-
Name
-
The Manx Fencibles
-
Description
-
The Fencibles were the island's own response to the Napoleonic crisis — and they were, in their way, the most Manx thing about the entire period. Fencible regiments were defensive forces raised for home service. In the 1790s, Mann raised its own — officered by Manx families, recruited from the parishes, trained on the island's own ground. This was not the British garrison. These were Manx men, serving in the Manx military tradition that the Edward Christians and Illiam Dhones had served in before them. They were raised from an island that Parliament treated as a revenue line. Their families were living in collapsed economy, ruined harbours, sixpence-a-day wages. And they volunteered anyway — not out of loyalty to Parliament, but out of something older: the habit of service woven into the island's identity.
-
Active Period
-
1793–1811
-
Type
-
Regiment
-
Source
-
Manuscript research; Moore
