[From IoM Times 24 Sep 1932]

The Graves in Maughold

Maughold churchyard is in many respects the most romantic in the Isle of Man. It occupies a noble site, looking out upon one of the most glorious prospects imaginable. It is faced hy a unique standing cross, about twelve feet high, believed to have existed from at least the fourteenth century. It encloses the remains of four  of der churchies—not churches as one now understands the word, places of indoor congregation, but the ancient keeills or cells, constituting, so Mr P. M. C. Kermode conjectures from their grouping and from dedications found among some of the parish's abundance of Runic crosses, a small monastery on the early Irish plan. For, whatever may be thought of the historical accuracy of the story of the parish's patron saint, the Irish pirate whom Patrick converted and made to do penance by suffering himself to be sent adrift, manacled, in an oarless boat, the lamp of Christianity was lit upon this spot as early as anywhere in Mau. The first Manx bishop whose appomtment is accepted history, Roofwer. was buried here in or about the year 1050. Serving the needs of the Island's second largest town and of a parish which formerly prosper in farming and mining, this has been the resting-place of many able and vigorous men who, having served their day and generation, fell asleep. And in August of 1931 there were borne here the remains of the one Manxman whose name has been heard all over the earth, the great novelist Hall Caine.

The most distinguished man buried in Maughold. with this one exception, is Sir Mark Cubbon. K.C. B. who was Governor of Mysore during the period of the Indian Mutiny, and to whose firm but kind, and enlightened rule it is due that that great province remained quiet and. happy during that terrible upheaval. Only this year a young Indian man of letters, an obvious hero-worshipper, has published a lengthy study of Cubbon's work as the regenerator of the writer's native state. Sir Mark's tomb is quite an elaborate affair. It occupies the greater proportion of a large enclosure, railed in, and consists of a large flat stone, slightly concave, and approached by three narrow steps, on which the outlines of his career are briefly stated.

Sir Mark Cubbon's father was vicar of Maughold for forty-five years, and for nineteen years vicar-general of the Northern part of the Island, and he also, with various members of his family, is buried in Maughold, near his illustrious son. He was one of the Cubbon's of Ballacallin (Marown). and married a daughter of the Rev. James Wilks, a distinguished clergyman in the eighteenth century, and a faithful henchman of Bishop Wilson. The names "Mark" and
"Wilks'' are perpetuated in the name of the Rev. M. W. Harrison, vicar of St. Paul's, Ramsey. who is a descendant of the Rev. Thomas Cubbon. Other ancestors of Mr Harrison's, also clergymen, rest in Maughold churchyard—his father, Canon Stephen Nathaniel Harrison, and his grandfather, the Rev. Bowyer Harrison. Still earlier is the Rev. David Harrison, who for many years was vicar of Malew.

Another former vicar was the Rev. William Kermode, afterwards rector of Ballaugh, father of Mr P. M. C. Kermode, curator of the Manx Museum, who also, alas ! is now laid to rest in this churchyard. Mr Kermode, senior married into the Callows of Claughbane near Ramsey, one of whom, Daniel Callow, died in London while on deputation work for the House of Keys, and is commemorated by a tablet in St. Mary's, Castletown.

The earliest recognisable tombstone in Maughold. which is kept in a splendid state of preservation, is that of Edward Christian, who died on the 19th January, 1661. Several of the Christians of Lewaigue are buried below. This Edward Christian is that very remarkable man who was governor of the Island under the seventh Earl of Derby, but was imprisoned for promoting insurrection, and after intervals of liberation. died in the dungeons of Peel Castle. Whatever may be said of his kinsman ''Illiam Dhone,'' or even about Edward Christian's own motives, there can be no doubt that he was a sufferer for liberty and for modern ideas of popular government. Other early burials are these of John Christian, in 1681, and Katherine Karran, in 1694.

Two large square two-decker monuments meet the eye as soon as one enters Maughold churchyard. One covers the remains of various members of a Christian family which finally settled in the mansion called Greenland, situated on the Sulby river jnst outside the town of Ramsey. One of them, Captain Thomas Christian, who died in 1755, was "commander of the fort of Ramsay." The second is that of the Haskins and Spencer families, of Port Lewaigue. Mr Joseph Haskins, a member of whose family was buried here in 1818, was a surgeon, and so was his son-in-law, , Mr J.H. F. Spencer, who died in Douglas ia 1830 . and whose memory is here honoured by a most eloquent tribute. A grandson. Mr Henry Hawkins Spencer, died in India while holding the office of Assistant Conservator of Forests, and is commemorated both by an inscription upon this monument and a tablet in the church. The Haskins-Spencer family were related to Sir William Hillary, the founder of the National Lifeboat Institution. A panel to the memory of two Spencer children, each of whom died in the day of birth, contains the following soulful verse:—

"The cup of life fast to their lips thmy pressed.
Found the taste bitter, and declined the rest;
Then looking upwards to the realms of day,
They gently sighed their little souls away.''

This pressing of babes and sucklings into the ranks of those who being dead yet speak is practised upon several other tombstones in Maughold.

A remarkable episode in the life of the parish is a succession of five vicars named Allen. The Reverend Thomas Allen was vicar in 1642. the Reverend Robert in 1662, a second Thomas in 1726. a John in 1735, and a third Thomas in 1754. They were ancestors of the late Mr Thomas Allen, captain of tbe parish of Maughold, and for many years member of the House of Keys, who placed a tablet to their memory in the church, and caused his own gravestone to bear on the sides of the kerb their five names also. The name of Allen was fairly well distributed in Maughold. and John Feltham's list of churchyard inscriptions, compiled in 1798, shows that there was a Manx Barbara Allen, presumably not the cruel fair one of the song. It is understood that the farm name Ballellin is really Balla-allen. and it appears as Ballallin on several tombs.

Another celebrated Manxman was Captain Hugh Crow, shipmaster and privateer and slave-trader, who died in 1829. His biographies show him to have been a rough and tough sea-dog, brave and skilful and not particularly tender. The inscription on his tomb says that he commanded the ships "Will,", "Ceres.''Mary,"and "Kitty Amelia," with much credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of his owners. He also fought several actions with the enemy, for which he received repeated marks of the approbation of the merchants and underwriters in London and Liverpool.

A mariner of a different generation was Captain William Corkill, of the steamer "General Sir James Outram" of Ramsey, who died in 1858. Sir James Outram was one of the British military leaders in the Indian Mutiny.

One has no information as to how long the lightship has been maintained at the Bahama Bank. But a captain of that .ship was buried at Maughold in 1848, and a lamplighter in 1851.

Tragedies of the sea appear to have been less common in Maughold than in many Manx parishes, but one observes an inscriptinn in memory of William McCormick and William Robert McCormick, hie son who were drowned on the Bahama Bank in 1887. It is a pathetic fact that two years earlier William Robert McCormick and John J. McCormick—the latter of whom still lives in Ramsey—had erected a gravestone in memory of William Cowle, drowned in the foundering of the schooner "Margaret."

One of the officers in the celebrated regiment of Manx Fencibles was Captain Matthew Summers, ofMount Pleasant, Northumberland. He and his brother. Lieutenant John Summers, of tlte 62nd Regiment of Foot, are buried in Maughold, the dates of their respective deaths being 1814 and 1824. Their descendants remained in Ramsey for several generations; Mr Hardy Summers was the editor of a newspaper called "The Manx Owl."

The surname Christian was fairly widely distributed throughout the Island—it was quite numerous, in earlier generations, in Onchan—but in Maughold it was particularly common. Mr A. W. Moore, in his Manx Names.'' quotes the old Maughold distich:—
"Christian, Ca!low, and Kerruish,
All the rest are but refuse:''

"This," he comments, "is not so sweeping a condemnation as it might appear, as 'all tho rest' are not numerous." There is another local story of a revrvaJist who accosted a man on the road and asked if he were Christian, and got, the reply, "'No, but there's the Christians Lewaigue and the Christians Baldroinma and the Christians Ballure and the Christians Ballajora, and other Christians too—which of them were you wanting:" One notable family of Christians lived at The Flat, near Ramsey. Captain Matthias of that ilk died in 1789, while John Christian was a captain in the Royal Manx Fencibies, and for twenty years c of lector (of customs ) of the port of Ramsey. This family intermarried with the Oates of Gotland, and a descendant, Mr Robert Oates Christian, who is buried iti the family series of graves, was first chairman of the Ramsey Town Commissioners. when that body was formed in 1865.

The obsolete Manx surname Cottiman was found almost exclusively in Maughold. Tombstones here show that it survived until at least 1878.

An obsolete Manx Christian name is Joney. which Mr A. W, Moore states to be a translation of Judith. It was held by Joney Fargher, who was buried at Maughold in 1806. Adjoining stones show that the name Judith was borne hy later members of the same family. Judith appears to have been rather a favourite feminine name in Maughold, sharing popularity with Dorothy; and the masculine name Ewan seems more common m Maughold than elsewhere in the Island.

Dr. Stowell, a Ramsey physician and the father-in-law of the poet T. B. Brown, lies in Maughold churchyard. So also does does one of the Brown children, the infant Amy Dora, who died in Ramsey on August 2nd, 1859, at tlie age of three months. 'I have her there." says the poet while counselling his friend Dakyns to come to Maughold. "that was a bud so rare."

One small stone hears the brief and ominous inscription, "Cholera, 1833.'' How many nameless graves did that dread visitation fill in Maughold ? 

