Was Montserrat ever predominantly Irish speaking?

The Scientician

I can find various references to Montserrat having been Irish speaking at one time. This includes several references to a native Irish speaker conversing with black Monserratans in the 1850s in Irish. Is this true or a myth? And to what extent was Monserrat ever Irish speaking? Presumably many of the Irish deported to the region in Cromwellian era were Irish-speakers but how long did the language remain spoken on the island and was it ever the main language?

pedroeibar1

The Scientician wrote: »

I can find various references to Montserrat having been Irish speaking at one time. This includes several references to a native Irish speaker conversing with black Monserratans in the 1850s in Irish. Is this true or a myth? And to what extent was Monserrat ever Irish speaking? Presumably many of the Irish deported to the region in Cromwellian era were Irish-speakers but how long did the language remain spoken on the island and was it ever the main language?

I would be surprised if the language survived for that length. Why would native speakers keep it alive? Also, Montserrat had its first influx of Irishmen long before Cromwell, in the 1630s, free settlers invited by the then governor, an Irishman named Brisket and were given land to grow tobacco. Was not the bulk of the Cromwellian expatriates sent to Barbados & Virginia and after escaping from the former some went to Montserrat? There was a strong racial divide between the Irish and the English. When the French raided Montserrat the Irish - free and indentured - joined with them and at the end of hostilities the French were sent home, but all captured Irish were hanged. There is a book about the Cromwellain transplantees, 'To Hell or Barbadoes'.
P.

The Scientician

Yes I've heard about the book, I wasn't sure if it made much reference to Montserrat. I was surprised to find reference to the Irish language being spoken there but there's more than one online.

From Washed by the Gulfstream by Maria McGarrity, p.34

The employ of the Irish language on the island is suggested in a single, uncorroborated reference in Jeffreys' The West Indian Atlas (1780). His statement "the use of the Irish language... even among the Negroes," hints at the prevalence and potential of the Irish as both servants and masters.

And in several places I found reference to this:

About 100 years after the 1768 rebellion, a ship crewed by Irish-speaking Corkmen dropped anchor at Montserrat. At the dock, they were amazed to hear black Montserratans speaking Irish. As cordial conversation went forward between the two groups in formal Gaelic fashion, the Montserratans referred to Cork as "Corcaigh na gCuan" (Cork of the Harbors), a poetical term for Cork used by the filí (hereditary prophet-poets of the Irish nobility) which had not been in common use in Ireland since the destruction of the Gaelic social system in the 17th century. Eventually, as things loosened up a bit, it's said the Montserratans also informed the Corkmen with good humor and a straight face "Tá sé sin ait, ní fheictear mar Gaeil sibh" - "That's funny, you guys don't look Irish."

From: http://www.scoilgaeilge.org/academics/slaves.htm

Now that second reference sounds to me like a joke that was taken on face value but the whole thing has piqued my curiosity.

Benny_Cake

It would be interesting to see if any local expressions or words in English as spoken on Montserrat could be traced to Irish.Would have my doubts though.

pedroeibar1

The Scientician wrote: »

Yes I've heard about the book, I wasn't sure if it made much reference to Montserrat. I was surprised to find reference to the Irish language being spoken there but there's more than one online.

From Washed by the Gulfstream by Maria McGarrity, p.34



And in several places I found reference to this:



From: http://www.scoilgaeilge.org/academics/slaves.htm

Now that second reference sounds to me like a joke that was taken on face value but the whole thing has piqued my curiosity.

Interesting links, thanks. A bit of the 'duirt bean liom go nduirt bean lei gur chuala si bean a ra' about that US poem/quote from Long Island!........ Hard to ascertain now, since their volcano wiped everything - see http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/40-incredible-pictures-of-montserrats-exclusion-z Photos 25, 27 and 30 tell the story!

I had dealings in Paris c 1992 with an accountant there named O’Faolain or O’Follain– I considered him a gaelgoir as he would email me only in French. When we eventually met he looked decidedly un-Irish;) and when we got to know each other – nice guy - I learned that he spoke only French and his father had been born in Montserrat. He knew there was an Irish/slave link in his ancestry but nothing more.

P.

The Scientician

Benny_Cake wrote: »

It would be interesting to see if any local expressions or words in English as spoken on Montserrat could be traced to Irish.Would have my doubts though.

This guy thinks not: http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/brogue.htm

The Scientician

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

Hard to ascertain now, since their volcano wiped everything

Well not everything, but from what I can gather there are now more Montserrat folk living in the UK and US than in what's left of Montserrat.

Here's a short clip of an elderly Montserratan couple in the 1970s. They're not speaking Irish but they seem to have a trace of an Irish accent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QHYFXDGf4Y

man1

Check out this great book "If the Irish ran the world: Monserrat, 1630-1730", Donald Harman Akenson, Liverpool University Press, 1997

Jellybaby1

"To Hell or Barbados" - lyrics by Damien Dempsey. We have this CD in the house somewhere, thought you'd like to hear it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLLH1i5_LlQ