Ned Maddrell

Edward "Ned" Maddrell (1877 – 27 December 1974) was a fisherman from the Isle of Man who was the last surviving native speaker of the Manx language.

Following the death of Mrs. Sage Kinvig (c. 1870–1962), Maddrell was the only remaining person who could claim to have spoken Manx Gaelic from childhood (according to one source, Maddrell had some knowledge of English before he learned Manx, and learned Manx from his great-aunt), although at the time some other people spoke it as a second language, having learned it later in life.

Maddrell recorded some of his speech for the sake of linguistic preservation; for example, in 1948 he recorded the following about fishing (in Manx, with the English translation):

A newspaper article about the decline of Manx from about 1960 (Maddrell's age was given as 82) mentions and quotes him, since at the time he was, along with Kinvig, one of only two native speakers:

This was not the case in the towns. "Nobody there wanted to talk Manx, even those who had it well. They were ashamed, like. 'It will never earn a penny for you,' they said." Ned is a sprightly old man, a trifle deaf but very proud of his role as one of the last native speakers. "They have tape recordings of me telling legends and stories in Manx," he said, "in Ireland and in America and in places you never heard of."