As has previously been remarked, some of the most unusual inscriptions are to he found over the graves of little children Consider this, carved in memory of Clara Jane Faragher. aged 3¼ years:—

I. little Clara Faragher, lie
Beneath this vestage green,
Called in my youth to cross the Jordan,
Not full four years had seen.
And you. my loving brother,.
Whom I have left behind,
Pray God to bless your immortal souls,
While reading these few lines.
For Jesus is our elder brother,
Good and kind is He,
Saying. Suffer the little children
To come unto Me.

Of Adelaide Corkill, aged seven, it is set down —"The Dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him in the Ark."

One feels uncomfortable when, reading this, concerning Jane Elizabeth Moore, daughter of James John Moore, advocate, of Ramsey, who died in 1827, at the age of eleven:—"Her premature death was much regretted by all who knew her. When poring over her Bible upon her deathbed, she requested her parents to have the following verse inscribed: 'Behold, He taketh away, who can hinder Him: Who will say unto Him. What doest Thou?(Job IX, 12)." No doubt it was regarded a.s very proper and edifying at the time, but the present-day verdict would be that anyone who waa capable of that at the age of eleven was much better "taken."

A remarkable inscription erected by a son to a mother whom he never saw is found over the tomb of Mary Christian, "alias" Kerruish. She died in 1756 . at the age of twenty. "leaving behind her an only son, then an infant, by whom this monument is now erected, not from an impulse of vanity, but of that affection which he bears to the memory of a parent to whom he was prevented shewing any other mark of duty.'"

There is dignity and nobility, though probably not orthodox piety, in the inscription chosen for Mrs Jessie Goulden, wife of George Goulden, of Liverpool —one of the family which produced Mrs Pankhurst:

"Hail, universal mother! lightly rest
On that dead form,
Which, when with life invested, ne'er oppressed
Its fellow worm."

A list will now be given of the gravestones in Maughold which bear inscriptions in the Manx language.
Robert Corkill (died 1872) and Catherine Corkill (1910): "Derrey brishev'n laa" - Till the breaking of the day"). The exact equivalent of this in Scottish Gaelic is found on the tombstone of Neil Macdonald, who died in 1921: "Gus am bris on la."

Ksther Corkill (died 1894): "Dty aigney dy row jeant" ("'Thy will be done"). John Corkill. saddler ' (1923): "Va yn ferrey (properly jerrey) echey shee" ("His end was peace".

Captain R. E. Christian, of Baldromma, who translated many of the carols in Mr A. W. Moore's collection: "As dooyrt eh rhym, Ta'n ghrayse arms fondagh er dty hon" ("And He said unto me. My grace is sufficient for thee").

William Christian, of Folieu, died 1902: "Ta'u Chiarn cooilleeney cairys as briwnys er nyn sou ocsyn ooilley ta tranlaasit lesh aggair" ("The Lord exeuiteth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed' ').

William Joughin (died 1908): "Adsynl myrgeddin ta cadley ayns Yeesey, ver Jee lesh marish" ("Them also that sleep in Jesus He will bring with Hini"). In the same grave. Robert Joughin (1929): "Ec fea veih e laboraght" ("At rest from his labour'") .

A conspicuous monument is that erected in memory of Charl Friderich Wilhelm Behrndt, of Wolgast, in Pommern (Pomerania) ; Charl Grant, of Altona; and Chad Hennies of Lauenburg. each of whom died on the 16th March, 1860. On the back of the tombstone is engraven an emblem of an angel, a victor's palm. and a serpent made into a circle, and the following text in German and English: Jesus said. I am the resurrection and the life." The three men belonged to the crew of a Prussian brig, the "Heinrich Gustav," which put into Ramsey with a cargo for the bone manure works then run by Mr T. C Gibson, and died from the result of a misadventure while preparing supper. One of the victims brought to the cook a tin which was supposed to contain arrowroot, but really contained arsenic.

One of the most unusual monuments in this churchyard is also one of the newest having heen erected in February of 1931. It consists of a dial set in an oblong enclosure floored so as to resemble what in gardening is called a "crazy path," a series of stone tiles in irregular shapes, in the middle is a floral cross. The dial bears the motto, "Turn your face to the sun, and the shadows will fall behind you."

Among other notables buried in Maughold are Mr William Callister, M.H. K.. of Thornhill. Lezayre, grandfather of Mr J. Donald Clucas, and a leader in business and politics; Mr Robert Fargher. founder of the "Mona's Herald" : Dean Gillow, who founded the Roman Catholic Mission in Ramsey in the year 1863: Mr Edward Corteen, for many years Surveyor-General, and a very fine type of Manxman: Mr J. R. Kerruish. M.L.C., and his father. Sir J. R. Kerruish,senr., who was for a short time in the House ot Keys : Mr William Kermeen. M.H.K.. Mr Evan Christiian. of Lewaigue, famous as a temperance advocate and members of the Monk tamily, who lived in Ramsey in the earlier part of the nineteenth century, and founded a locallyfamous line of ships..

		Maughold
Any comments, errors or omissions gratefully received The Editor © F.Coakley , 2020