[taken from Chapter 7 Manx Worthies, A.W.Moore, 1901]

JOHN CHRISTIAN CRELLIN (b. 1788, d. 1842),

the only son of Deemster Crellin and Charlotte, only daughter of Thomas Christian, of Ballachurry, Andreas, obtained a commission as lieutenant in the Sixth Dragoon Guards (Carabineers), for which regiment he raised twenty-four troopers from the Isle of Man. Shortly afterwards he exchanged into the 4th, "King's Own," but, owing to ill-health, he was soon obliged to resign without seeing, any active service. He returned to the island in 1816, and was, in 1817, elected a member of the House of Keys, to which he continued to belong for 25 years. He was Chairman of the Highway Board for a long time, and, in this connexion, it may be mentioned that he was the means of substituting granite for wood as the substance of the roadside drinking troughs throughout the island. He was a keen horticulturist, being the introducer, among other things, of the red flowering currant tree to the island.