Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Christian, Thomas

1359658Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 10 — Christian, Thomas1887Henry Bradley

CHRISTIAN, THOMAS (d. 1799), Manx writer, was the son of the Rev. John Christian, vicar of Kirk Marown in the Isle of Man. He succeeded his father in 1779. In 1796 he published at Douglas a translation of about four thousand lines of ‘Paradise Lost’ into Manx, which was reprinted by the Manx Society in vol. xx. of their publications. The work has no great merit, but is of some value to students of the language. Christian is said to have been ‘chiefly distinguished for his utter unfitness for the clerical office in every respect,' but he inherited the property of Ballakilley and Ballayemmy in the parish of Marown, and was appointed to the living through family influence. He died in 1795.

[Information supplied by Mr. A. W. Moore; Manx Soc. Pub. vol. xx.]

H. B.