Onchan District Commissioners
Coutts Bank
The mature trees surrounding this property owe their existence to the house that once stood on this site.
A house was built on a plot originally purchased by William and Isabella Cross from Robert Banks, owner of the Howstrake and Ballachurry Farms in 1811 for £10.
The house was built close to the new road (Governors Road) and had its entrance in the side gable.
The garden was extended by further purchases of land in 1835, 1886 and 1888 until it formed a large space with central lawn, a kitchen garden adjoining the side of Skillicorns Cottages (38 – 42 Governors Road) and the Primitive Methodist Chapel.
The boundary wall to Summerhill Road was built in stone with a castlelated top whilst the cast iron entrance gates were set within gate pillars and curved walls that were rendered and painted. One pillar still remains on the downside of the present entrance but it is partially hidden by bushes.
The house was called “Ballacurrie House” and occupied in the late 1890s by Frederick George Callow and his wife the former Miss Travis. He was brought up in Hawthorn Villa, the home of his widowed mother and previously that of his grandmother Mrs Chubb (see Tour No 1). His father was Samuel Shallcross Callow who drowned on a fishing trip one night in August 1871 whilst in a rowing boat with friends setting out from Onchan Harbour and being found the next morning on Groudle beach.
Frederick was to inherit the huge Howstrake Estate but in the meantime it was held by Trustees, one of whom was to become his father-in-law. When he married, in October 1894 the people of Onchan strung a banner across the road at The Butt between the top two houses to wish happiness to the couple. He was educated at King William’s College, trained and qualified as a advocate (1889), became the first chairman of Onchan Parish (1894) and then Onchan Village Commissioners (1895) and was the elected to the House of Keys to represent Middle in 1898.
Such was the jubilation of his success that when he returned from the poll count in Douglas the locals unhitched his horse from his carriage which they pulled through the village and back again to his house. Life however was not to be rosy for much longer. The crash of Dumbell’s Bank in February 1900 affected many but F.G. Callow in a large way because of the involvement of the company developing the Howstrake Farm with the bank and also because of his involvement with other related ventures.
So ashamed was he of the situation that he immediately resigned from the commissioners, the House of Keys and all his other commitments and then left the island.
In England he found employment as the Secretary of a golf club perhaps through his previous involvement as Captain of the Howstrake Golf Club in Onchan.
He returned to the island in 1927 a broken man in ill health. He died on 5th January 1929 in a small terraced house in Dukes Road, Douglas.
Ballacurrie House was demolished in 1989 and this large office block was built to the designs of The Ellis Brown Partnership of Douglas. The rustic brick building being set more or less in the position of the former lawn.
Part of the bluebell woods disappeared to make way for car parking.
Coutts Bank
The mature trees surrounding this property owe their existence to the house that once stood on this site.
A house was built on a plot originally purchased by William and Isabella Cross from Robert Banks, owner of the Howstrake and Ballachurry Farms in 1811 for £10.
The house was built close to the new road (Governors Road) and had its entrance in the side gable.
The garden was extended by further purchases of land in 1835, 1886 and 1888 until it formed a large space with central lawn, a kitchen garden adjoining the side of Skillicorns Cottages (38 – 42 Governors Road) and the Primitive Methodist Chapel.
The boundary wall to Summerhill Road was built in stone with a castlelated top whilst the cast iron entrance gates were set within gate pillars and curved walls that were rendered and painted. One pillar still remains on the downside of the present entrance but it is partially hidden by bushes.
The house was called “Ballacurrie House” and occupied in the late 1890s by Frederick George Callow and his wife the former Miss Travis. He was brought up in Hawthorn Villa, the home of his widowed mother and previously that of his grandmother Mrs Chubb (see Tour No 1). His father was Samuel Shallcross Callow who drowned on a fishing trip one night in August 1871 whilst in a rowing boat with friends setting out from Onchan Harbour and being found the next morning on Groudle beach.
Frederick was to inherit the huge Howstrake Estate but in the meantime it was held by Trustees, one of whom was to become his father-in-law. When he married, in October 1894 the people of Onchan strung a banner across the road at The Butt between the top two houses to wish happiness to the couple. He was educated at King William’s College, trained and qualified as a advocate (1889), became the first chairman of Onchan Parish (1894) and then Onchan Village Commissioners (1895) and was the elected to the House of Keys to represent Middle in 1898.
Such was the jubilation of his success that when he returned from the poll count in Douglas the locals unhitched his horse from his carriage which they pulled through the village and back again to his house. Life however was not to be rosy for much longer. The crash of Dumbell’s Bank in February 1900 affected many but F.G. Callow in a large way because of the involvement of the company developing the Howstrake Farm with the bank and also because of his involvement with other related ventures.
So ashamed was he of the situation that he immediately resigned from the commissioners, the House of Keys and all his other commitments and then left the island.
In England he found employment as the Secretary of a golf club perhaps through his previous involvement as Captain of the Howstrake Golf Club in Onchan.
He returned to the island in 1927 a broken man in ill health. He died on 5th January 1929 in a small terraced house in Dukes Road, Douglas.
Ballacurrie House was demolished in 1989 and this large office block was built to the designs of The Ellis Brown Partnership of Douglas. The rustic brick building being set more or less in the position of the former lawn.
Part of the bluebell woods disappeared to make way for car parking.