Any comments, errors or omissions gratefully received
The Editor
HTML Transcription
© F.Coakley , 2022
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Date
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Brief Description
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| AP_124_1 |
21.11.1818
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J.Taylor to McCrone. enquiring about the possibility of starting mining in the the Island. |
| AP_124_2 |
28.11.1818
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McCrone to Duke. enclosing the above and his reply which says that he is not the Duke's agent,but arrived in the I.O.M. "only a few weeks ago" to take charge of the Bishop's tithes. Col. Steuart is in charge of the Duke's affairs. |
| AP_124_3 |
2.12.1818
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J.Taylor to Dr. MacCullock (R.M. A. Woolwich) asking for his recommendation to the Duke. |
| AP_124_4 |
25.12.1818
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McCrone to Duke. advising him that Mr.Taylor's agent is now in the Island and inspecting the mines. Suggests to the Duke that he should enclose the mountains in a ring fence and let them for sheep walks.It would be well to make the enclosure by "Galloway Dykes" and then let them to Scotch graziers. |
| AP_124_5 |
3.3.1819
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McCrone to Duke. re.subdivisions made by tenants of certain fields on the Castle Mona estate. |
| AP_124_6 |
20.1.1820
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McCrone to Duke. accepting the post the Duke has offered him. Says he has been for 25 years in Glasgow,for 20 of which he was collector of H.M.taxes for that City and for the counties of Lanark and Renfrew. He will enter on his duties at Candlemas and will take up quarters in a wing of Castle Mona then or later as may be convenient. He will use as his office one of the Lodges so that people coming to him will not have to enter the grounds. His salary will be £200 per annum (£I77 + £30 allowance). He was to be Factor. |
| AP_124_7 |
29.1.1820
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Duke to McCrone. (Copy) The security of £2,000 which he requires may be put up in any way McCrone likes... He is to give attention to the garden,particularly the flowers and shrubs.He is to study carefully the various documents with regard to the Duke's remaining rights,and see that he gets them for "the more you look into it (the Revestment Act) the more you will see how deeply injured my family have been,so that....from 1765 to 1791 when the eyes of the Govt.were opened on my suggestion they neither drew any revenue themselves or suffered my internal interest to be enjoyed by me." |
| AP_124_8 |
7.2.1820
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R.Watson to Duke Binding himself as security for McCrone. |
| AP_124_9 |
12.2.1820
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McCrone to Duke. Enclosing the above. Having inspected Castle Mona grounds he finds them in poor condition,owing to neglect,but has engaged a gardener and sent his servant and mules to obtain manure. or the young plantations there is scarcely one alive. |
| AP_124_10 |
31.3.1820
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McCrone to Duke.He sends a plan of the new Inn and Assembly Rooms for
Castletown (Missing. N.M.)together with an estimate of the cost [] "The old inn is go wretched that most of the rent hae been swallowed up by repairs, and after all it could not be kept up. So sensible were the neighbouring gentlemen of this,and the public go ill accommodated that a subscription was entered into to build a new Inn which would have deteriorated the value of your property. The money will not be ill laid out,for we may expect a considerable rent and there will be some vacant ground for small gardens which will let well." |
| AP_124_11 |
25.2.1820
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McCrone to Duke. General. In Castle Mona gardens the shrubbery to the N. of the Castle is thriving, but the ground on the right of the road from the gate to the Castle has returned to a state of nature and the trees and shrubs are dead it is proposed to dig them up, put in a crop of potatoes to clear the ground and then make new plantations. |
| AP_124_12 |
22.3.1820
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McCrone to Duke. He finds that the Duke's rents etc. are in arrears;Tithes £300,Lord's Rent £800 and Farm rents £1,400. He is moving into the Castle shortly and will provide his own furniture,linen etc. As his family consists of only two infants they are unlikely to do any damage. |
| AP_124_13 |
13.4.1820
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McCrone to Duke. General |
| AP_124_14 |
20.4.1820
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McCrone to Duke. General. He is getting an inventory made of every moveable article in and about the Castle as handed over by Nancy White. (The Housekeeper N.M.) |
| AP_124_15 |
28.4.1820
