Douglas newspaper whose pages became a forum for historical, political and public debate on the Island.

One substantial example survives in Thomas Grindley’s The Story of the Revestment, published in 1903 after first appearing in the Isle of Man Times. The newspaper introduced the work as a study of the events leading to the Crown’s resumption of the Lordship and said that Grindley intended to challenge the usual explanation that Revestment had simply been an act of self-protection against Manx smuggling.

The reprint was produced by Brown and Sons Limited at the Times Buildings in Athol Street, Douglas. Grindley’s essay had originally been read to the Douglas Progressive Debating Society before being reproduced in the newspaper.

The Times also supplied material later used by Manx historians and biographers. The Manx Society’s published biographical notices quote its obituary of the Deemster and antiquary John Clowes Stephen, praising his work as judge, member of the Council and supporter of voluntary poor relief.

The present evidence pack is selective rather than a complete history of the newspaper, but it shows the paper functioning both as a publisher of historical argument and as a contemporary record of Manx public life.