W. Clucas Kinley

William Clucas Kinley (1866–1920), Manx journalist and playwright.

William Clucas Kinley was born in 1866, the son of Robert Kinley, a tailor in Strand Street, Douglas, Isle of Man. He contributed humorous articles under the title 'Ingoldsby Up-to-date' to the weekly critical and satirical paper, The Manxman, which was published between 1895 and 1900. In 1914 when World War I began, he volunteered for war duty on a minesweeper but was turned down due to his suffering from chronic bronchitis. The play had earlier been submitted to the Manx Language Society competition organised by Sophia Morrison in 1913, but it was judged to come behind the plays of Christopher R. Shimmin and John Kneen, despite receiving special praise by Alfred Perceval Graves. The play, sub-titled ‘A Manx Domestic Comedy’, centres on the man Ellie Clague returns home to her highly traditional parents after some time staying with an aunt in the popular tourist destination of Douglas. It was produced on the Isle of Man in 1920, shortly after his death.