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McCrone to Duke. He is trying to get possession of the fields on the brows above the Castle, at present held on lease by trustees of the late Mr.Scott. It will cost a little, but "however provoking ....it may be to have to pay,it is more provoking that Butcher's Boys and all the scavengers of Douglas should have it in their power to overlook the Castle and insult people in the very walks". |
| AP_124_16 |
16.6.1820
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McCrone to Duke. He has got a cast of "pretty large Falcons and three smaller ones...and will,if possible,take them himself to London. He will shoot birds with which to feed them. (These would probably be for the coronation of George IV who was crowned in that year. N.M.) |
| AP_124_17 |
6.7.1820
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McCrone to Duke. The two large falcons are thriving,but two of the young ones have died "but after all,I believe they were only Sparrow Hawks". Anyway "in the present state of affairs it is probable that the Coronation will not proceed". |
| AP_124_18 |
4.8.1820
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McCrone to Duke. explaining how he has got into trouble, been dragged to prison and had to find bail for £500. The dispute arose over the tithes of Castleward,the property of Col.Wilks,with whose steward he fixed the amountof tithe to be paid. The steward disputes the figure and McCrone - who stands out for his version of the bargain - has been accused of perjury. This is,however,merely an excuse for persecution because he hes been too diligent in his efforts to collect tithes and rents due to the Bishop and the Duke,the latter being,in reality,the person who is being attacked through him. Amongst those he has had to press for arrears due are Taubman,Cunningham,the Att.Gen,and Ed.Gawne,brother of the Deemster They have combined against him and since all the Manx are closely bound together and bear a marked illwill to "the class they are pleased to call Strangers" he can have "no confidence in a Manx jury,and still less in the purity of a Manx Judge". |
| AP_124_19 |
14.9.1820
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McCrone to Duke. General. The lease of the Calf is to be let - to whom shall he give it ? The disadvantages of the old system of collecting the Lord's rents by Moars. |
| AP_124_20 |
14.9.1820
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McCrone to Duke. After a trial lasting three days he has been acquitted. Gives details of how he was arrested in Castle Mona by three constables and "carried in the midst of day like a felon to Castle Rushen till I found bail" a proceeding quite unnecessary in the case of a man of substance and the Duke's agent. As regards the trial,the Att.Gen. who prosecuted,was biassed,and the Deemster prevented him getting a fair hearing,while four of the six jurymen were boon companions of his opponent. Two of them however decided in his favour,and the other four were brought to do so by a threat . So he was acquitted,but still feels that the stain has not quite been taken from his character and he would like the Duke's advice as to what he should do. |
| AP_124_21 |
20.9.1820
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Bishop to Ld.Sidmouth drawing his attention to the case of McCrone and and the manner in which the Attorney General on behalf of the Crown carried out his duties "with a degree of malignity and rancour quite incompatible with public justice and in a manner utterly subversive of every Rule of Law." In the course of the trial the Bishop himself called upon to give evidence,but the Jury were told,amongst other insulting things,"that I was but a lump of clay like themselves,although I had a Gown upon my back, and that as I might gain five pounds by the issue of the trial my Oath was not to be believed". "if persons holding public situations are thus to be attscked in the name of the King,whither are we to turn for safety or to look for support". He asks that Ld. Sidmouth will take steps to prevent the reoccurance of such an act of oppression,and to shield the writer from being again "dragged before a Court of Justice to be reviled and insulted by a person bearing the King's authority and acting in His Majesty's name". |
| AP_124_22 |
6.10.1820
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McCrone to Duke. saying he has decided to take no action in the Island about his trial,but to send a statement of the facts to the Prime Minister. |
| AP_124_23 |
6.10.1820
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McCrone to Duke. He has let the Calf to Dawson on a 14 year lease @ £106 per annum. The keeper of the Lighthouse,who sent a message from Mr.Stevenson,the architect,was in the market but his offer was not so good. |
| AP_124_24 |
7.10.1820
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McCrone to Duke. with a statement about his trial for Ld. Sidmouth - if the Duke thinks it advisable to forward it. |
| AP_124_25 |
17.10.1820
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McCrone to Duke. with a remittance. |
| AP_124_26 |
9.11.1820
