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Graham Smith
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Graham Mumby-Croft


Obituary - Tom Rielly

Colleagues will be sad to hear of the death of Tom Rielly in December 2018 in Hospice Isle of Man. I was able to speak to him in Nobles Hospital a week or two before his death and he retained his sense of humour and interest in life to the end. Tom’s funeral took place in January on Island and his ashes have been scattered both on Island and in his native Scotland. His wife predeceased him- he leaves a son and daughter.

I first met Tom when he worked for me as part of the Central (P6) Manpower Team from 1974. Tom had also been a Royal Marine and worked for British Rail before joining the Prison Service as a mature entrant in the sixties. He applied to join the Manpower teams in 1972- the incentive was temporary promotion to Principal Officer.

In 1976, the Isle of Man Government advertised the job of Chief Goaler at the Isle Man prison which was situated in Victoria Road Douglas overlooking Douglas Bay. I drew Tom’s attention to the advert, he applied and was appointed. He Governed the Isle of Man Prison for more than 10 years and stayed on the Island throughout his retirement. The next appointee to the prison was formally graded as Governor Grade Three.

The title ‘Chief Goaler’ came about because of a disturbance at the Island ‘s prison around 1965. Hugh Kenyon -who had strong Manx connections – but was then on the Prisons Board – was asked to conduct a review of the prison and recommended sending a more senior member of the English service – a Chief Officer – across to run the establishment. The existing person in charge in 1965 was known as the ‘Gaoler’ – so the new post was entitled ‘Chief Goaler’ of the Isle of Man prison.

I was delighted that Tom was appointed and he did a good job in an old quite inadequate Victorian Prison – built for 30 – expanded a little on a very constrained site – but having to hold 80 for over a decade. Tom encouraged a good deal of community work, for example, prisoners played an important part working at the three annual Manx Agricultural shows. He had a thriving garden section – winning lots of local prizes, and he allowed selected prisoners to assist farmers with the harvest. Being a local prison, Victoria Road housed young offenders and female prisoners as well as adult males.

Tom had a great sense of humour – much needed when the Manpower team was examining the curious staffing arrangements at some establishments in 1974-75 – and he kept his sense of humour and a balancing sense of perspective as he ran the Manx Prison. It was quite a testing job as there was no expertise in prison management other than Tom. The prison was not subject to Inspection so it was quite a lonely post with minimal support. There were some quite difficult prisoners to deal with, especially those with mental health problems.

The Island now has a new purpose-built prison for 140 at Jurby. Tom’s work in trying to educate the local politicians to the shortcomings of the old Victorian prison played its part in the Island Government eventually agreeing to the need for investment in a new establishment.

BRENDAN O’FRIEL