Henry Jenner facts for kids
Henry Jenner (born August 8, 1848 – died May 8, 1934) was a British scholar who studied Celtic languages. He was also a Cornish cultural activist. He is known as the main person who started the effort to bring the Cornish language back to life.
Henry Jenner was born in St Columb Major, Cornwall. His father was a church leader. In 1869, Henry started working as a clerk in a court department. Two years later, he got a job at the British Museum in London, where he worked with old manuscripts (old handwritten documents).
In 1904, he helped Cornwall join the Celtic Congress, which is a group that celebrates Celtic cultures. He also helped start the Old Cornwall Society in St Ives in 1920. Later, in 1928, he was a co-founder of the Cornish Gorsedh, a special event that celebrates Cornish culture and language.
Bringing the Cornish Language Back
Henry Jenner became very interested in the Cornish language. In 1875, he met another scholar, W. S. Lach-Szyrma. Together, they visited older people in Cornwall to find out how much of the Cornish language they still remembered.
In 1876, Henry Jenner gave a speech at a meeting in Bodmin. He talked about the history of the Cornish language based on what he had found. People at the meeting thought it would be a good idea to create a group to collect more information about the language.
In 1877, while working at the British Museum, he found an old play written in Cornish from around 1450. It's called the Charter Fragment. This discovery made him want to share his interest in Cornish with more people in Cornwall. He also helped organize a special event to remember Dolly Pentreath, who was thought to be the last person to speak Cornish fluently.
In 1901, there was a big interest in Celtic cultures across the UK. Henry Jenner helped create a group called Cowethas Kelto-Kernuak (CKK). This group wanted to celebrate Cornish culture and language and work towards bringing the language back.
In September 1903, he was honored in Brittany (a region in France with a Celtic language) and given the bardic name Gwaz Mikael. He gave a speech in Cornish to a Breton audience, explaining why Cornwall should be recognized as a Celtic nation. He later said that the Bretons understood almost all of his Cornish speech!
In 1904, he published a very important book called A Handbook of the Cornish language. This book was for Cornish people who wanted to learn their old language. It included grammar rules and a history of Cornish. This book truly started the Cornish language revival.
Later that year, Henry Jenner spoke at the Pan-Celtic Congress in Wales. He asked for Cornwall to become a member of the organization. Around the same time, Robert Morton Nance began studying Cornish using Jenner's handbook. Nance would later become another very important figure in the language revival.
In 1909, Jenner and Nance met and became friends. They spent the next ten years researching Cornish and collecting old Cornish stories and phrases. They shared their findings in many papers.
In 1916, Henry Jenner even translated the popular song "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" into Cornish! He also translated a part of the Bible into Cornish in 1917. This translation can be seen on the walls at the Pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem. He also translated many other songs and poems and wrote his own poems in Cornish.
In 1920, Jenner and Nance started the first Old Cornwall Society in St Ives. Henry Jenner was its first president. The society's motto was "Cuntelleugh an Brewyon us Gesys na vo Kellys Travyth," which means "Gather the fragments that are left, that nothing be lost." By 1924, there were enough Old Cornwall Societies to form a larger group, with Jenner as its president.
In 1928, Henry Jenner was honored again, this time by the Welsh Gorsedd, with the Cornish bardic name Gwas Myghal. On September 21 of that year, the first Gorsedh Kernow (Cornish Gorsedh) was held at Boscawen-Un. Twelve people were made bards.
In 1932, the Celtic Congress met in Cornwall for the first time, in Truro. Henry Jenner was the president of this meeting. People heard speeches in Cornish from eight Cornish bards. Jenner also asked for Cornish to be taught in schools, but this idea didn't get much support at the time.
At the end of 1932, Henry Jenner wrote about Cornish patriotism. He said, "Bedheugh Bynytha Kernewek," which means "Be Forever Cornish." This phrase became the motto for a new political group called Tyr ha Tavas (Land and Language), which worked to promote Cornwall's interests.
His Legacy
In 2010, a new version of Henry Jenner's Handbook of the Cornish Language was published. It helps modern readers understand how the Cornish language was spoken back then. The book also includes some of Jenner's earlier writings and examples of Christmas cards he sent with poems in both Cornish and English.
Personal Life
Henry Jenner married Katharine Lee Rawlings in 1877. She was a writer herself.
After working at the British Museum for over forty years, Henry and his wife Kitty moved to Hayle, Kitty's hometown, in 1909. In 1912, he became the Librarian of the Morrab Library, a job he held until 1927. He also led the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society and the Royal Institution of Cornwall.
Henry Jenner died on May 8, 1934. He is buried in St. Uny's Church, Lelant. Before he passed away, he said that his main goal in life was to help Cornish people feel proud of being Cornish.
Political Views
Henry Jenner was a Conservative and supported the Jacobite cause, which believed in restoring the old royal family (the Stuarts) to the throne. He and his wife supported the Order of the White Rose, a group of Stuart supporters that he helped start in 1891.
See also
- Richard Gendall
- Ken George
- Robert Morton Nance
- Dolly Pentreath
- Nicholas Williams
