Hi Sue.
Hugh Kneen and Jane Cannell were my GG-grandparents, so I'm good with their information, in general, although more details on their life in the IOM are always welcome! He must have spent some time in Liverpool before he married Jane as there is a marriage notice in the Liverpool Mercury referring to him as "late of this town". I can't seem to find him in the 1841 census anywhere so I wonder if there's a name transcription problem there - he is not at home with his parents. Hugh arrived in Australia in early 1853 then went back to the IOM and brought out the family. He built a mill for James Cashin not long after he arrived in Victoria. In MNB there is a letter from James Cashin telling of his early impressions of Victoria and I wonder whether reading this in the paper inspired Hugh to try his luck in Australia also, or perhaps they knew each other previously. I believe that Hugh was involved in the building of the Cronk Y Voddy chapel (from the IOMFHS Journal 2011)
Cheers.
Malea