Donald James Gelling

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

CP, CInstSMM (born 5 July 1938) is a Manx former politician, who is a former Chief Minister of the Isle of Man who served two terms as Head of the Government.

Early life and career

Gelling was born on

Tynwald Day Tynwald Day ( gv, Laa Tinvaal) is the National Day of the Isle of Man, usually observed on 5 July (if this is a Saturday or Sunday, then on the following Monday). On this day, the Island's legislature, Tynwald, meets at St John's, instead of ...

(5 July) 1938 in Santon, a village to the south-west of

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals * Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking *Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civi ...

. He was apprenticed in engineering from 1954 to 1959 and after National Service in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

he became a salesman of agricultural machinery and vehicles. He was a general manager of his company from 1969. His political career began immediately as his National Service ended in 1961 when he was elected as a Santon Parish Commissioner; he served for 25 years and had five terms as Chairman of the Commissioners. In the

Tynwald Tynwald ( gv, Tinvaal), or more formally, the High Court of Tynwald ( gv, Ard-whaiyl Tinvaal) or Tynwald Court, is the legislature of the Isle of Man. It consists of two chambers, known as the branches of Tynwald: the directly elected House of ...

election of November 1986 Gelling was elected as Member of the

House of Keys The House of Keys () is the directly elected lower house of Tynwald, the parliament of the Isle of Man, the other branch being the Legislative Council. History The oldest known reference to the name is in a document of 1417, written in L ...

for

Malew Malew ( ; gv, Malew) is one of the seventeen parishes of the Isle of Man. It is located in the south of the island (part of the traditional ''South Side'' division) in the sheading of Rushen. Administratively, part of the historic parish o ...

and Santon constituency. Like most political figures in the Isle of Man, Gelling does not belong to any political party and has fought elections as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

on his own personal record and policies. Gelling served as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry from 1988 to 1989 and was then appointed to the important role of Minister for Treasury. In this role he kept the Isle of Man's status as a '

tax haven A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...

' and moved to build up the financial services sector as Chairman of the

Financial Supervision Commission The Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) ( gv, Barrantee Oaseirys Argidoil) was the financial regulator of the Isle of Man. The commission was established in 1983. The Chairman was previously a Member of Tynwald until legislation forbade this ...

. After the 1996 general election, Gelling was elected Chief Minister of the Isle of Man. In the November 2001 General Election he was re-elected. He decided to retire from the Chief Ministership the following year and was elected by his Keys colleagues to be a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC). The Legislative Council is the

Upper House An upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restric ...

, the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

. He retained his interest in the financial services industry as the head of Isle of Man Finance, a body set up by the Manx Treasury to promote the industry. After the sudden resignation of

Richard Corkill Richard Kenneth Corkill (born 1951) was the Chief Minister of the Isle of Man, December 2001 to December 2004 and an elected member of the House of Keys from 1991 to 2006. He was born in Douglas, Isle of Man. He was elected by Tynwald with 21 vo ...

on 2 December 2004 in a financial scandal, Gelling was re-elected as Chief Minister on 14 December. He stayed in office then for exactly two years before stepping down as Chief Minister after the 2006 General Election. He then stood down as an MLC on 18 January 2007, retiring from politics.

Personal life

Gelling has been married to Joan (née Kelly) since 1960, they have 4 children together.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gelling, Donald Chief Ministers of the Isle of Man Captains of the Parish Members of the House of Keys 1986–1991 Members of the House of Keys 1991–1996 Members of the House of Keys 1996–2001 Members of the House of Keys 2001–2006 Members of the Legislative Council of the Isle of Man Commanders of the Order of the British Empire 1938 births Living people