Edward Faragher (1831–1908), also known as (), was a Manx language poet, folklorist, and cultural guardian. He is considered to be the last important first language writer of Manx literature and perhaps the most important guardian of Manx culture during a time when it was most under threat. Celticist Charles Roeder wrote that Faragher had "done great services to Manx folklore, and it is due to him that at this late period an immense amount of valuable Manx legends have been preserved, for which indeed the Isle of Man must ever be under gratitude to him."'Edward Faragher' (obituary notice) by Charles Roeder in The Manx Quarterly, No. 5, 1908 – available on www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/ (accessed 4 October 2013)
Youth (1831–1876) Faragher was born into a large family of twelve children in Cregneash, a fishing village at the south of the Isle of Man. At this time Manx was the only language spoken in Cregneash, and so his mother stood out as "the only person who could converse with strangers" due to her grasp of English. His father was one of the few people in the village who could write, and so he was called upon to write letters on behalf of other villagers. It was from his father, known as Ned Hom Ruy in Manx, that Faragher's familiar Manx name derives – with the Manx word for "little" being added, making it Ned Beg Hom Ruy ('Little Ned with the Red Beard').'Note on Edward Faragher' by Basil Megaw in Skeealyn 'sy Ghailck, Isle of Man: Printagraphics Ltd., 1991
Faragher attended infants' school in Port St Mary followed by the parish school of Kirk Christ Rushen, but his family could not afford for him to attend any longer than two years.'I have written a little scitch of my life': Edward Faragher's 'A Sketch of Cregneish', Manx Notes 33 (2004), edited by Stephen Miller The rest of his education came from his parents, or else was self-taught.
At a young age he began earning his living as a fisherman in his father's boat. He was a fisherman for the next seven years; then he moved to Liverpool to work in a safe-making factory.
Faragher enjoyed himself in England, finding that his natural talent at composing verse proved to be popular with young women. In 1899 he would write of this time that:Mannanan's Cloak: An Anthology of Manx Literature by Robert Corteen Carswell, London: Francis Boutle Publishers, 2010, pp.151–155. (translation by Robert Corteen Carswell)
"[...] when I was living in England, I was putting the young women in a frenzy with my songs. I was often forced to stay at the house on Sunday afternoon because there were so many of them coming after me. And I was serving them all on the same plate. When I would be writing a song to one, she would be reading it to her comrades and they would be all striving to get acquaintance with me, and to get me to do a song for themselves until they were bothering my head."
It was whilst in Liverpool, aged around 26, that Faragher began to write down his verse for the first time, having previously retained it only in his head. Although he enjoyed himself at first in Liverpool, after some years in the city he eventually came to want to return to the Isle of Man. He expressed his feelings in a poem he composed at that time, A poem about things I have seen in Liverpool:Skeealyn Aesop by Edward Faragher, Douglas: S.K. Broadbent, 1901
Farewell to phantasy and art That never can fill up my heart, And those fair maids, with witching smile, No more can my sad heart beguile; For still my fancy lingers where The youthful Kitty blooms so fair, And father tills my native soil Among the hills of Mona's Isle.
Fisherman (1876–1889)
Faragher returned to Cregneash in around 1876, and earned a living fishing for mackerel at Kinsale and on the west coast of Ireland for the rest of his working life. During this time he encountered rough storms and was even shipwrecked, narrowly surviving. In middle age he married and had children.
Despite the central place of alcohol and heavy drinking in the traditional way of life at that time, upon his return to the island Faragher took up abstinence. This started the greatest period of creative output in Faragher's life, as he would go on to write some 4,000 hymns or poems in Manx and English.'Death of a Manx Poet', obituary in the Isle of Man Times, 13 June 1908 Also at this time his poetry expanded from the romantic and lyrical to include more contemplative and sacred topics.
Despite his phenomenal output, Faragher's poetry and song received little attention in his own community. Instead they tended to bring him only the "jeers and derision of his uncultured companions and the buxom village belles."
Folk celebrity (1890–1899) During the 1880s or 90s Faragher met the Manchester-based German folklorist, Charles Roeder. Roeder recognised the importance of Faragher, particularly as a source of folklore and cultural knowledge, and as a speaker of Manx Gaelic, ranking him as "one of the best vernacular conversationalists extant in the Island." This was especially important at that time as Manx language and culture were in steep decline and in serious danger of dying out completely, due to the dying off of the older generation and the indifference and often even hostility of the youth.
Roeder started up a strong correspondence with Faragher, sending him blank notebooks to fill with folklore "yarns" that he collected before sending them back.'The odium is cast on my old friend Mr Ed. Faragher': Karl Roeder and the Perils of Publication (1902), Manx Notes 30 (2004), edited by Stephen Miller A strong friendship developed between them that would last until Faragher's death.
