John Lewin

John Lewin is the author of a number of Manx carvals in the early 19th Century which advocated temperance. He was a sumner (church warden of official) in Jurby, Isle of Man, during the 1830s, but other than this there is little biographical information available. There are four extant poems that are attributed to him, all of which were collected as folk songs at the end of the 19th century. Lewin’s ‘My Chaarjyn, Gow Shiu Tastey’ (‘My Friends, Take You Notice’) was composed sometime around 1836 and concerns the dangers of excessive alcohol. (It has also been known by another title, ‘Carval er Feeyn as Jough’ (‘Carol on Wine and Strong Drink’)). Although subsequently taken up by the Manx absti…