Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Notes on Contributors
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- The Onset of Modernity, 1830–80
- Constitutional Development and Public Policy, 1900–79
- Tynwald Transformed, 1980–96
- Economic History, 1830–1996
- Labour History
- Cultural History
- The Manx Language
- The Use of Englishes
- Nineteenth-century Literature in English Relating to the Isle of Man
- Literature in English since 1900
- The Media
- Folklore
- Religion in the Nineteenth Century
- Architecture, Photography and Sculpture
- Painting
- Dramatic Entertainment
- Music
- Associational Culture
- Local Events
- Sport
- Motor-Cycle Road Racing
- Statistical Appendix
- Index
Introduction
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Notes on Contributors
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- The Onset of Modernity, 1830–80
- Constitutional Development and Public Policy, 1900–79
- Tynwald Transformed, 1980–96
- Economic History, 1830–1996
- Labour History
- Cultural History
- The Manx Language
- The Use of Englishes
- Nineteenth-century Literature in English Relating to the Isle of Man
- Literature in English since 1900
- The Media
- Folklore
- Religion in the Nineteenth Century
- Architecture, Photography and Sculpture
- Painting
- Dramatic Entertainment
- Music
- Associational Culture
- Local Events
- Sport
- Motor-Cycle Road Racing
- Statistical Appendix
- Index
Summary
It is a singular fact, that, in the present age of active inquiry, there should be in the midst of the British European dominions an isolated spot retaining its primitive constitution, the peculiar characters of which are scarcely known beyond the narrow space over which their influence extends. That such a country, and such a constitution do actually exist, is pretty generally known, yet few or none have deemed any investigation of the peculiarities of either worthy of notice … The Isle of Man presents to us the singular phenomenon alluded to.
Such lack of interest in the Isle of Man, a cause of bewilderment in 1811, has continued to prevail. Resident antiquarians, full of Victorian fervour, endeavoured to secure the ‘light of catholic publicity’, vaunting the significance of ‘local peculiarities of the most interesting and important nature’:
Inhabited by an aboriginal tribe of the great Celtic family, with language, institutions, and laws peculiar to itself … to this day a separate realm, independent of the Imperial Parliament, and under its native and aboriginal Legislature … The Central Isle of the British Group, connected with Scotland geographically and geologically, with Ireland ethnologically, with England politically, and with the three kingdoms ecclesiastically, merits more attention from the United Kingdom than it has ever received.
These pretensions notwithstanding, historians have yet to display academic interest. Recent developments in historiographical theory and practice offer some encouragement. Feminist historians have noted that the Isle of Man was the first to extend the parliamentary franchise to female property owners. However, after this pioneer exercise in 1881, the Island was to be notoriously backward in its gender politics. Postmodern perspectives offer more promise as historical fashion favours small-scale reconstruction of the marginal, liminal and idiosyncratic. Historians, however, have still to discover the little Manx nation, surely an ideal case-study. With devolution on the political agenda, British history has given way to ‘four nations’ history, but the Isle of Man, a Crown dependency constitutionally outside the United Kingdom, is excluded still – Irish historical ‘revisionism’ has challenged the myths surrounding the Act of Union, but no such reassessment has been undertaken of Manx revestment in the British Crown in 1765.
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- A New History of the Isle of Man, Vol. 5The Modern Period, 1830–1999, pp. 1 - 17Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2000