The Books
Three books. The Island, its people, and the forces that shaped them.
Ruling Mann
The Cost of a Kingdom and the People Who Paid It
“One of the most corrupt jobs ever witnessed in Parliament”
— Lord Ellenborough, Lord Chief Justice of England, House of Lords, 1805
In 1765, the British Parliament forced the sale of the Isle of Man from its feudal lords to the Crown. The debate took eight sitting days. No one spoke for the Manx people. The people themselves discovered their fate only after it was done.
Ruling Mann tells the story of the Island and its people across centuries. From the Norse kingdom and the medieval lordship, through the Stanley and Atholl dynasties, to the Act itself and everything that came after. The system the Manx people built and maintained, the compact that held everyone accountable, and the Parliamentary assumption that destroyed it.
Eighteen chapters trace the island from its physical place in the Irish Sea through to crown dependence as a living condition. The book draws on the Atholl Papers, Treasury correspondence, parliamentary debates, the George Moore letter books, and the records of Tynwald itself.
Publication date to be confirmed. This page will be updated when details are available.
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The Cost of Allegiance
Loyalty, Treason, and Two Executions in the Civil Wars
“Hit this, and you do your own and my work”
— William Christian, Hango Hill, 2 January 1663
“Do you write what I say? It may be I say not well, but my meaning is good”
— James Stanley, seventh Earl of Derby, Bolton, 15 October 1651
James Stanley, the seventh Earl of Derby, held Lancashire and the Isle of Man for a king who did not see what he had. He was the first man through the breach at Lancaster, led the night march to Preston, and charged down a lane at Wigan with thirteen sword cuts on his face-guard. His wife Charlotte de la Tremoille defended Lathom House through two sieges, ordering sallies, standing outside the gates while her men fought, enduring four months of bombardment. When the cause was lost at Worcester, it was Derby who led the King to the hiding place at Boscobel and the oak tree that saved a dynasty.
William Christian — Illiam Dhone, Brown-haired William — was the trusted man. Receiver-General, militia commander, commissioned by Derby himself. When the Parliamentary fleet came for the Island and the lord was dead, Christian mobilised every parish in a single night. Nobody was killed. The sole condition he asked for: that the Manx people might enjoy their laws and liberties as formerly they had. When the Restoration came, the new Earl wanted revenge. Christian was tried before a packed court, convicted, and shot on Hango Hill with a piece of white paper pinned to his breast.
One story, told twice. Two men who did what they believed was right for the people they were responsible for, and were destroyed by the systems they served. Both stories end on the same patch of ground. The reader sees the parallels without being told.
Chapters
PROLOGUE
1 The Wars
2 Charlotte
3 The Blessed Isle
4 Wigan Lane and Worcester
5 The Court Martial
6 The Grievances
7 The Rebellion
8 The Parliamentary Years
9 The Restoration
10 The Trial
11 Hango Hill
12 After
13 Two Endings
Manuscript complete. Publication details to follow.