Walter Clarke RBV, Walter y Chleree, 1928- 2007
Walter Clarke, was born in Ramsey on 8th of April 1928, it was Easter Sunday. He was the second son of Walter (Pop) and Dora and grew up initially in College Street & then Bark Lane. Eventually the family were rehoused on Queens Pier Road, which was always known ‘as living up Beverley’. This was a reference to it being the opposite of living in Beverley Hills, Los Angeles.
Va Walter y Cleree ruggit ayns Rhumsaa yn hoghtoo laa Averil ’sy vlein nuy keead jeig, hoght as feed (1928). She mac saa v’eshyn da Walter (far-ennym Pop) as Dora, as v’eh troggit ayns straid y Chollag as eisht ayns Lhoan Bark. Fy- yerrey hooar yn lught-thie, thie noa ayns Raad Cheay yn Ven-rein, as va’n far-ennym v’er Beverley, ta shen dy ghra, yn condaigagh jeh cummal ayns Beverley Hills, Los Angelos.
Walter was naturally a left hander so his education was challenging. As a result of him having to learn to write with his right hand, he was ambidextrous (and had nice handwriting). He left Albert Road School on his 13th birthday, same as everyone who couldn’t get a scholarship to the Grammar School. He spent four years doing any job he could get, which included shovelling coal, digging lugworm & selling it as bait to the tourists. He would help with the fishing nets on Ramsey Quay (his dad Pop was a fisherman) and cutting turf up the mountain, not necessarily during turf season. In 1946 he was called up to do his national service, fortunately the war was over, cos he’d have put a good 6 months on the running time, had he been involved in the real thing.
Va Walter ayns y Lhuingys-chaggee as v’eh graihagh er y vea shen. Cha row eh g’eearree faagail agh va’n lught -thie echey ayns feme jeh argid, er-y-fa shen haink eh er-ash gys Mannin ayns nuy keead jeig, hoght as daeed (1948). V’eh jannoo obbyr erbee, agh feer vennick v’eh g’imman carryn-ladee, derrey nysh nuy keead jeig, jeih as daeed (1950), tra hooar eh startey myr dooinney laue-cheirdagh (handyman) ec y Thie-tashtee.
Walter joined the navy and loved it. He didn’t want to leave at the end of his two years, but the economics at home meant he was needed there, so he came back to the Island in 1948. He worked at anything he could get, but frequently driving trucks, till around 1950 when he got the job as handy man at the Manx Museum.
Walter didn’t grow up speaking Manx, but his grandfather who was gate keeper for the railways at Cooil Bane in Sulby, spoke quite a bit. I think our Aunt Mabel was also pretty good, though Walter was fonder of her for her character and didn’t really refer to her Manx. This early introduction via his grandfather, together with a natural gift for languages meant he became fluent fairly easily and (I thought) always sounded very natural too. He learned Manx but could also get by in Irish and Scottish Gaelic too, though there was often a lot of hand signals if he had to use either of the latter.
I’m telling you this because we (his family) believe that the practical skills he picked up in his early years doing all the different jobs, and the exposure to what were still quite traditional ways of doing things, were the start of his interest in Manx life, language and folklore.
D’ynsee Walter yn aght dy ve jeantagh – shen yn oyr dy dooar eh yn startey ec y Thie-tashtee, as hooar eh neesht caa dy heet quaiyl rish yn sleih ren breeaghey e anaase ayns ny Gaelgeyryn dooghyssagh s’jerree. Ren eh toiggal dy beagh ooilley yn tushtey shoh caillt mannagh row red ennagh jeant dy tappee, as leeid yn toiggallys shoh gys e chaarjys rish ny ‘Manx Musketeers’.
Va sleih dy kinjagh smooinaghtyn dy row anaase smoo ec Walter ayns y sleih hene. Tra v’eh loayrt my-nyn-gione, s’aashagh v’eh clashtyn dy row eh graihagh orroo, as er nyn aght beaghey. Tra nagh dod eh cooinaghtyn er’n voayl raad v’eh er n’aagail e ogheryn, v’eh foast cooinaghtyn er ooilley e choloartyssyn rish yn Ghaaue. Smooinee eh dy re sleih yindyssagh v’adsyn as bea cho creoi oc, as adsyn foast gennal as jannoo spotchyn gyn scansh da shen. Va’n theihll caghlaa as cha row eh g’eearree fakin ad naardey ersooyl. Er-lhiam nagh row monney anaase er clou magh ny ardjaghey’n Ghaelg da sheeloghe noa dy loayrtee ec y toshiaght – haink shen ny s’anmey dy baghtal. V’eh jus’ goaill taitnys ayns yn cheshaght oc.
