What does it mean to be Cornish?

[Sue W]

Hello again,

I've been busily researching my (Tonkin) family history. While searching I have learned quite a bit about where we Australian Tonkins have originated from - St Just in Penwith. Would anybody like to fill me in on a couple of questions?

1. In 1853 my great-great-grandfather, William Tonkin, sailed to Australia on the ship "Tarolinta". Would he have spoken English or Cornish? Did everybody in Cornwall speak Cornish, or was that an old language that faded out in preference for the English language? Do Cornish accents sound the same as usual English accents, or do they carry some other accent?

2. Is there an internet site that offers information about how people lived in the St Just in Penwith area back in the early to mid 1850s? What did they eat? What were their wages like? How and why did so many people get crammed into one house? I've googled and googled, to no avail. Actually, I keep finding advertising for holidays. Unfortunately, if any of my ancestors did strike gold in Australia the riches weren't handed down through the family - so I'm not coming to Cornwall on holidays.

Maybe I'd better leave my questions there for now. HOpefully I get a reply, even if I'm not directed to an internet site - maybe somebody can type the information in from their own knowledge?

It's so hot here at the moment. Really boiling hot weather. Phew.

And, Mark - if this sort of question is inappropriate for this forum please delete it for me, I'll understand.

Hooroo,

[Rob Oats]

Hi Sue,
No one has answered so here's my 2c worth;

Language; Cornish is a form of Gaelic which was the language spoken by the Celts who formed the bulk of the population of Cornwall. Looking at a summarised history of the region - the whole of the Britain and Ireland and parts of Brittany in France (populated by ancient Cornish people) was populated by the Celts prior to the Roman invasion. This had been the case for the previous 2000 years. The Saxon/Angle invasions from Northern Europe in the latter period of Roman rule, and troubles at home, encouraged the Romans to withdraw from Britain. The Saxons/Angles drove the Celts into the corners of Britain. The Celts, with their common language were confined to Ireland, Wales and Scotland. English as it is known today derived from Saxon/Angle/Latin/French. The celtic nations continued to speak their own dialect right up until the beginning of the 20th Century. The imposition of English Law, started particularly by Henry VIII and later re-inforced by his daughter Elizabeth I, through the church brought with it English priests and therefore the English language. Many of the surnames were anglicised at this time. My surname as an example was converted from OTTS to OATS. Most if not all spoke Cornish but would have have had to deal with officials in English. As the system of governernance became all pervasive so the use of English became more common place.
By the 1800's most people would have been bi-lingual but probably spoke Cornish at home.
Currently there is a strong drive towards Cornish nationalism and the promotion of the Cornish language and customs and if they have their way separation, from England. The same applies to Wales and Scotland. We need not speak about Ireland because that is self evident to anyone who bothers to read a newspaper or listen to the news. In the same way that you have an Australian dialect so the dialect changes within the counties of England. The dialects are very distinct.

Social structures;

I have a bookmark on Cornwall in the 1800's but see that it is non-functional at present so I will give my impressions.
Cornwall has never been particularly wealthy. The main source of income varied from area to area but Cornwall as a whole would be classified as subsistance agriculture. The West Penwith area is fairly unique. The people of the area were tin streaming (panning for tin in the streams) from earliest times. They were even exporting tin to traders before the Roman empire existed. It's been estimated that Cornish tin was used to produce some 80% of Roman coinage. As time went by they developed mining techniques and by the 19th Century they were the World's leading exponents in hard rock mining. Some of the mines went out miles under the seabed from the cliff faces. What was particularly unique in Cornwall and St Just was the way they operated, leading to the Stannaries Act of 1200. The men were regarded as independant or self employed as defined in this Act and were therefore never subservient to landowners. This persisted right through to the 20th century where miners worked on mine leases (investors holding mining rights) and were paid according to the ore they brought out of the workings. i.e. they were never employees of the owner.
The families were never very wealthy, but like many others, scrapped a living from their toil. The introduction of steam power (Cornish invented) revolutionised mining because they were able mine deeper and quicker than ever before. Whereas the tin and copper reserves there had lasted thousands of years, steam exhausted it in a little over 40 years. Most of these men knew little else other than mining. The end of the mines spelt disaster for them and their families. A failure to see this and adapt or develop or expand these skills forced them to look outside the UK. At the time there many exciting opportunities available in the New World. Gold and coal had been discovered in Canada and America. Huge diamond and gold reserves were discovered in South Africa. Gold was discovered in Australia. These families were starving in Cornwall and but knew wealth and a better way of life existed in these new lands. One account I read recently stated that some 4000 people out of a population of some 8000 left St Just in a period of 3 weeks. When I first visited St Just in 1997 it was obvious that they were still suffering the effects some 120 years later. Things have improved dramatically over the last 8 years and things are quite vibrant there now.
Their diet would have been very simple. They would have lived on a staple of vegetable and potato based stews with a little meat or fish as their main meal and supplemented with porridge of some cereal based gruel.
I hope this gives you a better idea of what things were like.

Rob Oats
West Devon, UK, formerly South Africa. (Yes my ancestors moved too.)

[Sue W]

Dear Rob,

Thanks so much for your thoroughly enjoyable reply. You've answered many outstanding questions for me and added information that I wouldn't have imagined.

I feel you've given me a lovely gift. Thanks Rob.

Sue.

[Rob Oats]

Happy birthday! and glad the info helped.

I have a John Osbourne b. 1826 St Levan who married into our family. Any link?

My site http://www.oats.org.uk/gen/

Regards

Rob

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[Sue W]

Rob,

I don't know whether my grandad's name came from the John Osbourne in your family. I suspect this may be the case because it's such an odd name. I'll check it out.

Thanks for the good wishes. I'd better get the children ready for school, I tend to get carried away with this family history stuff and can get tied up with this stuff for hours without noticing the time flying by.

Bye for now,
Sue.

[Sue W]

Rob,

I had a peek and found that our Osborne name does not have the letter "u" in the middle. (Osborne V's Osbourne). I can't see any link to a John Osbourne with a "u". But, as you would be aware - this may be because I haven't noticed it yet.

Bye for now,
Sue.