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Trust to recognise a great Manxman

Roy Moore, Tim Rattray, managing director Rossborough Insurance IoM and Robert Stimpson

Island firm boosts memorial fund

An appeal to create a permanent memorial at the grave of a revered 19th century Manxman has been given a boost.

Explorer, engineer, inventor, campaigner and poet William Kennish was born in Maughold in 1799, and went on to lead an extraordinary life which saw him travel the globe.

Mapping a route for the Panama Canal, improving the accuracy of naval artillery and campaigning for safer Manx harbours were among his achievements. 

He emigrated to America and was laid to rest at a cemetery in New York - but his grave is unmarked.

An appeal to raise £5000 for a Manx granite headstone has now won backing from Island insurance firm Rossborough.

It's set up a trustee liability policy to help the William Kennish Trust pursue its target, the 155th anniversary of his death in March 2017. 

In the Island, he is honoured with a plaque in Maughold while an engineering training centre at University College in Douglas is named after him. 

The trust is led by Roy Moore, a direct descendant of the Kennish family and Kennish biographer Robert Stimpson:

 

 

 

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