Any comments, errors or omissions gratefully received
The Editor
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© F.Coakley , 2022
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Date
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Brief Description
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| AP_117_1 |
5.5.1813
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Bishop Murray to Duke Accepting the offer of the Bishopric and the terms with regard to residence imposed by the Duke. |
| AP_117_2 |
24.10.1813
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Bishop Murray to Duke re financial matters. |
| AP_117_3 |
15.4.1813
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Bishop Murray to Duke describes his arrival after a passage of twenty hours from Liverpool. The plantation between Castle Mona (where he was staying) and the Lodge is nearly finished,most of the trees having been planted in the autumn. |
| AP_117_4 |
30.1.1814
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Bishop Murray to Duke He hopes to be consecrated on the 6th March. Referring to a new type of iron roof he says "I wish Bishopscourt was in a state to receive a roof of any description". |
| AP_117_5 |
5.4.1814
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Bishop Murray to Duke How can funds be raised for the erection of a new house at Bishopscourt ? A suggestion that some portion of the Tithes should be sold for the purpose has leaked out and opposition may be expected from the Keys. He finds the Tithes to be in a state of great confusion,none being paid,for instance,on turnips or potatoes "now universally planted and to a very great extent." Formerly planted in gardens,in small quantities only, they now generally occupy about a third of every farm,so that “we are annually deprived of a material portion of our dues." As he has not yet been able to find a suitable house he and his family continue to occupy the west wing of Castle Mona. |
| AP_117_6 |
12.5.1814
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Bishop Murray to Duke A quarry of good stone has been opened near Bishopscourt. |
| AP_117_7 |
15.7.1814
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Bishop Murray to Duke advises the birth of a daughter. |
| AP_117_8 |
2.12.1813
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Bishop Murray to Duke Acknowledges receipt of £500 . Hopes soon to arrange for his consecration,after which he will at once leave for the Island, |
| AP_117_9 |
11.5.1814
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Bishop Murray to Duke He calculates that £1,000 will finish all that is required at Bishopscourt for the present,but is uncertain whether he will be able to obtain that sum. The house is nearly habitable but he does not expect to move in until the end of the summer. He has "put a new front to the old part of the house according to the plan I sent you last year .....and with the addition of two more rooms....it will become a good house.. Until the farm at B’court is properly stocked I cannot expect much benefit from it. The Committee of the Clergy are not be trusted. I have met with so much deception and so many dirty tricks that it is necessary to be very cautious in dealing with them" (with regard to value of tithes.) After various remarks — by no means complimentary - upon the Manx character he reports the death of "one of the best of the clergy, Christian of Kk. Arbory. Three men have applied for the living. One has promised to reform his habitual drunkenness, the second has joined the cabal against you,but the third, Gelling ppears to be very suitable. |
| AP_117_10 |
25.12.1814
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Bishop Murray to Duke He cannot get his rents in "Procrastination is the order of the day here. The tenants at B'Court plead the custom of never having paid their rents until January" He has succeeded in raising the Tithes of several parishes by considerable amounts. The tithes are very far below their value so that even after the increases he has made they are in no case more than 1/20th instead of 1/10th. He considers those of the Bishopric should be £3,000 but expects it will take two years to raise them to that amount And he finds them very difficult to collect. He has written to the Archb. of York with regard to the possibility of raising funds in England for the building of a church in Peel. He is trying to get the insular schools to work on the same basis as the National Schools in England,and has sent a man to London to be trained in their system so that he may return and act as a general instructor in the Island. The Clergy he finds to be "active and zealous with the exception of one or two who are incorrigibly drunken." He fears that concussion from the guns in the battery in Peel Castle will destroy the Cathedral,and considers that the Board of Ordnance should be made liable for the damage although the building is only of value as a monument of former times. Did the Duke give permission for the guns to be placed there? He describes,at some length,the condition of the house at Bishopscourt "the stench and filth which had accumulated over many years makes it more wretched in appearance than it really is" From the entrance Hall chimney,in which no fire had been lit for many years because it smoked I had two barrows of crow's nests taken,and in various parts of the house 47 rats in various stages of putrifaction have been removed! The most wretched part was the kitchen,but he hopes to get it made into a comfortable residence. He gives his views on the subject of 'dilapidations' which are said to be due by him to his predecessor. |
