Name

Spencer Walpole

Biography

Historian and later Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man (1888–1893). His history of the Island drew on the parliamentary papers and provided the most detailed English-language account of the Mischief Act and its consequences. He recorded the bonfires after the transfer ceremony and added the detail about the Governor's claret. His verdict on the legislation was measured but unambiguous: the Acts 'not only inflicted an apparently irremediable wound on the prosperity of the Manx people; they concurrently aimed a fatal blow at their independence.'

Active Period

1839–1907

Place

Isle of Man

London

Period

Crown Administration

Role / Office

Historian

Lieutenant Governor

Writer

Book Chapter

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 13