Chief Minister Allan Bell joined members of the island’s War Pensions Committee for the organisation’s 100th anniversary.
The Isle of Man War Pensions Committee was the first in the British Isles when it held its inaugural meeting on August 4, 1916 – at the height of the First World War – to oversee the distribution of pensions to injured veterans and widows.
It has been estimated that by the end of the war in 1918 the amount of war pensions paid into the island by the UK Government exceeded the total tax revenue of the Manx Government at that time.
Over the past 100 years the committee has continued to provide support and welfare services to island veterans who have served with the British Armed Forces in a range of conflicts including the Second World War, Korea, Malaya, Northern Ireland, the Falklands, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq.