To answer this question I will need to use my own knowledge and research to decide whether I believe these sources are giving a fair and honest view of the Isle of Man. In source A the Board of Advertising have produced an advert for the Electric Railway and some attractions. They have included 4 photographs and 5 painting. There are 2 photographs showing places along the Electric Railway, 1 of the “Golf Pavilion” and 1 showing the “Derby Castle Terminus”. These photographs are a reliable source ware as the paintings are not so reliable as they can be painted to look like something completely different. The wording on this advert has been quite exaggerated, for example “rugged cliffs”; I don’t think I would call the islands cliffs rugged. I think this source if fairly reliable but I think they could have used better words which best describes the Isle of Man’s cliffs.
Source B is very different compared to source A, but was made by the same people. This is a painted poster of Bradda Head, Port Erin in the early 1900s. The first thing I noticed was the amount of people on the beach. If you refer back to the Isle of Man Steam Packet’s arrival figures you would see that around 500,000 people travelled a year, so to see a beach with about 10 people on it is very unbelievable. For source B I would have to say this is very unreliable and is not being honest.
Source C is an advert for “Hengler’s grand circus”, produced by Mr Alfred Hengler. This is a simple text advert stating when the circus will open and which acts they will have on. Some of the words used in the advert are very over the top, for example “Skopeleff the Great Skipping Cane Horse”. This may have been the case but I don’t think you should put the word “great” in, as it could be misleading. Overall this is an honest enough advert and could be relied on.
Source D is another simple text advert, advertising the “Grand re-opening” of the “Falcon Cliff”, which was an entertainment complex including a pavilion, music hall and the surrounding grounds. This advert stating that it is the “finest place of entertainment and social enjoyment in the island”, which is not the case as they have no proof and there was lots of entertainment complexes on the island, for example Derby Castle, which had a lot more things to do than Falcon Cliff. So if they want to be called the finest entertainment complex on the island they need to prove it. This advert is just trying to advertise the re-opening of Falcon Cliff, which it does very well but does go over the top on some words. This source could be relied upon to a certain point but it is not very honest.
In source E the Palace Dance Hall and Opera House is being advertised. This was a very popular place for dancers as in 1921 it was re-opened as one of Europe’s biggest dance hall with a record crowd of almost 10,000, including 8000 dancers. In the advert there is a photograph, taken in 1906, showing the front of the Palace Dance Hall. This photograph can be classed as honest and reliable. There is also some text taking about the Grand Opening, which is fairly honest and reliable.
Source F is an advert for the Castle Mona Hotel. The wording used has been exaggerated to a certain extent but this is fairly straightforward in that it is a simple piece of text. I would say this is honest and reliable. Source G is an advert for a Douglas Guest House. This is just telling you the owners name and address. It does say that it has “unsurpassed views” which from its location I feel this is not true. Therefore I would say this advert is honest about its name and address but not the views, so it is not reliable.
Source H is a postcard, which a tourist has written to a friend back in England. As this is a real postcard this source must be honest and reliable but this is only one persons view on the Isle of Man. 3. (B) Can we draw a definite conclusion as to what tourists were looking for in a holiday on the Isle of Man? To answer this question I will need to take in different views on what tourists wanted. We definitely know who many people visited the island using the steam packet logbook but we only know attendance figures for a hand full of places. One fact is that 500,000 people visited the island a year, but where did they go? For example, they could of gone to the Gaiety Theatre and Opera House, they record 2000 people a night or maybe they could of gone dancing at the Palace ; Opera House, in 1927 on their re-opening recorded 10,000 guests, including 8000 dancers.
In my opinion I would say you could not draw a definite conclusion as to what tourists were looking for in a holiday, as we cannot get all the necessary information. All you could say is that if half a million visitors came to the island every year then there was definite something here they liked. 3. (C) How accurate do you feel this source is in describing tourism in the late Victorian Period? Will a book celebrating Douglas’ centenary be completely reliable about Douglas’ past? The first thing I noticed was this was written to celebrate the Isle of Man which I would guess that this will be full of the best points of the island and would off left out the bad points.
As I started to read, the first thing that I noticed was that the words have been slightly exaggerated, for example “A smoke-belching steamer arrives at Victoria Pier”. To me they should have left out the word ‘smoke-belching’. On the 24th line down, first paragraph it says “what can be a drunken summer”, the evidence for this is the police charge book which stated a number of people arrested for being drunk’ disorderly. About halfway down in the second paragraph it talks about an inspector which we have come across before at Douglas Head, were they had an inspector on watch 24hours a day. The rest of this article seems to be very truthful which shows that the Isle of Man, in Victorian Times, was a very nice place to live and visit for a holiday. I would have to say this source is quite accurate in what it talks about.
