Children on the Isle of Man have contributed to the understanding of the origins of the Manx population

Published in the journal ’Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’ is a paper which is concerned with the genetics of families who have lived on the island for generations.

The study compared the genomes of 40 children with ancestry from the Isle of Man with 2,154 other British and Irish individuals.

Researchers found that individuals with Manx ancestry are genetically closest to individuals with ancestry from the south-west of Scotland.

The Isle of Man also exhibits more recent evidence of migration into the island which appears to be primarily English in origin.

There was no evidence of Norse migration into the island on the same scale that has been observed in Orkney and Shetland to the north of Scotland, though the English migration may have diluted evidence from previous migrations.

In conclusion, the results suggest that the population of the Isle of Man is ancestrally close to Scotland, but has also experienced recent English migration.

Edmund Gilbert, who carried out the study, said: ’Our report is exciting since it describes the genetics of the Isle of Man for the first time, and indicates the importance of invasions in the past from south-west Scotland.’

Professor Jim Wilson at the University of Edinburgh and Prof Gianpiero Cavalleri at the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland in Dublin led the study, with funding from many different bodies including principally the Medical Research Council UK and the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government.

The research resulted from a collaboration between the European Study of Pregnancy and Childhood on the Isle of Man (ELSPAC), the University of Edinburgh, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the University of Bristol.

The ELSPAC study in the Isle of Man was carried out on the island by Dr Stephanie Goodfellow with the assistance of the late Edna Rolfe.