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McCrone to Duke. To plant the Castle grounds properly will require 30,000 plants. Shall he get them ? The Falcons eat a pound of meat a day,and he finds it cheaper to buy this from the butcher than to find powder and shot to shoot the necessary birds for them. He fears that if they continue to devour so much their keeper may open their cage and let them fly away. |
| AP_124_27 |
10.11.1820
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McCrone to Duke. Downes,the landlord of the inn at Castletown is dead and his widow wishes to have the new one now building and promised for Whit. She is well liked by the public and the gentlemen of Castletown and,though someone else might be found to offer a higher rent, it is recommended that she be preferred. |
| AP_124_28 |
21.11.1820
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McCrone to Duke. General. |
| AP_124_29 |
6.12.1820
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McCrone to Duke. The custodier (sic) of the Elk skeleton willgive it up for £00. It is provoking to have to pay for "what may be fairly considered your own" but to go to law over it might cost even more. What is to be done ?. |
| AP_124_30 |
12.12.1820
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McCrone to Duke. Mr.Brine,in addition to wishing to lease some land near Castletown,offers 40/— per annum for the exclusive right to work Poolvash Marble Quarries for five years. As no rent at all has been received in the past it would be well to accept this offer so as to establish a right and begin the practice of letting them and excluding intruders. Rents are not coming in as the farmers will not sell their crops at the low prices prevailing. |
| AP_124_31 |
6.1.1821
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McCrone to Duke. Mr.Brine's offer for Poolvash Quarry has been accepted. His treatment in the Island has caused him to take a dislike to it,and once he has got the Duke's affairs in good order he will probably lanve it. |
| AP_124_32 |
20.1.1821
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McCrone to Duke. The Elk skeleton is to be given up on the payment of
£70 towards the expenses of putting it together etc, and £10.10.0
to the man who put it together in return for which he will take it to Edinburgh.
The freight will be extra,and as the steamers are not allowed to carry cargo,uunless special permission is obtained,it will probably have to go by a vessel sailing to Greenock for rum for the Island. |
| AP_124_33 |
26.1.1821
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McCrone to Duke. Enclosing an agreement with regard to the Elk skeleton.
It is said that the head of another,as large or even larger,was lately found
in the same marl pit,but that the pit fell in and it is now under water.
It seems that though the marl from this pit has been worked and sold - the
Bishop bought £18.12.6 worth during the last year - no rent has been
paid for it to the Duke. This is just another example of the way in which
he is defrauded of his Manorial rights,and steps will be taken to remedy matters,and not before it is time,for these rights to minerals, quarries and unenclosed lends have been overlooked for many years. If,as he hears, the Duke is coming to the Island soon,where does he propose to stay. When the steamers begin to ply there will be difficulty in getting a house or lodgings. Also,does he realise that he has not an inch of ground on which to graze a cow to provide milk for his family. And what about horses ? If he will let the writer know when to expect him however these things can be arranged. Mrs. Downes will take the new Inn at £100 per annum |
| AP_124_34 |
17.1.1821
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McCrone to Duke. Agreement (between J.Taubman.T.Kewish and J.McCrone for the Duke) with regard to the Elk skeleton. (Copy) |
| AP_124_35 | - copy of AP_124_34 | |
| AP_124_36 |
1.3.1821
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McCrone to Duke. Agreement (between J.Taubman.T.Kewish and J.McCrone for the Duke) with regard to the Elk skeleton. (Copy) |
| AP_124_37 |
5.4.1821
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McCrone to Duke. Agreement (between J.Taubman.T.Kewish and J.McCrone for the Duke) with regard to the Elk skeleton. (Copy) |
| AP_124_38 |
17.4.1821
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McCrone to Duke. Trivial. |
| AP_124_39 |
30.4.1821
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McCrone to Duke. He proposes to let Brine have a lease to work the Limestone quarries for three years at a- rent of 1/- per ton for export sales and 3d per ton for Home sales. The Bishop has left for London by the Steam Packet "These Packets are delightful - they keep time like a Mail Coach,and bring distant places to out very doors." |
| AP_124_40 |
12.5.1821
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McCrone to Duke. One of the falcons has died and he doubts if he can get another before the Coronation,which is due in a month, Perhaps the Duke can get one from a friend in England, |
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Any comments, errors or omissions gratefully received
The Editor |
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