John Kneen

John Joseph Kneen (12 September 1873 – 21 November 1938) was a Manx linguist and scholar renowned for his seminal works on Manx grammar and on the place names and personal names of the Isle of Man. He is also a significant Manx dialect playwright and translator of Manx poetry. He is commonly best known for his translation of the Manx National Anthem into Manx.

Youth Kneen was born on 12 September 1873, in Hanover Street, Douglas, Isle of Man. He was the son of John Kneen, a postman originally from Kirk Andreas, and Hannah Crebbin, of the Santon family of Ballakelly. He was educated at St. George's School, Douglas, where he developed an early interest in the study of Manx Gaelic. He was encouraged in this interest by his parents, who were able to pass on to him a good deal of traditional knowledge.

Manx Language By the age of 22, whilst working as a sugar boiler (sweet manufacturer), a profession that he would hold throughout his life, Kneen was beginning to publish interlinear literal translations of Manx, and then Manx lessons, in the Isle of Man Examiner newspaper. Kneen was later to become the Society's Secretary and President.

By 1910 Kneen had completed A Grammar of the Manx Language, the work that was to later be called his "great work." He also took a leading part in the production of a new and improved edition of Archibald Cregeen's 1838 A Dictionary of the Manks Language.

our personal names reflect the history and traditions of times that are no more, the grace of the Celt and the strength of the Norseman and the Saxon are welded together by fetters which can never be broken. The Quinneys, Corletts, and Radcliffes, each descendants of a great race, live together in that unity and material understanding which is the basis of true nationality.

In 1933, on the recommendation of Professor Carl Marstrander, King Haakon of Norway conferred on Kneen the Knighthood of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olaf ('Ridder av I Klasse av St. Olavs Orden, Norge'). It was for this column that he was described in Mannin as "that useful patriot."

Kneen served as the representative of Yn Çheshaght Ghailckagh on the Manx Museum Trust and he was on the executive committee of the World Manx Association. He was also on the organising committee of Yn Chruinnaght, where he also served as a judge of compositions in the Manx language, essays, stories, poems, and plays.

Kneen was also remarkable for being possibly the most prolific Manx playwright, with 13 plays listed in Cubbon's Bibliography. Although some were serious dramas (such as his play on Illiam Dhone), Kneen's plays were generally short comic pieces in dialect. This was in marked contrast to Kneen's generally serious personality. The plays noted for special mention by William Cubbon were A Lil' Smook, Yn Blaa Sooree ('The Courting Flower'), Ann, Putting up the Banns and The Magpies.

Death Having suffered from poor health throughout his life, Kneen died at the age of 65 on Monday 21 November 1938. He was survived by his second wife, Catherine Alice Bridson (whom he married at Kirk Braddan on 6 July 1930 in a ceremony conducted entirely in Manx, the first such ceremony for a century), and his three children, James, Harold and Winifred Kneen. The service of his funeral on 24 November was conducted in Manx.

In his obituary in the Journal of the Manx Museum, Cubbon wrote:

Mr. Kneen possessed the true scientific spirit in his quest for facts, and the pains he took to verify them. There was no keener critic of his own work; none more highly appreciative of the labours of others. He was ever ready to give help either to students or casual seekers after information; either by letter or conversation his store of knowledge and the wisdom of his counsel was open to his fellow-men. He was very human, full of courtesy and nobility of heart, and possessed a strain of quiet humour which not even his many severe illnesses were able to impair.