Walter Clarke

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Walter Clarke was one of a small number of Manx Gaelic speakers who through their efforts in the late 1940s and early 1950s ensured the survival of a spoken record of the Manx language by undertaking an exercise to record the surviving native Manx speakers.

Initial recording of the native speakers had been undertaken by the Irish Folklore Commission and this work was continued by Clarke and other dedicated enthusiasts to ensure that a spoken record of Manx was not lost to future generations. Clarke, together with Dougie Fargher, Charlie Craine, Bill Radcliffe and Mark Braide ensured that a treasure trove of spoken Manx was not lost.

He continued his work for Manx by teaching evening classes and also undertook a number of workshops on the language together with the late Freddie Cowle.

Walter Clarke was one of that small number of enthusiasts who worked tirelessly to maintain a profile for the Manx language when it was in a parlous state. He, like the others, received little acknowledgment for many years of the vital work that he did, outside of the small circle of like-minded proponents of Manx, although he did in 2001 receive the National Reih Bleeaney Vanannan award.

However, he was more fortunate that some of his contemporaries in that he did live to see the cause to which he gave a life's work come to fruition with the official recognition given to the Manx language through its introduction onto the curriculum of Island schools.

An obituary in the Isle of Man Newspapers was entitled 'Helped to Keep Language Alive' and that is exactly what Walter Clarke dedicated his life to.