Walter learned to be practical which got him the job at the museum, and he also got to meet the people which fuelled his interest in the last Manx speakers. He also realised that all this was going to be lost if something wasn’t done, which led to him linking up with the Manx Musketeers.
It was always felt Walter’s real interest was principally in the people. He spoke so highly and very personally about all of them, when he couldn’t remember where his keys were, he could clearly recall conversations with The Gaaue . He thought they were wonderful people to have lived and survived their tough lives in the way they did. The world was changing and he didn’t want them ‘to fade away’. I also think that in the beginning, Walter wasn’t that interested in publishing and promoting Manx to a new generation of speakers, though that clearly came later, initially he simply enjoyed their company.
In 1948 Eamon De Valera sent Kevin Danaher to the Island, bringing with him recording equipment from the Irish Folklore Commission. This was a disc cutting van and was arranged by Basil Megaw at the Manx Museum. Walter got to meet de Valera but I’m not sure under what circumstances as he was only just getting involved in the collection of the recordings. He never expressed any thoughts about De Valera other than their mutual interest in the language and folklore.
I think there were only about 20 speakers left by 1950, and as Walter’s interest grew, he began to seek them out, often setting off on his bicycle after work. He spent some time with Jackie Kneen (the Gaaue), but also with people like Harry Boyde and John Thomas Kaighen.
Leslie Quirk, Charlie Craine, Tom & Mark Braide and Willie Radcliffe (the Musketeers), were already out recording the Manx speakers, and were able to introduce Walter to some of the others. These included Mrs Lowey, Sage Kinvig, Tommy Leece, Mrs Eleanor Karran (always referred to as Mrs Karran) and Ned Maddrell. I’m not sure Walter ever got the chance to record Harry Kelly though.
Recording the speakers wasn’t an easy job. They didn’t have a special vehicle like the Irish Folklore commission. Between them they borrowed the money to buy an American sound mirror with 5-inch reel to reel tapes on it. It was a private loan, because you couldn’t approach a bank for money for stuff like that in those days. I think it was a fairly hefty piece of kit because Walter always referred to ‘lugging it’ round the island, and of course they often had to use public transport and then walk to wherever they were heading to get their recordings. When Doug Fargher got involved (for some reason he was always referred to as Doug ‘Breagagh’ but I don’t know why), he had a car and would drive them round, and I think things got a bit easier after that. They would have a whip round to buy a tape for the sound mirror and then arrange a visit. Of course, not every house they went to had electrickery in it either, so it wasn’t unknown to have to persuade a neighbouring house with power to assist. I think Walters natural charm will have helped a lot there. A lot of the old people were very shy and wouldn’t speak to a microphone, so it was set to the side until the conversation was flowing, and then discretely switched on. I think it was John Thomas Kaighen (I could be wrong), but Walter would sometimes – when he could afford it – bring a bottle of beer or whiskey as a gift, and to help the conversation flow. Mr Kaighen (who was blind in his last years) would run his hand over the bottle and ask what was the ‘likeness’ on it, that was his word for a label. If it was a white horse, he was more than happy to talk.
Tra nagh row eh tarroogh lesh y Ghaelg as ny loayrtee ghooie, v’eh cloie yn shawm ayns Band Valley Rhumsaa, as ny s’anmey v’eh kianglt rish ny Cloiederyn Feeagh, raad v’eh er yn ardan ayns nyn ‘panto-yn’.
