Any comments, errors or omissions gratefully received
The Editor
HTML Transcription
© F.Coakley , 2026
[from A.M Harrision's Descriptive List of Insular Societies]
"The object of the society shall be the improvement of its members in debating and public speaking, and the furtherance of their intellectual, social and moral advancement".
The mission statement of the new society echoed the aims of the Douglas Progressive Debating Society, almost a generation older, which had the reputation of having had 'a great part in moulding opinion in the capital of the Island on many controversial subjects The ageing of the original members of the Progressive Debating Society is possibly the key to the emergence of the new Douglas-based society.
A rising generation of serious and ambitious young men, instinctively influenced by the rhythms of generational confrontation, would almost inevitably be led to the formation of a new association. The classification of the membership under age and occupation would not be an impossibility but would of course be a lengthy task. It Is, however, in the closely articulated society of Douglas, possible to come to some general conclusions merely from looking at the names of the members. These are simply that there appears to have been a preponderance of young business men, shopkeepers, bank clerks, largely Manx, in the Dilettant Society
The extensive records of the society show that, from the beginning the society both debated and absorbed a wide range of topics, across the spectrum of politics and social thinking. Lectures on the work of the University settlements in the East end of London were particularly interesting to the membership. It is also apparent that the tenor of the debates was slightly less free-thinking and more markedly anti-Socialist, than that of the older society, exemplified in a series of Anti-Socialist debates with the 'Advanced' Progressives in 1910, probably a blend of conviction and a natural shift of position from that of the senior society. The Progressives flourished beyond 1914. The Dilettanti Society took over the senior role in the twenties, eventually allowing mixed debates, and was well-respected untill its winding up in 1994.
M.N.H.L., Papers of the Dilettanti Debating Society, 1909-1994,. Acc. no. 9629
;
Isle of Man newspapers, all, 1909-1994, passim
...
...
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
Any comments, errors or omissions gratefully received
The Editor |
||