Dolly Pentreath: a “very singular female”

Abstract

Dolly Pentreath’s place in history is as the so-called last speaker of the Cornish language. As such she has gained a certain notoriety in both historical and linguistic circles and thus is frequently mentioned in passing in studies on language extinction in general and the Cornish language in particular, however there are remarkably few academic studies of either her life or legacy. Spriggs and Gendall (2010) examined the epitaphs written at the time of her death, focussing on the Cornish language used within them and their male authors. They also examined the various inconsistencies regarding Pentreath’s dates of birth and death, and marital status. Both her contemporaries and nineteenth century antiquarians interested in the Cornish language dismissed Pentreath’s claims to be a fluent speaker of the language, and after her death she was portrayed as a figure of fun. Was this because those commenting on her death and legacy were educated men who felt an uneducated woman could have nothing to contribute of worth? Using the British Newspaper Archive, which shows Pentreath continued to hold the public’s interest over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as a primary source, I am re-examining the “Dolly myth” to consider whether it was, in fact, Pentreath who portrayed herself as the “last speaker” and whether she has been unfairly treated by history. By reassessing Pentreath’s place in the history of the Cornish language I hope to show how both her story, and that of the language, might have been manipulated to suit a particular narrative.