Nicholas Boson (1624–1708) was a writer in, and preserver of, the

Cornish language Cornish (Standard Written Form: or , ) is a Southwestern Brittonic language, Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic language family. Along with Welsh language, Welsh and Breton language, Breton, Cornish descends from Common Brittonic, ...

. He was born in

Newlyn Newlyn () is a seaside town and fishing port in south-west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 203 ''Land's End'' It is the largest fishing port in England. Newlyn lies on the shore of Mount's Bay and for ...

to a landowning and merchant family involved in the

pilchard Sardine and pilchard are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring suborder Clupeoidei. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century; a somewhat dubious etymology says it comes ...

fisheries. Nicholas's mother had prevented their neighbours and servants speaking Cornish to him, so he only became fluent in the language when he needed it for business with fishermen. He assisted both

William Scawen William Scawen (1600–1689) was one of the pioneers in the revival of the Cornish language. He was a politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1640 and fought for the Royalist cause in the English Civil War. Life Scawen was the son of Rob ...

and

Edward Lhuyd Edward Lhuyd (1660– 30 June 1709), also known as Edward Lhwyd and by other spellings, was a Welsh scientist, geographer, historian and antiquary. He was the second Keeper of the University of Oxford's Ashmolean Museum, and published the firs ...

in their recording of Cornish. Boson wrote three significant texts in Cornish: ''"Nebbaz gerriau dro tho Carnoack"'' ("A Few Words about Cornish"), between 1675 and 1708; ''"Jowan Chy-an-Horth, py, An try foynt a skyans"'' ("John of Chyannor, or, The three points of wisdom"), published by Edward Lhuyd in 1707, though according to Lhuyd written about forty years earlier; and ''The Dutchess of Cornwall's Progress'', partly in English and now known only in fragmentary quotations. The first two are the only known surviving Cornish prose texts from the seventeenth century. He is buried in

Paul Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...

churchyard In Christian countries, a churchyard is a patch of land adjoining or surrounding a church (building), church, which is usually owned by the relevant church or local parish itself. In the Scots language and in both Scottish English and Ulster S ...

, where his son

John Boson John Boson was a cabinet maker and carver whose work is associated with that of William Kent. It is said that if he had not died at such a relatively young age then his place would have been assured in the history of furniture making in the Unit ...

and cousin Thomas Boson, fellow writers in Cornish, also rest.

References

*Matthew Spriggs, ‘Boson family (per. c.1675–1730) ’,

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 200
accessed 11 Oct 2007

External links

1624 births 1708 deaths Burials in Cornwall People from Newlyn Cornish language activists Cornish-language writers {{Cornwall-stub