New book profiles Manx characters

The book contains 230 biographies of people connected with the island.

A book detailing the biographies of the most influential characters on the Isle of Man is being launched on Thursday.

New Manx Worthies is the culmination of a 10-year project by the Manx Heritage Foundation and is the updated sequel to the 1901 Manx Worthies Book.

The latest tome features more than 200 people connected to the Isle of Man.

They include Bee Gee Maurice Gibb, Jane Goulden, the mother of suffragette Emeline Pankhurst and colonial administrator, Sir George Goldie.

'Broad spectrum'

Manx Heritage Foundation administrator Charles Guard, who thought up the idea together with former head teacher Dollin Kelly, said it had been difficult to decide who to include in the book.

All entrants had to have a clear connection with the island and the one criterion they all had to fulfil was that they were all deceased.

He added: "There was much discussion as to what the definition of a worthy was and even who could be defined as Manx.

"Not everyone will agree with the choice of entries, but the collection, which numbers some 230, provides a broad spectrum of people who were either high achievers, or who have made an important contribution to the Isle of Man over the past one hundred years."