[taken from Chapter 9 Manx Worthies, A.W.Moore, 1901]

JOSEPH MYLCHREEST (b. 1837, d. 1896),

the third son of John Mylchreest, a Peel smack-owner, and Christian Moore, was educated at Gawne's School in Peel, and, on leaving it, was apprenticed as a ship carpenter in that town After five years of this employment he went to the West Coast of Africa, where he worked at his trade, but, being excited by the account of the gold discoveries in Australia, he went to that country in 1860. From thence he wandered to New Zealand, California. British Columbia, Bolivia, Peru, Chili, and back again to Australia, working off: and on in gold and silver mines, but with no great success, till, in 1876, he went to the diamond mines at Kimberley, in South Africa. Here, at first, fortune was not kind to him, but, with his lease of the Royal Mining Company's Works, a change came, and he gradually acquired a most valuable property, which he disposed of to the De Beers Company for an enormous sum. In 1888, he returned to settle in his native country, where, till his untimely death eight years later, he did much for its good by the money he spent in charity and in encouraging agriculture. He was elected a member of the House of Keys for Peel in 1891, and was made a magistrate shortly afterwards. " The Diamond King," as he was usually called, was a man of magnificent physique, with a somewhat rough exterior which concealed a kindly heart and great shrewdness. It can be truly said of him that he never turned his back upon an old friend, however humble.