Historical records of the Isle of Man Municipal Association

The deposit includes minute books 1903-1984, attendance registers 1947-1974, a letter book 1912-1926, a pamphlet report of the 88th General and Annual Meeting held in 1938 and one sheet of newspaper relating to another undated Annual Meeting report.

In 1903 all of the municipal bodies throughout the Isle of Man joined together to form the Isle of Man Municipal Association. The benefit of having several municipal bodies allows the Manx people to be represented at local self-governing level and it provides the community with essential support such as social and environmental services. The Association was created to empower elected Town and Village Commissioners, educating them about the varying duties of their office and encouraging the exchanges of ideas for improvement in the varying self-governing jurisdictions. As such it emphasised the responsibilities of office holders to provide services, improve and amend legislation and perform to a high standard. The Association was managed by an Executive Committee consisting of one representative from each affiliated authority, a President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary and auditors. Each post was elected and held for 12 months. The objectives of the Association were and remain:

• To give Manx local authorities an opportunity to express their opinions and take action when required.
• To petition or make other representations to the Tynwald Court, the Legislative Council, the House of Keys, the Local Government Board or any other body, on matters relating to the duties, powers and interests of the local authorities, or on any question of public interest.
• To monitor and to take necessary action in relation to any proposed Bills, Orders and legislation with which the Association did not agree.

To this day the Association is active, retaining the principle aim of benefiting the residents of the Isle of Man by working together and sharing ideas, strategies and resources where possible. By addressing economic, political, environmental and social problems the Association continues to raise a greater awareness of issues prior to major decisions being made, thus giving the people a say in important matters.

No regulations or restrictions are implemented on this material.

Advance notification of a research visit is advisable by emailing library@mnh.gov.im

The biographical information was gathered from the Isle of Man Municipal web site http://iommunicipal.com/ and the Manx newspaper Mona's Herald (29 January 1903). Isle of Man newspapers available online at http://www.newspapers.gov.im/Default/Skins/IOMDemo/Client.asp?skin=IOMDemo&enter=true&AppName=2.

Fonds-level description created by Eleanor Williams (MNH Project Archivist), September 2015.