| AP_117_11 |
30.6.1815
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Bishop Murray to Duke re money matters between him and the Duke. |
| AP_117_12 |
4.8.1815
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Bishop Murray to Duke re money matters between him and the Duke. and his receipts from the Bishopric. |
| AP_117_13 |
10.8.1815
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Bishop Murray to Duke anounces the birth of another daughter. |
| AP_117_14 |
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Bishop Murray to Duke re the illness of Mr.Scott and the conduct of the Attorney-Gen. who is “either very ignorant or very impudent,perhaps both". |
| AP_117_15 |
3.2.1816
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Bishop Murray to Duke (This letter is in the 1816 packet but there is no year given on it and it may be incorrect. N.M.) State of affairs in the Island. The Duke seeks the assent of all members of his family to his proposed action. ( Was this the sale of the Island ? N.M.) |
| AP_117_16 |
25.2.1816
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Bishop Murray to Duke (Note as above re date N.M.) Announces the death of his youngest daughter. Further remarks re family assent. |
| AP_117_17 |
17.3.1816
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Bishop Murray to Duke Recommends thet the Rev.J.Qualtrough be given the vicarage of Rushen. Family matters. |
| AP_117_18 |
29.3.1816
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Bishop Murray to Duke The state of the country is such that there is no money in circulation and he cannot get his Tithes in. |
| AP_117_19 |
3.4.1816
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Bishop Murray to Duke He will come to London if needed,but not otherwise. |
| AP_117_20 |
3.5.1816
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Bishop Murray to Duke Three addresses of congratulation to the King on his marriage are being sent to the Duke as it is presumed that he being in London would prefer to present them in person rather than have a messenger from the Island do so. Financial matters in the Island continue bad,there being almost no circulating medium whatever and the issuers of card money, with the exception of Ed.Gawne, refusing to honour it. Would it be possible to obtain a silver currency for Insular use. Proposals have been made by the Lt.Gov for the formation of a National Bank but the writer feels that this,if done in the way proposed, will only make matters worse. Good exports of corn and herrings and a restriction of imports are,in his opinion, the only remedy. |
| AP_117_21 |
16.11.1816
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Bishop Murray to Duke Bishop Murray to Duke announces the arrival of a new Atorney-Gen. and an attempt to exclude the Vicars-Gen, from the Council. This was abandoned upon the Bishop threatening to refuse to sign the Acts if it was carried out, but he fears it will be renewed. He considers the move which originated with the new Attorney-General, to be part of a general plan to lessen the Duke's influence in the Island,it being supposed that the clerical members of Council would naturally support him. Reference is made to the activities of the Christians, Curwens and Col. Wilks etc. including Mr. Christrian Curwen who has been called to the Manx Bar and hopes to become a Deemster. |
| AP_117_22 |
22.11.1817
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Bishop Murray to Duke Bishopscourt not yet finished,but being improved by degrees. The Clerk of the Rolls and Gelling the attorney have made much trouble for him because he has refused to buy their Estate for the clergy,saying - amongst other falsehoods - that he rejected it because he wished to sell one of the Duke's instead. The claim of Bishop Crigan's family for dilapidations has been settled after he had threatened to appeal against a verdict given against him by a biassed Court. A "Society for defending the Rights of the People" has been formed,but he believes it to consist of the Secretary only - Kermode ? [?K Stowell] (This letter is incomplete,being one sheet only. N.M.) |
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Any comments, errors or omissions gratefully received
The Editor |
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