Haink Walter dy ve oltey’n Cheshaght Ghailckagh, as ayns ny tree-feedyn v’eh g’ynsaghey ayns brastyllyn as keirdlannyn ayns Rhumsaa, eisht ayns Thie ny Gaelgey lurg da shen goll er cur er bun, marish Fiona as ymmodee sleih elley, goaill stiagh Freddie (Jamys y Cowle) as Juan y Crellin. V’eh g’obbragh da’n Thie-tashtee rish hoght bleeaney jeig as feed, jannoo red erbee voish glenney as cur seose obbyr Ellyn, gys seyiraght as pronney shehghyn! By vie lesh jalloodys as va shen schlei elley v’eh ersyn g’ynsaghey cour jannoo co-chaslyssyn jeh ny loayrtee ghooie. Beggan-ry-veggan haink eh dy cheau ram traa er shen as v’eh dy mennick goll dy jannoo co-chaslyssyn ass-lieh yn Thie-tashtee.Tra d’aase eh ny shynney, v’eh g’ynsaghey ny sloo, agh v’eh jannoo leaghtyn er ny Loayrtee Ghooie ny er Shenn Rhumsaa. Ta tarhoilshanyn echey foast ayns y lught-thie as ta recortys ayn jeh tra v’eh loayrt mychione Shenn Rhumsaa. My ta recortys ec peiagh ennagh jeh Walter loayrt mychione ny Loayrtee Ghooie, cur fys dooin, my sailliu!
Lurg da Walter cur seose e obbyr ’sy Thie tashtee, v’eh foast goll er lesh screeu sheese as chyndaa paart jeh ny shenn recortyssyn ’sy Thie-tashtee. V’eh jannoo recortyssyn da Radio Vannin as v’eh cur coyrle da sleih elley va screeu lioaryn ’sy Ghailck. By vie lesh Skeealyn Vannin er-lheh as hug eh cooney da Jennifer Kewley-Draskau tra v’ee screeu ‘Practical Manx’. Foddym g’imraa ymmodee obbraghyn elley hug eh cooney lesh, agh v’eh g’accan nish as reesht nagh row ny ughtaryn dy kinjagh cur bwooise er son! Va jeelym yindyssagh dy lioaryn echey agh ren eh scuirr veih g’eeasaghey ad er y fa nagh dooar eh paart jeu er-ash.
When he wasn’t busy with all the above, he was cornet player in Ramsey Town Band, and later on he was involved with the Raven Players treading the boards in their pantomimes.
Walter joined Yn Cheshaght Ghailckagh and by the 1960’s he was teaching Manx at evening classes and Manx workshops in Ramsey. He taught out here with Fiona and many others including Juan Crellin and Freddy Cowle. He stayed working at the Manx Museum for 38 years doing anything and everything from cleaning and hanging works of art, to carpentry and taxidermy. He was a keen photographer but that was another skill he had to learn so he could photograph the Manx speakers. Gradually it became another of his significant hobbies, and he would often go off to photograph something that needed recording for the
museum. As he got older and did less teaching, he could be asked to give lectures on the Manx Speakers or Old Ramsey. We still have his slides and I have a recording of him chatting about old Ramsey but I don’t have one of his talk on the Manx speakers. If anyone can source one, we’d love to have a copy.
After Walter retired from the museum he continued translating and transcribing some of the old recordings from the folklore archives. He regularly contributed to Manx radio programs and advised when other writers were producing Manx language books. He particularly like Skeealyn Vannin and was helpful to Jennifer Kewley Draskau while she was writing ‘Practical Manx’. I could mention many, many more, though there were a number of publications that he didn’t feel acknowledged his contribution, and he was well ‘gaccan’ whenever they were mentioned. He had a wonderful collection of books himself but stopped lending them out because some people were careless of returning them.
Walter always loved the sea, he owned a number of boats over the years, most significantly the Phynoddree, but there was one he painted orange and then named it The Clockwork Orange. None of us would ever get in that one, but then it turned out, neither would he. He was always a keen fisherman, spent hours making flies, and was active in the coast guard and rocket brigade, working for them for nearly 40 years. He knew where all the illegal salmon nets were too. The running joke was he’d eat anything that came out of a fishing net (and it didn’t matter who owned the net).
The Cruinnaght didn’t escape his attention, and I believe he could deliver a very nimble version of the dirk dance, but I never got to see that. He was awarded the Imperial Service Order by the governor in 1988, and the Reih Bleanney Vanannan in 2001. On his gravestone his family included the words ‘a dear friend’ as part of the inscription, I think it’s one of the most accurate things you could say about him, he was a true Manxman and all this came from making very good friends.
English: Helen Carroll, née Clarke, 2019
Manx: Fiona McArdle