authority and the Duke's lingering interests on the Isle of Man.
Extract of a letter from Lieutenant Governor Smelt to Under Secretary of State Beckett (17 May 1813) responding to complaints from the Duke of Atholl about the Government House at Castle Rushen, residence arrangements, and access to the Chancery Court. Covers disputes over accommodation, repair grants, and jurisdictional tensions between the Duke and the Crown's representative on the Island post-Revestment.
Lieutenant-Governor and Chancellor of the Isle of Man through the inquiry of 1791 and 1792.
He took the oath at Castle Rushen on 7 January 1791, swearing to deal truly and uprightly between the King and his subjects within the Isle, and as indifferently between party and party as the staff of office then stood. His appointment allowed the resignation of Richard Dawson, who had been Lieutenant-Governor under Governor Smith, to be accepted that year.
The Commissioners of Inquiry worked through him. Their requisitions for information came to the House of Keys by way of the Lieutenant-Governor, and the Keys resolved that their answers should go back by the Speaker to him, to be laid before the Commissioners. His own letters are printed among the Commissioners' papers alongside those of Deemster Moore, the Attorney-General Sir Wadsworth Busk, the Clerk of the Rolls and the Speaker of the Keys. One of them is a character reference, describing its subject as a gentleman of honour, of integrity and respectable talents, a lawyer by profession and among the first as well as the seniors of the bar.
Thomas Stowell inscribed his Statutes and Ordinances of the Isle of Man of 1792 to him as Lieutenant-Governor and Chancellor. He was still in office in 1793, when an Act of Tynwald which had received the royal assent, signified in a letter directed to him of 22 June, was promulgated on the Tynwald Hill on 22 July, and he signed the attestation after the Duke of Atholl. Later lists give the government of 1798 as the Duke of Atholl and Alexander Shaw jointly.
Lieutenant-Governor Richard Dawson reports to Lord North on the poor state of repair of military buildings at Castle Rushen, Isle of Man, including barracks, governor's house, ordnance storehouse, and guard house. He requests Parliamentary funding for necessary repairs and replacement of defective barrack beds and bedding before winter. The report highlights post-war budget constraints affecting the island's military infrastructure.
Report from Lieutenant-Governor Dawson to Lord North (September 1783) concerning the deteriorating condition of military buildings at Castle Rushen, Isle of Man, including barracks, governor's house, ordnance storehouse, and guard house. Dawson requests funding for necessary repairs and replacement of barrack bedding and furniture before winter, following a refusal by the Board of Ordnance to authorize expenditure due to lack of Parliamentary appropriation.
Richard Dawson, Lieutenant-Governor and Chancellor of the Isle of Man through the 1770s and 1780s.
He ran the Island in fact. Edward Smith was Governor in Chief but lived in London and came over only occasionally, so the resident authority was Dawson's, and the correspondence of the period is addressed to him. He was still Lieutenant-Governor in October 1791, when the Duke of Atholl wrote to the Commissioners of Inquiry from Douglas.
The record shows him in the ordinary business of the office. In 1780 the report on a Bill to amend the Act touching the Duke of Atholl's courts and powers was addressed to him as His Majesty's Lieutenant-Governor and signed by John Quayle, Thomas Moore and Wadsworth Busk on 27 April, with further remarks the following February. He sat as Chancellor in the Exchequer Court, and the information laid by the Attorney-General Sir Wadsworth Busk against Deemster Peter John Heywood in June 1786 was heard before him. When a ship was wrecked and the port officers judged that they could not keep the goods from being plundered, it was to Dawson that they went, asking for a corporal's guard of Fencibles. When the Keys wanted to counter what they called a factious petition, their memorial of loyalty was addressed to him. The Lords of the Treasury directed him to report on the old harbour-debt memorials, and the memorialists afterwards said that he had done it in a fair and impartial way.
He got on with the men he dealt with. When George Moore resigned the Speakership of the Keys, Dawson wrote to him with warm expressions of friendship and esteem, telling him that his resignation went to his heart, and that it gave him inconceivable sorrow to lose him as Speaker.
He complained, like everyone else, about the money. The arrears in paying the civil officers were a constant refrain after the Revestment, and his own salary was among those unpaid.
Charles Lutwidge, newly appointed Receiver General of the Isle of Man, petitions the Treasury Lords for a salary. The memorial notes his appointment following the Revestment Acts and his role in implementing customs enforcement and halting illicit trade. It documents his commission date (22 June 1765) and the timeline of his arrival on the island (28 May 1765).
Charles Lutwidge informs the Lords of the Treasury that the Keys of Mann have enacted their first statutes since the 1765 Revestment, including one on spirituous liquor licensing that may affect Crown revenue. He requests that authentic copies be obtained before Royal Assent is granted, noting the absence of an Attorney General to protect Crown interests.
Letter from Charles Lutwidge, Receiver-General of the Isle of Man, to Charles Lowndes (Treasury official) requesting permission to purchase scales, weights, measures, and gauging instruments for revenue officers at each Manx port, and requesting that the London Gazette be sent to Douglas Customhouse to publish advertisements under the 5th of George III relating to suppressed illicit trade. Demonstrates post-Revestment administrative integration and customs enforcement infrastructure.
Charles Lutwidge, likely the Lieutenant Governor or chief revenue officer, requests Treasury approval to purchase weights, scales, measures, and gauging instruments for revenue officers at each port in the Isle of Man, and asks that the London Gazette be sent to Douglas Customhouse to publish advertisements relating to the suppression of illicit trade. This document reflects post-Revestment efforts to establish proper customs infrastructure and enforce anti-smuggling legislation.
