Drawing upon nineteenth-century local newspapers (and other record bases), this section addresses a critical gap in Manx historical knowledge: the associational behaviour of the proverbially sociable Manx people. It serves as an introduction to a major on-going research project which has two central aims. First, the creation of a chronologically arranged descriptive list and database of associations in the period 1764–1914. (This includes information about sources, structure, operation and origin, and the extent of divergence from British norms.) Second, assessment of the cultural impact of Manx associations in contributing to a distinct way of life or ‘Manxness’. It is this second aspect which is highlighted here.

Habermas dates the origin of associations to the time when a community has developed the cultural infrastructure necessary to foster the development of free debate and discourse in the public sphere, typically a long-term, trade-driven transition from feudalism to capitalism, usually somewhere between the late Middle Ages and the eighteenth century. Fitting neatly into this scheme, the first two Manx associations on record so far, the Society of Bucks of Douglas and the Manx Society, were founded at the climax of the Manx running trade, in June and July, 1764 respectively. The first was a branch of a quasi-Masonic society originating in London and spreading north to Liverpool; the second was a classic ‘patriotic’ society, dedicated to the promotion of the public good of the Island, modelled on the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Commerce and Manufactures in Great Britain, founded in London in 1754. Further analysis of these gentlemanly societies should shed important new light on the controversial process of revestment in 1765, a topic explored in volume 4 of the New History. By the early nineteenth century the starting-point of volume 5, Manx associations extended throughout the social scale to include artisans, labourers and working women.

Friendly Societies

By 1830 there were already at least 26 box-clubs or friendly societies in operation. The authorities, unconcerned by possible subversive tendencies, allowed their spread throughout the Island without any registration or monitoring processes (hence a frustrating lack of documentation for historians!). No fewer than 89 friendly societies have been recorded in operation between 1790 and 1914, and some who failed early have eluded entry altogether.