George Quarrie 1846-1926

Born at Ballavair, Kirk Bride, 8th child of John Quarrie & Mary Hardie. In 1881 found as a General Commision agent in Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire, married to Margaret (from Barrow) some 10 years his junior; emigrated to USA in 1880's and worked as a journalist in New York for about forty years. Wrote many poems and short prose works in dialect - W. W Gill in his introductory section of Manx Dialect describes them as "Though of small literary worth, as a record of the dialect they are extremely valuable" - most of these reflect his youth in Kirk Bride in the 1860's. Hall Caine plagarised his story about The Melliah for the harvest scene in The Manxman.

Obituary in Isle of Man Examiner 6th Aug. 1926.

Published Works

[mostly taken from pp872/3 Bibliography]

The Melliah, Boh ! Vel shin thiggal shen? and A Beeg Dinner wis' Scotch Peeble, exthronnary Mate, etc., with simple phonetic spelling of Lingo, etc., throughout.
Barrow : Carruthers Bros. N.D. [1880] pp. 12. 4to.

The Melliah. London : Jefferson's Almanack office. 1883. pp. 16. 153x87.

The author explains that the piece was written as a Christmas card for his mother and intended only for her and a few other indulgent eyes. Another edition was published in 1889.

The Melliah : a description of the Manx Harvesting Customs. By George Quarrie, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A. Manx Sun. Unpaged. [24 pp.] N.D.. [1889]

"There were only few of these printed, and the booklet is very rare. One of the purposes of this edition is to claim that Sir Hall Caine 'had used his description of the Melliah, not only the local colouring, but a garbled transcript of the story.' The author makes a frank statement as to his relations with Sir Hall Caine. He gives good reasons for his conclusions ; and, finally, gives 5 pp. of extracts from his sketch 'The Melliah,' and compares them with relative extracts from 'The Manxman.'
The last 3 pp. of the booklet are given to a poem entitled 'Ahdullah and Omdurman.'" - Cubon

Ned Kerruish : A legend of Maughold Head. By George Quarrie, U.S.A. Manx Sun office. N.D.. [c. 1894] pp 8. 200x128. 2d. (reprinted from the Manx Sun.)

Old Coaching Days in the Isle of Man. The origin of the Manx Exclamation 'Hi Kelly' by George Quarrie, 2270 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, New York USA Manx Sun Office ND [c.1894] pp 8 200x128

Johnnie Dunn and the Dublin Fusiliers The Manxman 5 May 1900

On Reading the Ramsey Courier Manx Quarterly pp137 #14 1914

Nell a'Vris Manx Quarterly pp 106 #17 1916

Glewn Nee-a-Nee I. M Examiner 1917

How to make the Land yield Richer Harvests Manx Quarterly pp5/19 #18 1917

Juan a'Beth Manx Quarterly pp104 #18 1917

Letter to Mannin #7 1917

The First Reaping Machine in Mona and the passing of the Sickle Manx Quarterly pp172/175 #19 1918

A War Rubaiyat Manx Quarterly pp361 #20 1919

Old Times at 'The Church-up' at Kirk Bride Manx Quarterly pp 175/177 #22 1920

A Place to Remember Manx Quarterly p33 #24 1921

When the Tide is Coming in Manx Quarterly p36 #24 1921

The Sheeja Manx Quarterly p90 #25 1921

The Dog Mill Shore Manx Quarterly pp168/9 #26 1921

Tittlewhack Manx Quarterly pp184/185 #26 1921

Non Manx

Within a Jersey Circle: Tales of the Past by George Quarrie, Union-Gazzette Associate, Somerville NJ, 1910

Biographical

The “Mheillea” and its Meaning. A note on the harvest in olden times in the Isle of Man and other Celtic counties. [With a list of the writings of George Quarrie. - actually taken direct from Cubbon]
Arthur Stanley DAVIES.
pp. 28. A. Stanley Davies: Iver Heath, 1949. 4o.