Through Roeder, Faragher became well known in circles concerned with Manx Gaelic culture. He became connected with the major figures of the Manx cultural revival, including Sophia Morrison, John Kneen, Edmund Goodwin and John Clague. As this was at the time of Pan-Celticism, there was also an interest in Faragher from outside the island. Faragher's letters to Roeder tell of visits from gentlemen who had "heard [Faragher's] name mentioned in London,"'I am afraid a flail would be too long to send it by post': Edward Faragher writes to G.W. Wood (1899) , Manx Notes 110 (2008), edited by Stephen Miller academics such as the Professor of Gaelic from Scotland who communicated with him through Scottish Gaelic, and Edward Spencer Dodgson (brother of Campbell Dodgson; they were distant cousins of Lewis Carroll) who visited Faragher in Cregneash when visiting the island.'Dr Clague sent me a letter in Manx': Dr John Clague writes to Edward Faragher (1898) , Manx Notes 109 (2008), edited by Stephen Miller In 1896 the foreign interest in Faragher reached such an extent that he would write that he was being "kept busy answering young ladies letters ones that I never saw."
However, the local community grew to resent and even shun Faragher for these visitors and correspondences, as they felt that "he was drawing undue attention both unto himself and the village." This reached such a pitch that Roeder was forced to publish disclaimers in the newspapers to try and cool some of the "aggravation" caused by Faragher's status as folklore informer, mentioning that Faragher was suffering "greatly by the general animus against him."
These social problems that Faragher was suffering at this time were perhaps eclipsed by the serious economic problems that he encountered due to the dire state of the traditional crofting way of life on the island. In the 1890s Faragher began to find it increasingly difficult to make a living as a fisherman and a small-scale farmer. In 1898 Faragher wrote (in his imperfect English) of that year's fishing that, "It has been hard times we could not catch mackerells enough to eat sometimes."'This true son of the soil': Hall Caine and Edward Faragher (1889), Manx Notes 31 (2004), edited by Stephen Miller By this time Faragher was in his 60s and was beginning to be afflicted by rheumatism, from which he was to suffer increasingly and which threatened to keep him from work entirely. These problems were then compounded by what he saw to be the unfair treatment he received from farmers who kept wages unfairly low. A poem he wrote on this subject features the following stanza:'I composed some verses about them the other day in Manx': Edward Faragher and his 'Song about Covetous Farmers' (1899) , Manx Notes 23 (2004), edited by Stephen Miller
Arrane Mychione Eirinee Sayntoilagh / A Song About Covetous Farmers [extract]Feer-veg t'ad cur da labree boght Son e hooilliel as laboraght: Son kiangley arroo ayns yn ouyr Ny-yeih t'ad geam dy vel eh rouyr. Very little do they give the poor labourer For his toil and labour: For binding corn in the harvest. Yet they exclaim that it is too much.
In response to Faragher's struggle to earn enough to live on, Roeder tried to create an interest in him as a literary and cultural figure, so that a public fund might be raised to support him. In 1898 he wrote to the Manx novelist Hall Caine, at that time perhaps the British isles' most popular and successful writer, to ask him to write about Faragher so as to raise his profile and the public's awareness of him. However, Caine responded with a letter that reflected the lack of understanding or interest in Faragher at that time:
"I have read the poems with pleasure; but while I think they show a good deal of sensibility & poetic feeling, to certain homely states of emotion, I do not think they are sufficiently remarkable as literature to warrant any special attention. [...] That the author is a man of very amiable character, & that his love of his native island is very tender & beautiful is sufficiently obvious, but I doubt if these are enough to warrant us in claiming for him any attention beyond that which is due to a really admirable man who has preserved a simplicity of natural feeling that is rather too rare."
A public fund was never raised for Faragher, much to the frustration of Roeder and others.
Publishing (1900–1907)
Through the instigation and endorsement of Roeder, a small amount of Faragher's writing began to appear in print at the start of the 20th century.
Besides the occasional poem printed in sympathetic newspapers or publications, Faragher's single publication under his own name during his lifetime was his translation into Manx of Aesop's Fables. Faragher had translated other folk tales previously, including Hans Christian Andersen's The Ugly Duckling, but at the instigation of Roeder he completed his translation of all 313 of the Aesop fables in four months in 1901, "while not in the best health, and harassed by domestic afflictions." The publishers, S.K. Broadbent of Douglas, published 25 of these tales under the Manx title, Skeealyn Aesop, in 1901. The intention was to publish further stories in future issues, but there was insufficient interest in the 1901 publication to justify it.'That patronizing Hall Caine—words, words & skinflinty': Karl Roeder writes to Sophia Morrison (1908) , Manx Notes 106 (2008), edited by Stephen Miller Realising the value of the work, despite the lack of interest at that time, Roeder deposited Faragher's full manuscript in the library of the Manx Museum for safekeeping, where it still remains today.
Skeealyn Aesop also included a number of poems and a sketch of old Cregneash. Amongst the poems was Verses Composed at Sea Some Twenty Years Ago, with lines that had perhaps become more pertinent with time:
Mona, where I have slept, Mona, where I have toiled, Mona, where I have wept, Mona, where I have smiled, My native cot, still dear to me, I wish to rest in death near thee.