Annie Kneale

Epithet: Native Manx speaker (c.1863-1949)

Record type: Biographies

Biography: Annie Kneale was a farmer’s wife who was known affectionately by the young students of Manx as ‘The Mistress’, she was definitely in charge of the household. In one of the recordings she made with Mark Braide she asks “Is that any better? I’m forgetting the words you know,” indicating just how difficult it was for some of the native speakers to recall the language that many hadn’t spoken for more than half their lifetimes.

Nobody seems to remember why she was called ‘The Mistress’ but those who met her say she would rule the roost but she wasn’t bossy in doing it. Leslie Quirk recalls that, “she was an extremely nice person altogether, it would be extremely difficult to get up against her because she would calm you down if you did.”

Gender: Female

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