John Ernest Aitken was the son of James Aitken, a Scottish-born maritime artist. He studied at the Manchester, Liverpool and Wallasey Schools of Art and was also taught by his father with whom he shared a studio in Liverpool. Aitken and his father permanently moved to the Isle of Man in 1911, although they had visited the Island from 1894. A few months after moving to Port St Mary, Aitken built an artist’s studio at the rear of Lime Street. Although Aitken was to remain in Port St Mary for the rest of his life, he exhibited regularly in England, in particular at Liverpool, Manchester and Southport together with the Royal Academy and Royal Institute in London. He travelled extensively around Europe and Britain, going to Belgium, France, Switzerland and Italy. He frequently went to Holland on painting trips and these paintings, together with his Manx views, are some of the most popular examples of his artwork. He was a prolific and commercially successful artist with some of his paintings being reproduced as calendars and prints. The most popular of these was The Herring Boats, Port St Mary, produced by Bregazzi’s, the Douglas firm of picture framers. In his obituary Aitken was described as: A man of the highest integrity of a retiring and kindly disposition, Mr Aitken’s whole life was dedicated to his art.