[From Manx Families, A.W.Moore, MS 1889]

Quayle’s of Clychur, Bridge House, and Crogga

[Appeared in Manx Note Book ]

Arms: Argent, a Chevron Sable, gutté d’eau, between three Quails, proper

Crest: a Quail

Mottoes: Qualis Ero Spero and Assiduitas

Quaile, Quaill, MacQuaile, Quale, Quaylle, and MacQuayle are the forms in which this name is found in the early manorial records and parochial registers until the middle of the seventeenth century, after which it is usually spelled Quayle. In Ireland, whence the name came to us, it is found in its uncontracted form of MacPhail (Paul’s son) at a very early date. Gilbert MacQuaile was a Member of the House of Keys in 1422, and Quayle and MacQuayle are Abbey tenants in Malew, in 1540. The first member of the above family, whom we find settled in Clychur, is Thomas Quale, who was possessor of Clychur in 1581, and Member of the House of Keys in 1593. Nicholas Quaile, his son, is entered as owner of the property in 1601, and it was afterwards held in succession by Thomas Quaile, Nicholas Quaile, entered in 1615, Gilbert Quaile, 1630, and Thomas Quayle, 1646 (buried November 2, 1669, Malew).

Thomas Quayle left, among other issue, John, Hugh and William, of whom the last named settled in Dublin, of which city he became an alderman. His daughter, Elizabeth, married Sir James Somerville, and had issue Sir Quaile Somerville, Bart., from whom was descended the Right Hon. Sir Wm. Somerville, Bart., Chief Secretary for Ireland, who was created Baron Athlumny in 1863; and Ann, who married William Murray, of Ronaldsway. John left no male issue: his two daughters married respectively John Caine, and William Harrison of Cordaman. Elinor, wife of John Caine, died without male issue, and Margaret Harrison, the other daughter, sold Clychur to John, the son of Hugh. This John (born 1693, died 1755,), was Clerk of the Rolls and Comptroller. He married in 1717 Elizabeth (born 1688, died 1743, buried at Malew), daughter of Thomas Harrison, of Wyreside in Lancashire, who was attainted in 1715, and fled to the Isle of Mann, and whose wife was one of the Butlers of the Ormonde family, and niece of the author of ‘Hudibras.’ John Quayle was killed by a fall from his horse and was buried in St Mary’s Chapel, Castletown. By his marriage above mentioned, he had among other children, William (born 1721, died 1744), who served through the wars of the reign of George II, in the dragoon regiment; Anne, married Thomas Radcliffe; Margaret, married John Quillin, Attorney General, and had issue three daughters, one of whom married James Quirk of Parville, and another … Pownall of Pownall, in Cheshire; Christiana, who married Edward Platt; and John (born 1725, died 1797), who became Clerk of the Rolls and the Duke of Atholl’s Seneschal on his father’s death. John married, in 1750, Margaret (born 1736), daughter of Sir George Moore (1709 to 1789) of Ballamoore, near Peel, Speaker of the House of Keys, and had issue among others: George, Thomas, Edward, John, Basil, Mark Hildesley, Sarah, and Katherine Elizabeth. He was an intimate and trusted friend of Bishop Hildesley, much of his correspondence with whom is still preserved. In 1781, he was offered knighthood, but declined. His eldest son, George (born 1757, died unmarried in 1835), was a Member of the House of Keys for fifty-one years, and a captain of the Royal Manx Fencibles. He also raised a corps of Yeomanry, which he commanded until it was disbanded at the Peace of Amiens in 1802. In the same year, he, in conjunction with his brother Mark Hildesley, John Taubman, and James Kelly, opened the Isle of Man Bank in Castletown. After 1804, he carried it on alone until 1811, when he associated two partners with himself. In 1818, when the bank closed, he sold the barony of St. Trinians, in Marown, and other property, that the public should not suffer from the trust placed in his name, as ‘Quayle’s Notes were considered as good as those of the Bank of England." He traveled extensively, and was the author of several mechanical inventions, some of which were much in advance of the time, thought, like many other inventors, he does not appear to have reaped any benefit from them. Is brother Thomas married Eliza Moon, the stepdaughter and heiress of William Hollingworth, of Barton Mere in Suffolk, and left two children. He and his son William were Benchers in the Middle Temple at the same time; the only instance (it is believed) with one exception, of father and son holding that position contemporaneously. Their coats of arms are opposite one another in the hall of the Middle Temple. Edward (born 1761) died unmarried. John (born 1762) was an officer in the Royal Artillery, and served in Holland under the Duke of York, and in the West and East Indies. In the later he was present at the siege of Seringapatam, and various important engagements. Basil (born 1765, died 1816) resided at ‘The Creggans,’ in Malew, which had been acquired by his grandfather in 1733. He devoted himself to agriculture, and was the author of a valuable work entitled, ‘A general view of the agriculture in the Isle of Mann, with observations on the means of its improvement.’ He married Ellen, daughter of Patrick Tobin, father of Sir John Tobin, of Middle, Braddan, and had issue five son and three daughters. The eldest surviving son, George, a merchant in Liverpool, inherited the properties of Clychur and the Creggans, and they were sold by him. Helen, his second daughter, married in 1834 James Fordati, merchant, and had issue. Of all John Quayle’s (C.R.) descendants, only the children of the youngest, Mark Hildesley (born 1770, died 1804), are represented in the male line. Mark Hildesley, who was named after his godfather, Bishop Hildesley, became Clerk of the Rolls on the death of his father, at the early age of 27. He married Mary, daughter of Senhouse Wilson, of Farm Hill, Braddan, by his wife Elizabeth, on of the family of Fleming of Rydal Hall, Westmoreland. His only Child, Mark Hildesley (born 1804, died 1879) married, in 1837, Mary Jane Hamilton, eldest daughter of James Spedding, of Summergrove, Co. Cumberland, late Lieutenant and Captain in the Grenadier Guards. He was a member of the Manx bar, and of the House of Keys from 1842 to 1847. In the latter year, he was appointed Clerk of the Rolls, thus making the fourth member of his family, in direct succession, who had held that office. He was made a Magistrate in 1846, and in 1873, was elected as the first Chairman of the Magistrates for the whole Island. Her Majesty’s commission of Deputy-Governor of the Island was held by him on two occasions, in 1860, on the resignation of Governor Charles Hope, and again in 1863, on the death of Governor Pigott-Conant. He was a distinguished lawyer and a zealous archaeologist. His death was lamented by the whole Island, to the promotion of whose welfare he had devoted a long and honoured life.

His eldest son, John Quayle, of Crogga, Santon, is the present head of the family. He married, in 1864, Emily Catherine, eldest daughter of the late Edward Moore Gawne, of Kentraugh, speaker of the House of Keys, by his wife Emily Mary, daughter of Colonel Murray, of Mount Murray, and great grandniece of John, 3rd Duke of Atholl. John Quayle is Summer-General, Captain of the parish of Santon, a Magistrate, and Member of the House of Keys for Rushen Sheading. Mark Hildesley and Mary Jane Hamilton had also issue: Mark Hildesley, a solicitor; James Spedding (born 1843, died 1883), a captain in the Royal Artillery, who served with distinction in the Abyssinian campaign, and for which he received a medal; George Harrington, an advocate; Daniel Fleming Wilson, a clergyman; William, one of H.M. Inspector of Factories; Mary, married J.L. Burns-Lindow, or Irton Hall, a magistrate and deputy-lieutenant for Cumberland; Sarah Katherine; Emily, and Edith, who married … Tomlin, and has a daughter who married R. C. Pharo-Tomlin, a solicitor in London. A Mrs. Tomlin or her daughter have given many documents to the Manx Museum.

Arms of this kind are called in Heraldry Canting, allusive or punning, being given in this case from the resemblance of the name to that of the bird.

John Quayle was a Member of the Council in 1593, and the same name appears as Comptroller in 1639.

The latter appellation is supposed to have signified the Comptroller of the Household (the two offices having apparently been held together), and was dropped towards the end of the last century, presumably at the time the Sovereignty of the Island became vested in the British Crown.

His carriage, which was the first that ever came to the Isle of Mann, is still in the possession of the family.

He got £7000, with her and bought the Creggans and other property.

He held the Calf of Mann from the Duke of Atholl and tried to introduce deer and grouse there. In a letter to his brother in law, Mr. James Moore, dated 17^th Sept 1776, he says: ‘The other day I sent you a Kegg of Puffins by Mr. Kelly, who is to succeed Mr. Fitsimmons in Ayr. He sailed last night, and I hope ‘ere this comes to hand that you have received and tried the puffins. MY efforts to plant Deer and Grouse upon the Calf have totally failed. But I have fitted up a Banqueting House in that place, where I should be happy to see you next summer.’

This and Christian’s barony, in Maughold, were the only two baronies in the Island held by private individuals.

?also the old vessel the Peggy, built in 1789, with the site on which she lies, at Bridge House, Castletown.

See p 145 of ‘Manx Currency,’ published by the Manx Society.

In a letter to his brother George, dated ‘Trinconomalee Fort, 30^th August, 1795,’ he says: ‘I had the honor of firing the first angry shot, from two 8-inch howitzers, on the night of the 20^th, with, I flatter myself, some little annoyance to the garrison, for next morning they brought 7 or 8 pieces to bear on me, and made it a pretty warm berth. I had one man killed, three badly wounded, the crown of my hat fractured by a 9 pound shot, whilst innocently looking thro’ a spying glass, and the poor shin, that has so often suffered, grazed by a grape shot.’ Several letters of his, written from before Pondicherry and Seringapatam, and other places, are also in possession of the family, and are of great interest.

By purchase from Elizabeth Calcot and John Curghey, her husband.

He had collected a number of valuable and interesting documents, copied from the public records of the Island, the publication of which would throw light on many obscure points in its history.