Captain of the Parish


The Captain of the Parish is an official in each parish in the Isle of Man—formerly the title was Captain of the Parish Militia, but it is now only a titular honour. Historically the Captain of the Parish was authorised to raise his own militia in his parish and had the duty to light beacons informing the parish of an invasion.
A Captain of the Parish is referred to by the prenominal title Captain. A person may hold the Captaincy of more than one parish at any one time. The title is held until death, unless it is removed for bad conduct, which has not occurred for many centuries.
One remaining function of the Captain of the Parish is in connection with requisition meetings during Keys elections. A requisition meeting can be held following the close of nominations, provided a formal request is made in writing by registered electors to the Captain of the Parish or the local authority, who will then invite all candidates to address the voters at a requisition meeting and answer their questions. This is now somewhat more complicated as a number of the new Keys constituency boundaries do not coincide with the boundaries of the traditional parishes, and there was some debate, during the oral evidence to the Select Committee of Tynwald on the Organisation and Operation of the General Election 2016, about the role of the Captains of Parishes in connection with calling these meetings.
ParishCaptain
Andreas ParishDorothy Sayle
Arbory ParishRaymond Gawne
Ballaugh ParishEdgar Cowin
Braddan ParishPhilip Caley
Bride ParishWilliam Christian
German ParishAllen Corlett
Jurby ParishJohn Quayle
Lezayre ParishDennis Duggan
Lonan ParishJack Faragher
Malew ParishRoy Gelling
Marown ParishCharles Fargher MBE JP
Maughold ParishClare Christian
Michael DistrictJohn Cannell
Onchan DistrictPeter Kelly MBE
Patrick ParishPatricia Costain JP
Rushen ParishStanley Clucas
Santon ParishDonald Gelling CBE

Although Onchan and Michael are now Districts for local authority purposes, the districts are also ancient parishes and so they still have Captains of the Parish.
The equivalent title for towns is Captain of the Town; however this title is no longer used. The town areas of the Isle of Man are: