A chance find of an old photograph, taken more than 100 years ago on Ramsey harbour, has led to the uncovering of a character who led a life of a genuine cad.

Ramsey historian John Cannan has released his book ‘The Manx Cad: the remarkable story of Alfred Curphey, Squire of Ballamoar’, through Loaghtan books.

It tells the quite extraordinary tale of Alfred Curphy, a man with Manx ancestory who appeared in the Isle of Man at the start of the twentieth century.

Apparently flushed with cash and very much the rich ‘bon vivant’, Alfred brought up an estate near Jurby and built the stately Ballamooar Castle.

However, if you scratched below the surface, as John did, you would find the most incredible life of a serial philanderer, failed businessman and all-round cad.

John, who once ran the Ramsey Heritage Centre, at Quayle’s Hall, was moved to investigate the life of Alfred when he found a curious photograph in the Midwood photographic collection.

The image showed a fine-looking Edwardian gentleman, sat behind the wheel of a racy car, with a fez-wearing Eygptian gentleman sat beside him.

It was enough to pique John’s interest and he soon found that one amazing discovery led to another.

‘Alfred appeared in the Isle of Man in the very early years of the last century and was quite well-off,’ said John.

‘His grand father was Manx, but had left the island when he was young, but he did have the family connection.

‘It turned out that Alfred’s fortune came from a payment of £20,000 which, in today’s money, would be worth well over £1,000,000, which was paid to him when he lived in America.

‘It was given to him by one Andrew Mellon, to get him to stop his affair with his wife, Nora.

‘Mellon went on to become the Secretary of State for the US Government.

‘He built Ballamooar with it and also went to Eygpt to invest in a shipping line.

‘However, the investment didn’t work out and the company failed, leaving him bankrupt. He actually left the island in 1908.’

Alfred actually returned to America, where he picked up his affair with Nora, which ended the Mellon marriage amidst a scandalous divorce.

He went on to marry twice, get divorced twice, get made bankrupt again and secure more money from illicit affairs, enabling him to live quite a grand life on ill-gotten gains.

His life took a more colourful turn when he fled from America to Mexico, where he ended up spying on behalf of British intelligence, before being forced to make a quick return to the UK.

He even fell back on his Manx heritage to enlist with the Scots guards during the first world war, before spending his time in a military hospital.

‘It really does sound like the life of a real-life Flashman (a Victorian rogue fictionalised by author George McDonald Fraser) and it is quite an astonishing story of someone who led a fascinating life,’ said John.

‘I used to give talks on characters at the centre and people would tell me to write a book about him. And when I looked into it, the more I found out, the more I wanted to find out more.’

‘The Manx Cad’ is available through many island bookshops, priced £8.95.

More information is available from loaghtanbooks.com