Louis Ronald Cretney was a former Minister in the

Isle of Man Government The Isle of Man Government ( gv, Reiltys Ellan Vannin) is the government of the Isle of Man. The formal head of the Isle of Man Government is the Lieutenant Governor, the personal representative of Charles III. The executive head is the Chief Mi ...

. Ron Cretney was born in Douglas and educated in Hanover Street School and Douglas High School before leaving the Island to train as a teacher at the

Chester Diocesan Training College Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

. He served in the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

from 1942 to 1946 and saw duty in both

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

and

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

. On coming back from army service Ron returned to the classroom and following a few years teaching on the Wirral came back to the Isle of Man to teach in

Rushen Rushen ( ; gv, Rosien), formally Kirk Christ Rushen, is one of the seventeen historic parishes of the Isle of Man. It is located in the south of the island (part of the traditional ''South Side'' division) in the sheading of the same name. A ...

Ballaugh Ballaugh ( ; , ) is a small village on the Isle of Man in the parish of the same name, in the sheading of Michael. It is the only village in the parish. The parish adjoins Jurby to the north, Lezayre to the east, Michael to the south and sout ...

, Willaston and

Onchan Onchan (; glv, Kione Droghad) is a village in the parish of Onchan on the Isle of Man. It is at the north end of Douglas Bay. Administratively a district, it has the second largest population of settlements on the island, after Douglas, with w ...

primary schools, retiring as a headmaster. Ron was elected to Onchan Village Commissioners in 1977, serving as their chairman in 1983. He was elected to the

House of Keys The House of Keys () is the directly elected lower house of Tynwald, the parliament of the Isle of Man, the other branch being the Legislative Council. History The oldest known reference to the name is in a document of 1417, written in ...

for

in the 1988 By Election, beating political heavyweight

Edgar Mann Lieutenant Colonel Dr Edgar John Mann MB (24 June 1926 – 21 June 2013) was a British politician, and Chairman of the Executive Council of the Isle of Man, the then head of the island's Government. Early life and career Born on 24 June ...

and became Minister of Education in 1990, serving until 1991, when he retired from

Tynwald Tynwald ( gv, Tinvaal), or more formally, the High Court of Tynwald ( gv, Ard-whaiyl Tinvaal) 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 ...

. He was a member of the Onchan Youth Club Management Committee, chaired the Onchan Silver Band and St George's AFC. He died in 2002.

Governmental positions

* Minister of Education, 1990-1991 Manx politicians 2002 deaths Year of birth missing {{IsleofMan-politician-stub