Appeal to find descendants of man who inspired Port Erin tower

Milner's Tower was built in 1871 in recognition of the village's benefactor

An appeal to find the descendants of the man who inspired a landmark tower in the south of the Isle of Man has been launched.

This year marks 150 years since the construction of Milner's Tower in Port Erin, built to celebrate the "godfather of Port Erin" William Milner.

After moving to the island in 1860, the world-renowned safe maker became a major benefactor of the village.

Rushen Heritage Trust (RHT) now wants to track down his remaining relatives.

Before his death in 1874, Mr Milner had become a key figure in the southern village by building cottages to house poor fisherman, constructing the village's first major hotel and contributing to the building of a breakwater.

The tower, which stands on Bradda Head, was commissioned by the people of the area three year's earlier in tribute to him.

The tower was added to the island's Protected Buildings Register in July

RHT director Hugh Davidson said the tower had "stood guard over the beautiful Port Erin Bay" for a century and a half, and it was right to commemorate "the man whose philanthropy the tower was built to recognise".

A series of events is being held, including the unveiling a commemorative plaque and an exhibition about the "man behind the tower" later this month, alongside an appeal for information about Mr Milner's descendents.

Born in Sheffield in 1804, he moved to Liverpool in 1830 and married Jane Watson five years later.

Their daughter Jane was born in 1840 and later married her father's foreman, Daniel Ratcliff, but little more is known about the family after that point.

Coordinator John Quirk said the trust also had a photograph taken Port Erin in the 1980s of Colonel Selby Milner, believed to be the great nephew of Mr Milner, and records relating to his son, David Selby Milner, who was born in 1937.