was born in the parish of Maughold. At the age of 14 he
left the island and went to London, where he occupied the post of
private secretary. Three years later he returned and was
apprenticed to his relation, George
Jefferson, then the printer and publisher of the "Manks
Advertiser " newspaper, an organ with a very strong Tory and
Church and State bias. As ROBERT
FARGHER grew older, his views became those
of an advanced Radical, so that his work in connexion with the
"Advertiser" became more and more distasteful to him. He,
therefore, in 1833, persuaded William
Walls, a fellow printer in the same office, to join with him
in starting a newspaper, which they called the "
Mona's Herald." They designed it to be the organ of political
reform, nonconformity, and temperance. To promote these ends
ROBERT FARGHER never
spared himself. Passionate and impulsive by nature, nothing would
rouse him more speedily than cases of tyranny and oppression.
Neither loss of popularity or of business would prevent him from
denouncing them, if he thought it his duty to do so. It is not
surprising, therefore, that he made enemies He was a true patriot,
and his strenuous efforts to improve the political and social
conditions of the Isle of Man should not be forgotten
Accepted as Local Preacher by Douglas WM circuit May 1828 but
soon came into conflict with authority for in June 1834 the LP
Meeting Minute Book records "as to Bro Robt Fargher for having
permitted to appear in the Mona's Herald of which he is part
proprietor, a paragraph calculated to injure the character of the
Rev. Robt Aitken ... censure by giving
him no appointment though he remains on the plan".
However it was not long before he was expelled as part of the
1835 ruptions over the Warren affair - Fargher, as would be
expected, was in favour of greater democracy in the running of the
church.
He then appeared to have joined the Primitive Methodists,
where he can be found on the 1841 and 1855 plans.
See also W. T. Kneale "The Trials of a Manx Radical: The life
and times of Robert Fargher" Journal Manx Museum vol VI no 76
1959-60 pp89/93.
Farrill, Alexander, 1793-1863
Mona's Herald, February 4th, 1863, carriesthe obituary notice of the Rev. Alexander Farrill, a son of
Patrick Roche Farrill, a refugee from France during the time of
the Revolution who found his way to Douglas and in 1793 married
Elizabeth Lewthwaite, a daughter of Alexander Lewthwaite, in 1793.
This man had become licensed as a Wesleyan preacher when twenty
years old and had gone out to Labrador, later becoming an
itinerant preacher in the United States. After holding several
positions there he retired at Mount Morris New York, in 1848. His
death occurred on January 27th, 1863 at the age of seventy.
[quoted by W.Cubbon in Bibliography - chapter on Paper Makers
p1426]
Alexander Farrell appears, no. 33, on the list of Wesleyan Local
Preachers on the plan for Douglas
Circuit Aug-Sep 1823.
Cubbon quotes Manks Advertiser, July 20th, 1805, on
his father: He was a man of considerable fortune-some
£30,000-which he succeeded in dissipating in a very few
years. He joined his father-in-law [Alexander Lewthwaite]
in the business, but his health broke down, and on July 15th,
1805, he died ' at the Paper Mill, near this town
[Douglas], in the prime of life.'
