Dalrymple Maitland
Epithet: MHK, SHK, CP, JP, mill owner, company director (1848-1919)
Record type: Biographies
Biography: From ‘New Manx Worthies’ (2006):
For the last ten years of his life Dalrymple Maitland was Speaker of the House of Keys. He was also chairman of the Isle of Man Bank, the Isle of Man Railway and the Isle of Man Steam Packet, the three major companies of the Island. This now almost forgotten figure, not born a Manxman, was very influential and widely respected.
The Maitland family was of Scottish descent. John Maitland, Dalrymple's father, was a journalist who was editor and proprietor of the Liverpool Mercury until his death in 1881. The Dalrymples, Maitland's Christian name being his mother's maiden name, were also Scottish. Maitland's maternal grandparents came to the Island in 1822 from Kilsyth near Glasgow. His grandfather, James Dalrymple (1777-1861), was by 1835 co-owner and later sole owner of the textile mill and corn mill which together formed the basis of the small community of Union Mills. James handed on the business to his son William Dalrymple (1815-1890), Maitland's uncle.
Maitland left his family home in Liverpool and came to the Island to live with his uncle when he was still a child. The Dalrymples and Maitlands were very close, and together formed a large extended family. In Union Mills Maitland Terrace, built for John Maitland in the 1840s, was next door to a similar terrace of four cottages belonging to William Dalrymple. The Maitland family had two sons and three daughters, but William Dalrymple had no son and heir. Moreover Agnes Maitland, Dalrymple's mother, died in 1858 and could have been ill for some years before that.
The young Dalrymple Maitland was educated at Dr Steel's Academy, otherwise known as the Crescent Academy, a private boys' school with a good reputation, on the seafront in Douglas. It is likely that he began to work in the family business in 1860, when he was twelve. He started at the bottom, and worked at the loom himself although he was the boss's nephew and heir apparent. He was a reserved and matter-of-fact young man who enjoyed the quiet routine of village life and did his work well.
He was a member of the Finch Hill Congregational Church in Douglas, of which his uncle laid the foundation stone in 1866, and he also supported the Dalrymple Memorial Chapel, built in 1863 in Union Mills in memory of his grandfather. In this as in other matters, he followed dutifully in the footsteps of his forebears.
In 1872, aged 24, Maitland took over from his uncle as head of the firm. In so doing, he became proprietor of the largest woollen mill in the Island, which he converted from water power to steam in 1875. He also took over from his uncle as postmaster at the Union Mills post office (1872-1888).
In 1879 he married Frances (usually known as Fanny), daughter of the late Charles Caley, a Douglas merchant. Unusually, the wedding took place by special licence at a private house, probably the Caleys' home, with the Vicar of Braddan officiating. Perhaps Fanny was in poor health.
Evidently Maitland made a success of his business, for in 1887, at the relatively tender age of 39, he could afford to sell the mills to a new owner and retire into private life as a gentleman living on unearned income. This retirement was to be short-lived. In 1890 William Dalrymple died, and Maitland stepped into the breach to continue the family tradition of public service. His uncle had been an MHK for Middle since the first elections for the House of Keys in 1867 and, almost as a matter of course, Maitland was nominated to succeed his uncle and elected unopposed. He also replaced his uncle as a director on the boards of both the Isle of Man Bank and the Steam Packet Company.
In April 1891 Fanny gave birth to a son, John, but just over two weeks later she died. Flags on vessels of the Steam Packet fleet flew at half mast to mark this sad event. At 43, Dalrymple Maitland became both a widower and a father. For the rest of his life he relied on a niece, Mary Woodhead, to run his house-hold at Brook Moar and care for his son.
In the years that followed, Maitland took on ever greater responsibilities in public life. In 1892 he became a JP. In 1894 his fellow directors promoted him to be chairman of the Isle of Man Bank. In 1899 he was asked to become a director of the Isle of Man Railway Company, in succession to the late Sir John Goldie-Taubman. In 1900 he was elected as chairman of the Steam Packet Company, and in 1907 as chairman of the Isle of Man Railway. In 1909, after the death of Arthur William Moore, his colleague as MHK for Middle, he replaced Moore both as Speaker of the House of Keys and Captain of the Parish of Marown.
As an MHK he was not a notable orator, but usually spoke briefly and to the point. Nor was he an ambitious politician, eager to make his mark; he was, rather, doing what he saw as his duty. His politics were on the whole left of centre, and he was a member of the National Liberal Club in London. He supported the introduction of income tax, old age pensions, workmen's compensation and the widening of the suffrage. He appeared on the platform at the inaugural meeting of Samuel Norris's Manx National Reform League in 1903, and gave evidence on constitutional reform to the Macdonnell Commission of 1911. His reforming views were tempered by a moderate, conciliatory disposition and a dislike of extremism.
For many years Dalrymple Maitland was chairman of the Asylum Board and a member of the Local Government Board. Initially reluctant to assume the position of Speaker, he was persuaded by the unanimous support of his colleagues in the Keys. As Speaker he was an impartial chairman, courteous to all, but when necessary a staunch defender of the House of Keys against the Legislative Council, the Governor or the British government.
The same qualities, and a talent for chairmanship and administration, facilitated his success in his business career. He was generally appreciated as reliable, cautious, and a man of integrity, and he earned the respect and confidence of his colleagues. In addition to his Manx directorships he was, in succession to his father, a director of the Liverpool Post and Mercury for many years.
Maitland was also involved in charitable and cultural activities. He built the Memorial Hall at Union Mills, he was one of the founders of the Isle of Man Children's Home, a co-opted member of the Henry Bloom Noble Trust, and the last surviving trustee of the will of Pierre Henri Joseph Baume. In this latter capacity he was responsible, in 1918, for purchasing 58 pictures by John Miller Nicholson which became the basis of the national art collection now held by Manx National Heritage.
Despite, or perhaps because of, all his public activities, it was said that Maitland liked nothing better than to be by his own fireside with a book and a pipe. But he was not to enjoy a contented old age. In February 1916 his beloved son Jack, aged 24, lieutenant J.D. Maitland, BA', was killed fighting on the Western Front near Ypres, a loss from which his father never recovered.
Nevertheless, Maitland persevered with his public activities. At the end of February 1919 he chaired an especially heated and divisive annual general meeting of the Steam Packet Company, which lasted two days. A sizeable number of the shareholders, led by the vice-chairman, wanted to sell the company and make a quick profit. Maitland led the resistance to this and was victorious, but was put under great strain. Early in March he took to his bed with acute bronchitis, developed pneumonia, and died after three weeks' illness.
The large frame and luxuriant beard to be seen in pictures of Dalrymple Maitland concealed a natural reserve and shyness. This unassuming and friendly man achieved his prominent position not by ruthless ambition but by conscientiously doing his duty as the third generation of a dynasty of public-spirited Nonconformist businessmen.
He left an estate of £14,000, largely in the form of a family trust for the benefit of his nieces. On the day of his funeral shops and offices in Douglas were closed between 10 and 2. The procession was half a mile long, and after the service at Finch Hill Church he was buried in Braddan Cemetery alongside his wife.
Biography written by Robert Fyson.
(With thanks to Culture Vannin as publishers of the book: Kelly, Dollin (general editor), ‘New Manx Worthies’, Manx Heritage Foundation/Culture Vannin, 2006, pp.293-5.)
Culture Vannin
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Gender: Male
Date of birth: 2 March 1848
Date of death: 25 March 1919