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Ned Maddrell

Ned Maddrell ( 1877 ? - 27 December 1974 ) was a fisherman from the Isle of Man , and the last speaker with the Manx as mother tongue. Nevertheless, new speakers have reappeared upon maternal death.

To preserve its language, Maddrell recorded in 1948 , a conversation about fishing:

Dooyrt "Ballooilley" rish

"Ballooilley" told him

"Vel ny partanyn SNAU, Joe?"

"Crabs, they swarm?"

"Cha nel Monney, cha nel Monney," dooyrt Joe. "T'ad ghoan feer."

"Not much, not much," says Joe. "They are extremely rare"

Since the death of Mrs. Sage Kinvig (c. 1870 - 1962 ) Maddrell was the only person who had spoken Manx from his childhood, while others spoke as a second language.

Maddrell was raised in the village of Cregneash , where everyone spoke Manx (Manx was not spoken in the cities). He goes to sea at the age of 13 years, where he was kept "alive" the language by talking with sailors Gaelic speakers.

Unlike other recent mannophones, Maddrell rejoiced in his fame and was active in learning the Manx to interested parties, such as Leslie Quirk and Brian Stowell. When the Taoiseach of Ireland Eamon de Valera visited the island, he asked to meet personally Maddrell, the latter has publicly criticized the governments UK and Manx their inaction in the language field.