[taken from Chapter 4 Manx Worthies, A.W.Moore, 1901]

THOMAS STOWELL (b. 1764, d. 1821),

was the second son of Thomas Stowell and Ann Brown.* In 1792, he published an alphabetical arrangement of " The Statutes and Ordinances of the Isle of Man," pointing out, in a brief preface, that " It may be deemed a matter of no small surprize that the Statute Laws, or Acts of Tynwald of the Isle of Man (except a few lately passed), have never heretofore been printed and published." In 1790, he was sworn in as acting attorney-general and, in 1804, he became clerk of the rolls. He built "Hampton Court " in the parish of Braddan and lived there. He was considered a very able lawyer. The Manx Advertiser, in an obituary notice of him says: " The character of THOMAS STOWELL, late clerk of the rolls, is above enconium; and all attempts to emblazon his qualities are superfluous. To say that he was an honour and an ornament to his country, we give him not half his praise. He was not only a great but a good man. The people of this island did equal homage to his morals, as to his ability; and even his enemies (if he had any) could not deny him the character of an upright man and sincere Christian. At the same time that he embellished his public situations with more than ordinary talent, he threw a lustre on the sphere of private life by the practice of every Christian virtue."

* Aunt of the Rev R. Brown see p. 34).