Bertram George Kelly (4 January 1884 – 1976) was born in

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals * Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking * Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil ...

, on the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

, and is credited with bringing

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

to the Island.

Early life

Bertram Kelly was born into a Manx seafaring family on 4 January 1884. His mother was Margaret Quirk and his father was Captain James Kelly. Captain Kelly was a

master mariner A master mariner is a licensed mariner who holds the highest grade of licensed seafarer qualification; namely, a master's license. A master mariner is therefore allowed to serve as the captain (nautical), master of a merchant ship for which natio ...

who changed careers later in life to become manager of

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in south-eastern Essex, England. It lies on the nor ...

Pier, Pavilion and Electric Tramways in 1887. Following this appointment, Captain Kelly moved his family to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Bertram Kelly was educated at

Southend High School for Boys Southend High School for Boys, also known by its initialism SHSB, is an 11–18 boys selective secondary Grammar schools in the United Kingdom, grammar school situated along Prittlewell Chase in Prittlewell, in the north-west of Southend-on-Sea, ...

and Walton College before studying electrical engineering at the Royal Technical College,

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. After finishing his education, Kelly took up electric lighting posts with

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 in rail transport, 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had ...

London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...

and

Hornsey Hornsey () is a district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Haringey. It is an inner-suburban, for the most part residential, area centred north of Charing Cross. It adjoins green spaces Queen's Wood to the west and Alexand ...

Borough Council. While in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, he was an active member of the London Manx Society.

Bringing electric light to the Isle of Man

Bertram Kelly returned to the

in 1920, where he was appointed chief assistant engineer to the

Manx Electric Railway The Manx Electric Railway ( Manx: ''Raad Yiarn Lectragh Vannin'') is an electric interurban tramway connecting Douglas, Laxey and Ramsey in the Isle of Man. It connects with the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway at its southern terminus at Derby Cas ...

. Two years later, in 1922, he was appointed as the first

Borough Electrical Engineer – the year the ''Douglas Corporation Light and Power Act'' completed its passage through

Tynwald Tynwald (), or more formally, the High Court of Tynwald () or Tynwald Court, is the legislature of the Isle of Man. It consists of two chambers, known as the branches of Tynwald: the directly elected House of Keys and the indirectly chosen Leg ...

. This enabled him to supervise the building of the North Quay power station.

Church career

After retiring from the technical environment of Douglas Corporation Electricity Department, Kelly sought out a second career – this time in the church. After being ordained in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

, he became

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

of Kirk

Braddan Braddan () is one of the seventeen parishes of the Isle of Man. It is located on the east of the island (part of the traditional ''South Side'' division) in the sheading of Middle. Administratively, a small part of the historic parish of Bra ...

, on the Isle of Man, in 1950. He served the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

for the next 14 years, until he retired for the second time in 1964. Part of his duties involved taking the open air church services outside Kirk Braddan each Sunday during the summer, a task he adored.

Personal life

Bertram Kelly married Douglas-born Daisy Christian at Dhoon Church, near

Laxey Laxey () is a village on the east coast of the Isle of Man. Its name derives from the Old Norse ''Laxa'' meaning 'Salmon River'. Its key distinguishing features are its three working vintage railways and the largest working waterwheel in the wo ...

, in 1911. The marriage produced three daughters, twins Sybil Marjorie and Joan Christian in 1912 and Monica Joyce in 1917. He died in 1976, at the age of 92.

References

External links

Details of the birth of Bertram George Kelly

Details of Kelly's career on the MEA website

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20061027142645/http://www.southend.gov.uk/content.asp?section=583&content=5652 The history of Southend-on-Sea pier {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Bertram Manx people 1884 births 1976 deaths People educated at Southend High School for Boys People from Douglas, Isle of Man