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© F.Coakley , 2026
[from A.M Harrision's Descriptive List of Insular Societies]
Founded by the Rev. John Farnsworth, minister of the Unitarian Church in Circular Road, Douglas, 'an organisation of the broadest and most tolerant kind' for the young men in his church, the account of 'its genesis and History' reprinted from the Isle of Man Times in the Manx Quarterly, vol.1.no. 8, outlines the history of the then twenty years of existence of an association standing for 'intellectual improvement and the cultivation of the arts of speaking' and 'the most successful institution of its Kind in the Isle of Man'. Moving in its first year from the Unitarian church to its 1910 premises at 29 Athol Street, and with a wide membership, including Members of the House of Keys, Town Councillors and the professions, the 'Progressives', whose distinguished local officers from A.W.Moore, Speaker of the House of Keys onwards are all listed, 'continued on their way as the champions of free, undenominational thought and discussion, pledged to no propaganda and wedded to no dogma', 'a society which welcomed every honest opinion on every conceivable topic of human interest - social, political or literary', under the direction of a series of notable chairmen, the moving spirits of the society. Considered 'to have had a great part in moulding opinion tn the capital of the Island on many controversial subjects' many of its most important debates were reprinted in the Manx Quarterly. The society also had a strong, bonding social side - 'concerts, balls, beefsteak pie and boiled tripe, smoking concert and entertainment'.
M.N.H.L.. Isle of Man newspapers, passim.
'The Douglas Progressive Debating society: its Genesis and History Manx Quarterly , vol. 1, no. 8, 1910.
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Any comments, errors or omissions gratefully received
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