[Your Towns and Cities in the Great War 01] • Isle of Man in the Great War by Smith Caroline

Author:Smith, Caroline [Smith, Caroline]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781783831227
Goodreads: 34185060
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books
Published: 2016-07-08T00:00:00+00:00

Inside the House of Keys today.

It might have been expected that the main business of the day would be the discussion of the resolutions of the War Rights Union. Instead, the main news from Tynwald was that the Governor, Lord Raglan, was to return to the island to resume his duties. On 28 June a second public meeting was called by the Union to express disappointment in the legislature; and to resolve that they would put their requests forward, by memorial, at the Tynwald Day ceremony. By doing this they would be exercising their ancient, but rarely used, rights.

The campaign leaders also counselled their supporters to stay away from the pier when the Governor arrived. It was anticipated that there could be some ugly scenes and the campaign did not want to be tarnished or leave itself open to criticism.

As it became known that a memorial was to be presented on Tynwald Day, there were some clumsy attempts to keep the campaign members away from the ceremony. This mostly involved visitors, or ‘friends’, advising them to stay away. This advice was not taken and instead, in the early morning of 5 July three horse-drawn carts, holding about ten people each, took position close to Tynwald Hill. These carts gave the campaign members platforms from which to display placards stating the wishes of the movement. ‘WE WANT A NEW GOVERNOR, TAXATION OF WEALTH, NO FOOD TAXES, REVENUE FROM THE CAMPS FOR WAR DISTRESS.’

These placards could be seen from every part of the surrounding grounds, and as the crowds gathered, 5000 copies of the Memorial were circulated. Many people there were in support of the demonstration. After the church service that always precedes the Tynwald Hill ceremony, the church doors were opened for the officials to make their procession to the hill. As they began along the path there was a hostile demonstration, with the Governor being greeted with cries of ‘resign’ and chants of ‘no food taxes’, ‘old age pensions’ and ‘redress, retrenchment and reform’. The chants and booing grew in intensity as the procession made its way and would have left the legislature in little doubt of the public feelings towards them.

Silence reigned to allow the ceremony to take place according to custom, but once the Memorial had been presented with a great cheer from the crowd and the ceremony concluded, the procession back to the church began. It was during this procession, again accompanied with much jeering from the crowd, that a small missile, which turned out to be nothing more than a sod of grass, hit the Governor on the hand. Lord Raglan barely noticed, but the ‘sodding of the Governor’ became a sensational headline in both the local and English press. It was now well known that the Governor of the Isle of Man was unpopular. Shortly afterwards, Lady Raglan made an unprecedented move of her own. She announced that she was withdrawing her support from all public works and charitable events owing to the attacks on her husband.

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