In a poll conducted by Isle of Man Newspapers in 2002 to name the ’greatest Manxman of all time’ Sir Charles Kerruish, Kt. OBE, C.P. came second by only one vote to the Manx National Poet T.E. Brown.

This is why I am marking the centenary of the man known generally as Charlie Kerruish, although not usually to his face. 

He was born on July 23, 1917, in Maughold into a farming family and educated at the Dhoon School and Ramsey Grammar School.

His family, members of whom I know well, have told me they will be celebrating the occasion in their own way privately and it is acknowledged by many that the definitive story of his life and times appears in ’New Manx Worthies’ published by the Manx Heritage Foundation in 2006.

But they have agreed that I should also write something as a journalist and close friend who knew Charlie Kerruish well in private and out of the public eye.

First I can say that his mother, Clara May Kerruish (nee Kewin), was perhaps the person who had the greatest influence on him throughout his early life and his later development as Manxman and politician.

I had no influence over him myself.

I couldn’t have.

But I think  I was a help professionally in his hopes and ambitions for the Isle of Man as a Manx patriot above all else. 

I believed in his causes and arguments.

For years he took a leading part in the long standing negotiations with the Home Office in London over constitutional development leading to us gaining the level of so-called ’Home Rule’ we have today.

In this I did my professional best to help him, admittedly knowing that Charlie, like any national leader, had plenty of enemies and detractors.

As a result I spent much private time with Charlie and downed quite a few drinks of good whisky with him at his home.

They were convivial times.

We had plenty of stories to tell each other which will not be retold by me today.

They happened when he was still President of Tynwald, the first Manxman to replace Lieutenant Governors in that role, and even more frequently after he had retired from Tynwald and had more time to himself. 

He always made it clear that the letters he had after his name which he valued the most were C.P. - Captain of the Parish of Maughold. 

But I never called him Charlie. It was always either Mr Speaker or Mr President.

I never put the matter to the test.

Heart problems led to his retirement in April 2000 and he died on July 23, 2003.

In the unlikely event of him becoming President of an independent Isle of Man or even the King it would have been worthwhile seeing him in action. 

We will not see his like again, not in the Isle of Man anyway.