George Waft

George Waft died on 1 October 2026 at the age of 89. Manx Radio, BBC News and other Isle of Man outlets reported his death the same day. The place of death and the cause were not made public.

Onchan MHK Rob Callister paid tribute to his dedication and commitment and said many people across Onchan and the wider Isle of Man would be saddened by his passing. Callister also described him as generous with his time and as someone who had offered sensible and sound advice. The Royal British Legion Onchan branch, which Waft had led as president for about five years, said he would be remembered with great affection and gratitude for service to the branch and the wider Onchan community. Condolences were extended to his wife, Lynn, and to family and friends. Funeral or memorial arrangements had not been announced when the first tributes appeared.

George Henry Waft was born in 1937 on the Isle of Man. He went to Tynwald Street and Desmesne Road primary schools before Ballakermeen and Douglas High School. Further training followed at the Isle of Man College of Further Education, Naval Training College and the Isle of Man Nurse Training School, with additional study through the Open University. Those routes prepared him both for seagoing catering work and for a later career in psychiatric nursing.

His early adult years included service as a catering officer with several Merchant Navy and shipping companies, among them Cunard, Union Castle Line, Pacific Steam Navigation Company, Shell/Regent Oil, Coastlines and the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. That maritime chapter preceded three decades in Manx health services.

From 1961 to 1991 Waft worked for the Health Services Board and DHSS on the Isle of Man, including posts at White Hoe Hospital and Ballamona Hospital, where he became night superintendent and practised as a registered mental nurse. Civic office ran alongside clinical work: he sat on Onchan Village and District Commissioners from 1971 to 1991 and was chairman twice in the years 1977 to 1986.

He entered the House of Keys for Onchan at a by-election in 1991 and was elevated to the Legislative Council in 1994. He remained an MLC until retiring from Tynwald in March 2010, giving him about nineteen years in national politics after two decades in local government. Government posts included chairmanship of the Civil Service Commission and of the Whitley Council from 1996 to 2004. He later chaired the Ballamona Association for Mental Health until 2014 and published From Tynwald Street to Tynwald Hill in 2006.

Waft married Lynn (nee Howarth) in 1961. Official biographical notes list one daughter, Jeanette. Interests recorded in public sources include the countryside, computers, amateur radio, swimming and fishing. He lived for many years in the Onchan area and remained involved in village institutions after leaving Tynwald, notably the Royal British Legion Onchan branch, which he served as president in his final years.

His network of voluntary roles over earlier decades also included work connected with mental health charity, municipal and nursing associations, and local heritage and community groups in Onchan, as recorded in Tynwald former-member biographical material.

Waft is remembered as a long-serving Onchan figure who moved from local commissions through the House of Keys into the Legislative Council, and who combined political office with earlier careers at sea and in psychiatric nursing. Chairing the Civil Service Commission and the Whitley Council placed him at the centre of Manx public administration in the late 1990s and early 2000s, while later charity leadership kept him linked to mental health advocacy after he left Tynwald.

His memoir, From Tynwald Street to Tynwald Hill, fixed a personal record of that path from Douglas schooling to national politics. Community tributes in October 2026 stressed continuity of service in Onchan, from commissioner and MHK to Royal British Legion president, as the thread that made his death a loss felt across the island.