[taken from Chapter 7 Manx Worthies, A.W.Moore, 1901]

HUGH CLOBERRY CHRISTIAN,⁺ Knight (b. 1747, d. 1798),

who was a son of the Captain Thomas Christian already referred to. Between 1779 and 1783, he took part in various actions in the West Indies, and, in 1796, he was appointed to the chief command there. Sir Ralph Abercromby, in his despatch of the 31st of May of that year, announcing the surrender of St. Lucia, wrote : " Rear-Admiral Sir Hugh Christian, and the Royal Navy, have never ceased to show the utmost alacrity in forwarding the public service. To their skill and unremitting labour the success which has attended his Majesty's arms is in a great measure due."^* Early in 1798 he was commander in chief at the Cape of Good Hope, where he died suddenly in November of the same year, just before the patent of the peerage which had been conferred upon him arrived. It is interesting to note that, mindful of his Manx origin and descent from Illiam Dhone, he had selected the title of Lord Ronaldsway. The "Naval Chronicle, " referring to him, says: "His services had been arduous and useful; and by his death the country lost an attentive, able, and active officer."^*

+ Manx by descent only.

 * Naval Chronicle, Vol. XXI., p. 187.