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© F.Coakley , 2026
[from A.M Harrision's Descriptive List of Insular Societies]
The oldest learned society on the Island, now in its 118th year [AH writing in 1998] , owes its foundation to a terse circular sent out on 5 December 1879 by Philip M.C.Kermode, R.W.O. Rutledge and Edwin Birchall, Fellow of the Linnaean Society, its brief message
'It is proposed to form a Club for promoting the study of Natural History in the Isle of Man. A preliminary meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 23rd, at 4 o'clock, p.m., at Mr. Birchall's House, 64 Derby Square, Douglas, which you are respectfully invited to attend.'
The preface to the first volume of Yn Liooar Manninagh, issued in 1889 to publish the transactions of the Society in its first ten years of activity, having worked in many fields of study, reproduces the letter of invitation and describes the difficulties of the society's first years. Mr. Rutledge, 'an invalid at the time he signed the circular, did not survive to attend the meeting'.
' There was a very small attendance but rules were drawn up. Mr. Jeffcott , High Bailiff of Castletown declined the office of President on the grounds of illhealth and Mr. Birchall, an entomologist, was unanimously elected in his stead, regrettably dying in office in 1883'.
On the surface the venture was ill-starred, and in danger of failure, but there were many positive factors which insured its survival and distinguished achievements in the future.
First, apart from his main interest in antiquities particularly the Manx cross slabs, Kermode was himself an able naturalist, and accompanied a family connection by marriage, Robert Garner, the 'veteran Staffordshire naturalist' and founder of a most successful field club in North Staffordshire, on his last field trip to the Island in 1878, when, according to David Allen writing in his Flora of the Isle of Man, Garner persuaded Kermode to set up a Field Club for the Isle of Man.
Second, the Island had already been discovered by the academic world of Britain. Apart from the intrinsic interest of its physical and human history and its Celtic-Norse national background, the advantages of a small, discrete area as a clearly defined testbed for the new studies and sciences of the Universities and learned societies attracted the attention of academics to an accessible place.
There was too, already, by the end of the 19th century, a significant number of native and Manx-based scholars anxious for further education and committed to serious academic work. The setting up of the Douglas Clubs - the Manx Geological Society and the Manx Astronomical Society, the creation of the Manx Ancient Monuments and Museum Trustees, working towards a national museum and the Manx Language Societys work to preserve the Manx language and culture generally, with the consequent generation of an academic intelligentsia, are all cases in point.
The circulation of the initial invitation to the members of the Manx Society for the publication of national documents, founded in 1858, which in 1880 printed its 30th volume and which ended its work in 1894 with the publication of the Book of Common Prayer in Manx Gaelic and John Rhys' The Outlines of the Phonology of Manx Gaelic, recognised suitable allies.
Marshall Cubbon in his Centenary Presidential Address' (ProcsIOMNHAS, vol. VIII, no. 4, 1982) cites two major achievements for the Society, the first the establishment of the Manx Museum in 1922 and the work of its founder, P.M.C.Kermode, the only surviving original member on its 50th anniversary in 1929, pioneer scholar and expositor of the Manx Series of monumental crosses, not only as the driving force behind the Society's Museum lobby, but as the founder of a high standard of scholarship, still emulated, which he set as the first Museum Director from 1922 till his death in 1932 .
The second is 'the regular publication of papers of true academic worth' the standard by which a learned society must be judged, and which provides a vital benchmark for all Manx academic studies. The publications, Yn Liooar Manninagh, 1880-1889, and the Proceedings of the Isle of Man Natural History and Antiquarian Society, 1890, ongoing, are the measure of the Society's achievements, from their beginning reflecting the wide range of the Society's chosen field of study.
In the first paper of Yn Liooar Manninagh, Kermode defined natural history as 'all natural objects, organic and inorganic' and divided the the subject into several branches: the organic, relating to botany and Zoology, and inorganic, to geology and mineralogy. The development of nine specific sections for specialised research, archaeological, anthropological, geological, botanical, zoological, entomological, microscopical, photographical and meteorological, each with their section leaders, in the first years emphasises the fact that in its early days, possibly up to the death of Kermode, the society, typically a group of forty to fifty enthusiasts, had a significant number of active members.
At its centenary, from a record membership of 850, only 5% could be considered as pursuing active research, a situation which the Antiquarians are working very hard to change.
Yn Liooar Manninagh, 1880-1889,1889, Procs IOMNHAS, 1890-ongoing:
A.M.Cubbon 'Centenary Presidential Address , Procs IOMNHAS, vol. vill,
no. 4,(1978 -1980) 1982. pp. 434 - 457:
J.B.Caine, 'In the beginning'100 Years of Heritage, the work of the Manx
Museum and National Trust, 1986; pp.10 -16,
Allen. D.E.. Flora of the Isle of Man , (1984) pp. 35,36.
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