literally William brown - or englished 'brown William' - viewed by many as a Manx patriot (shot for treason after a trial in which he refused to plead), by his contemporaries as a bully and according to evidence in Lib Scacc of dubious moral character - the various songs etc that sing his praises were written post 1765 when the feeling of many was that the Island had been sold out by the Atholl Lord and hung out to dry by the British