Captain of the Parish

Isle of Man
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of the Isle of Man
Lord of Mann HM Queen Elizabeth II Lieutenant Governor His Excellency Sir Richard Gozney Deputy Governor Until 31 July 2018: His Honour Deemster Doyle QC Successor: Andrew Corlett Isle of Man Government Council of Ministers Chief Minister Howard Quayle MHK Departments Statutory Boards Offices Other Agencies Tynwald Act of Tynwald List President of Tynwald The Hon. Steve Rodan MLC Legislative Council President The Hon. Steve Rodan MLC House of Keys Speaker The Hon. Juan Watterson SHK Members (MHKs) Officials of State Judiciary Local government Parish Captains Elections House of Keys elections Legislative Council elections Keys constituencies Political parties Last Keys election
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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 (e.g. Captain Charles Fargher). 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.^[1] 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.

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:

• Ramsey
• Douglas
• Castletown
• Peel

See also

• State Officials of the Isle of Man

References

External links

• Captains of the Parishes History of the Captains of the Parishes and details of the current Captains.