[taken from Chapter 1 Manx Worthies, A.W.Moore, 1901]

WILLIAM CORRIN (b. 1795, d. 1859),

son of John Corrin, of the Croit, Arbory, and Ann Harrison, of Ballamoar, in the same parish, was educated at the Academic School, Castletown, by the Rev. Thomas Castley, and, after his death, by the Rev. Joseph Brown, becoming an excellent classical scholar. He was ordained by Bishop Murray in 1816, and, in 1818, he followed his late schoolmaster, Joseph Brown, who, in that year, had been appointed Vicar of Michael, as curate to the Rev. Robert Brown at St. Matthew's, Douglas. In 1825, he was appointed Vicar of Rushen, where he remained during the rest of his life. Up to 1850, he did his work in this large and important parish without any assistance, and so, since he never neglected any duty, it will be seen how hard .a worker he was. On two occasions, especially, during this period, he had need of all his energy and devotion. One was in 1832, during the terrible outbreak of cholera, when, till he was himself attacked by it, he was constantly among the sick and dying, the other was in 1852 when the dreadful catastrophe of the explosion of the brig "Lily," on Kitterland, in his parish, gave him the care of a number of poor wounded men. We should mention that he was a total abstainer, and one of the originators of the movement in the island. An earnest and able preacher, both in English and Manx he exemplified in his own life what he preached to others. A man of many sorrows, for his wife and several of his children preceded him to the grave, he was remarkable for his serene patience. Charitable, hospitable, a cheerful companion, a sage adviser perhaps his most striking characteristics were his shrewd common sense and his intense sympathy—a sympathy extended to all, whatever their careers and characters. He entered into the amusements of the young, who spent many happy days " In that old vicarage that shelters under Brada,"* and into the troubles of the old, and he took interest in the occupations of all' more especially of the fishermen, who formed a large part of the population of the parish. It is, perhaps, not generally known that he was the prototype of " Pazon Gale," in "Betsy Lee." This being the quotation of a few lines from that inimitable poem win place the man before our readers as our own words cannot do:-

Now the grandest old pazon, I'll be bail,
Tha' ever was, was ould Pazon Gale.
Aw, of all the kind and the good and the true
Ann'. the aisy and free, ....
And runny a time he'd come out and try
A line, and the keen he was and the spry!
. . . .

He was a simple pazon, and lovin' and wise
That's what he was and quiet uncommon,
And never said much to man or woman
Only the little he said was meat
For a hungry heart, and soft and sweet
Aye, many a time I've seen his face
All slushed with tears and him tellin' of grace
And mercy and that, and his v'ice so low.
But trimblin'-aw, but we liked him, though.

He was offered the Rectory of Bride, a much better living, in 1847, but he refused it, saying that he was too much attached to his parishioners to leave them, and how strong this feeling was is shown by the fact that he desired the words: " :He never left nor wished to leave the place " (Goldsmith) to be put on his: tombstone. He, like nearly all the Manx clergy of his time, was a strong evangelical.

* Chalse~Killey (T. E. Brown).