Ramsey Harbour
sunshineramsey71
A report in a London newspaper, ‘The Herald,’ refers to Mr Frederick Whelen , a key speaker for the League of Nations Union (LNU), visiting Ramsey on the Isle of Man in March 1924. Whelen had been engaged to address a meeting. Although the purpose of the meeting is not known, it is presumed that he was speaking on the League of Nations. The report focuses on a question raised by a member of the audience, who asked ‘Should the Isle of Man join the League of Nations?’ Mr Whelen’s reply was that ‘it rested with the Manx Legislature.’ (1)
Prior to October 1950, The Isle of Man, a Crown Dependency, was considered to be part of the metropolitan territory of the United Kingdom for purposes of international law. As such, whenever the UK signed, ratified, acceded to or approved an international treaty, that automatically applied to the Isle of Man. As the UK signed up to the Covenant establishing the League of Nations the Isle of Man was included within the UK’s membership of the League. (2)
References/Further Reading:
(1) The Daily Herald, 31 Mar 1924.
(2) I am indebted to the Crown and External Relations Directorate of the Isle of Man Government for providing this information by email correspondence.