Dr Robert Fyson, author of The Struggle for Manx Democracy, has died at the age of 83.

A former senior lecturer in History at the University of Staffordshire, Dr Fyson took early retirement in 1992 in order to be able to spend more time with his partner, local journalist Valerie Cottle, in the Isle of Man.

He continued to maintain a base in Newcastle-under-Lyme, where his expertise in Labour history earned him the title of ‘Mr Chartism’- the subject of his Ph.D. thesis - while at the same time making major contributions to Manx historical research.

Culture Vannin director Dr Breesha Maddrell said: ‘Robert was a wonderful scholar of Manx history, someone who helped us to understand so much of the island, most notably in relation to the campaign for popular elections, and the fight for votes for women.

‘Robert’s generosity and academic brilliance will be sorely missed.’

Dr Fyson wrote the ‘Labour History’ chapter for Vol. V. of A New History of the Isle of Man (2006) and 15 entries, mostly on working class subjects and Manx Labour Party pioneers, in New Manx Worthies (2006).

The original Manx Worthies had been published by A.W. Moore, Speaker of the House of Keys, in 1901.

Dr Fyson published a biography of Moore, The Anglo-Manxman, in 2011, but his most important publication was The Struggle for Manx Democracy in 2016, with its central focus on James Brown, proprietor and editor of the Isle of Man Times from 1861-1877. Brown was the direct descendant of an African slave freed in the United States, and did much to advance the cause of universal – and in particular women’s – suffrage in the Isle of Man.

The island granted property-owning women the right to vote in House of Keys elections in 1881, nearly four decades ahead of the UK which only allowed women to vote in parliamentary elections for the first time in 1918.

Over the course of three decades Dr Fyson also contributed papers to the Isle of Man Natural History and Antiquarian Society and the Isle of Man Victorian Society.

He became a full-time island resident in 2018.

He leaves his partner Valerie and her daughter Anna, four children and two grandchildren, all of whom live in England.

Valerie Cottle can be contacted at 2 Willow Court, Willow Terrace, Douglas, IM1 3HA.