John Christian

• Burke, Bernard, Sir. A genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry of Great Britain & Ireland 6th ed. London : Harrison 1879. Vol I. page 310

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Christian_(Deemster)

John Christian JP (12 July 1776 – 27 February 1852) was a First Deemster of the Isle of Man.

Christian was born in Castletown in 1776. He was educated at Eton and St. John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. as 8th Wrangler in 1798 and graduated MA in 1801.[1] Admitted to Lincoln's Inn on 23 January 1798, he was registered as a Barrister-at-Law in 1803. He then lived in Somerset and was a JP for that region. He was married in 1807. In 1823 Christian was appointed First Deemster and moved back to the Island, living in Douglas at Fort Anne. His son was the Rev.William Bell Christian [2] the last self-elected Member of the House of Keys and first elected member for Ramsey. Christian died in 1852 at his ancestral home in Lezayre.[3]

he Christian Family

It is assumed that the Christian Family is descended from a Christian convert of Scandinavian origin. Family tradition has it that they were descendants of Gillochrist, the 11th century associate of the Viking King, Godred Crovan, as mentioned in the Chronicles of the Kings Man and the Isles. With the original surname McCrysten, the Christian family attained an important position in the Isle of Man at an early date. John McCrysten is the first for whom there is any historical record. He was a Deemster in 1408 and a Member of the Tynwald Court in 1422. During the fifteenth century the family seat was at Altadale (Glen Auldyn). John McCrysten III was also Deemster from 1511-1535. He acquired the property adjoining Altadale and called the whole Milntown.

The Christian family held positions of power and influence for the next 400 years. Prior to the English Civil War, they reached their highest position when William Christian (popularly known as Illiam Dhone) was Governor General. The Restoration, however, brought retribution with his execution for treason in 1663. By that time the family had also acquired Ewanrigg Hall in Cumbria and for the next 150 years they lived there and leased Milntown to tenants. Marrying into the Curwen Family of Workington Hall their fortunes were once again in the ascendency and John Christian Curwen was the only person ever to have been both an MP in the House of Commons and a Member of the Isle of Man’s House of Keys. It was also during this time that Fletcher Christian, a member of one of the branches of the family, reached notoriety as the head of the mutineers on HMS Bounty.

The family returned to enlarge and refurbish Milntown in 1830. William Bell Christian was the last to own Milntown but sadly was bankrupt on his death in 1886. His widow, son and two daughters rented the estate from the administrators and his son Edward was the last Christian to die at Milntown in 1915.

https://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/john-christian-24-33q2bb1

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