Robert Morton Nance

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Robert Morton Nance (1873–1959) was a leading authority on the Cornish language, nautical
archaeologist, and joint founder of the Old Cornwall Society.
Nance was born in Cardiff to Cornish parents. He wrote many books and pamphlets on the Cornish
language, including a Cornish dictionary, which is a standard work, and edited magazines and
pamphlets about Cornwall, including Old Cornwall, the journal of the Federation of Old Cornwall
Societies. Nance was also a nautical archaeologist of distinction and was an originator of the Society
for Nautical Research. His insight and learning were displayed in his book Sailing-ship Models which
appeared in 1924. He studied art in Britain and France and was both a painter and a skilled
craftsman.

Contents

 1Chronology of his life

 2Selected list of works
 3See also
 4References
 5External links

Chronology of his life[edit]

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 1898: He wrote "The Merry Ballad of the Cornish Pasty".[1]

 1906: He moved from Wales and settled at Nancledra near St Ives, Cornwall.
 1911: He jointly founded the Society for Nautical Research.
 1920: Together with Henry Jenner, he founded the first Old Cornwall Society at St Ives.
 1924: The Federation of Old Cornwall Societies was established.
 1925: The Federation established the periodical Old Cornwall.
 1928: He jointly founded the Gorsedh Kernow, which was inaugurated at Boscawen-Un, where
he took the bardic name Mordon ('Sea Wave').
 1929: He published Cornish for All using the Unified Cornish spelling system.
Nance served as President of the Royal Institution of Cornwall from 1951 to 1955.[2]

 1959: He died and was buried at St Senara's churchyard, Zennor[3]

Selected list of works[edit]

 1912: Speight, E E; Nance, R Morton (1912-01-01). Britain's Sea Story. Henry
Frowde. ASIN B000LQ60UM
 1923: A Glossary of Celtic Words in Cornish Dialect. Falmouth: Royal Cornwall Polytechnic
Society
  1924: Sailing-ship Models: a selection from European and American collections with introductory
text. London: Halton and Truscott Smith (photographs)
o ---do.---2nd rev. ed. London; New York: Halton, 1949
o Classic Sailing-ship Models in Photographs. Reprinted Dover Publications, Mineola, NY,
2000 ISBN 0-486-41249-0
 1925- : Old Cornwall, as editor and contributor.
o Articles in Old Cornwall, including "The Cornish Language in the Seventeenth Century",
in: Old Cornwall; vol. VI, no. 1.
 1955: Cornish-English Dictionary. Federation of Old Cornwall Societies ISBN 0-902660-05-5
 1956: The Cledry Plays: drolls of Old Cornwall for village acting and home reading. Federation
of Old Cornwall Societies B0000CJH1W [clarification needed]
 1961: Cornish for All: a guide to Unified Cornish. Federation of Old Cornwall Societies.
B0000CKWG1[clarification needed]
 [n.d.]: A Guide to Cornish Place-names; with a list of the words contained in them. Federation of
Old Cornwall Societies. (Three editions, before 1971.)

See also[edit]

 Cornwall portal

 Richard Gendall
 Ken George
 Henry Jenner
 Dolly Pentreath
 Nicholas Williams

References[edit]
1. ^ Hall, Stephen (2001) The Cornish Pasty. Nettlecombe: Agre Books ISBN 0-9538000-4-0
2. ^ Brian Murdoch, "Nance, Robert Morton (1873-1959)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,
Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 15 Nov 2007
3. ^ Robert Morton Nance (1873-1959); Find a Grave

 Obituary in The Times, May 28, 1959