of Scotland to triple from 1755 to 1881, though many of those who immigrated to the area spoke English as their first language. The Highlands and, as a result, Highland culture and Scottish Gaelic became less important (Kearney 2014: 151). By 1891, the number of Scottish Gaelic monolinguals had fallen to 43,738, just 1 % of the total population (MacAulay 2008: 141).
2.1.3 Manx
Unlike the other Celtic languages, Manx, was mostly protected from outside influence due to the island’s isolation until approximately 1700. This changed over the course of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with the arrival of smuggling, an increase in migration and tourism, and the influence of the English school system (Broderick 2015: 355). During the nineteenth century, islanders began raising their children in English with the view that it would be more useful than Manx. Henry Jenner’s 1874 survey of the language showed that only 0.05 % of the population were Manx monoglots at the time but that 30 % still habitually spoke Manx (Jenner 1876). According to official census figures, in 1921 the percentage of the population who claimed to speak Manx was 1.52 % (Broderick 1991: 102).
2.1.4 Welsh
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, it is thought that 70 % of the population in Wales spoke only Welsh, 20 % only English, and 10 % were bilingual. Welsh was spoken throughout Wales, though English was more common along the Welsh-English border, in Monmouthshire and Glamorganshire in the southeast, and around the rapidly expanding port towns of Swansea, Cardiff, and Newport (Kearney 2014: 241). In 1891, the first census concerned with language distribution was conducted. It showed drastic change in the numbers of Welsh-speakers; a total of 54.4 % of those surveyed spoke Welsh, with 32.1 % of the population over the age of two speaking Welsh only, though this dropped further to 7.3 % in 1901 (Davies 2014: 81–82). Apart from industrialisation, many see the 1847 Reports of the Commissioners of Inquiry into the State of Education in Wales as having a major influence on the Welsh language in the nineteenth century. The reports, or the Treachery of the Blue Books as they were also known, portrayed the Welsh as immoral and uneducated:
[T]he Welsh language is a vast drawback to Wales, and a manifold barrier to the moral progress and commercial prosperity of the people. […] It dissevers the people from intercourse which would greatly advance their civilisation, and bars the access of improving knowledge to their minds. (Johnson et al. 1847: 66)
The reports had a detrimental effect on the language as Welsh-speakers began to believe that Welsh was an inferior language which could not offer them the same opportunities as English would, and English became the language of education.
2.1.5 Breton
In the nineteenth century, Breton was still widely spoken in Lower Brittany, particularly in the west (Timm 2015: 715). However, reliable figures for the number of speakers are difficult to find. Foy (2002: 29) refers to census statistics from 1886 which indicate that 51 % (1,320,000) of the population of Lower Brittany were monoglot Breton. Referring to Broudic (1999), she proposes that that the corresponding figures for 1905 show a decline in the number of speakers by 32 %. The education system played a major role in this decrease; 1882 saw the Jules Ferry school laws introduce mandatory French-medium education which made no mention of any other language. School children were often punished if they were caught speaking Breton (Prémel 1995: 53), which Prémel sees as the main reason for the stark decline in the language in the twentieth century (ibid.: 54). While Favereau (2007: 130) observes a Breton Revival, particularly in terms of literature, at the turn of the century, it is not generally considered to have played a major role in the Celtic Revival as Breton had flourished in Lower Brittany until that time and, unlike Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Manx and Welsh, was only starting to experience a period of pressure from another language.
2.1.6 Cornish
In stark contrast to Breton, Cornish was no longer used as a means of communication by 1800 (George 2015: 491), and though there were still a number of individuals who could speak the language, it is believed that the majority of these had died by 1900. Jenner (1904/2016: 12) suggests that the Reformation was particularly detrimental to the language, as the Book of Common Prayer, which was translated into all of the other Celtic languages of the British Isles, was never translated into Cornish.
2.2 The Celtic Revival: Language, culture and autonomy
The late nineteenth century and early twentieth century saw a vast increase in interest in both ancient and modern Celtic culture throughout Celtic regions in the British Isles and Lower Brittany. While much of the research conducted focuses on the idea of a Gaelic Revival, particularly in Irish culture and language, other Celtic cultures were also experiencing revival at the time. These revivals took place in a number of arenas, both within and between individual regions, and included the foundation of organisations to promote Celtic cultures, the publication of journals in the Celtic languages and the organisation of international Celtic Congresses. One particular journal of note published during the period of the Celtic Revival is the Irisleabhar na Gaedhilge (The Gaelic Journal), which was founded in Ireland in 1882. The focus of this “bilingual” (Irish and English) periodical was to preserve and cultivate the Irish language, but it also published pieces about developments in other Celtic regions in Scottish Gaelic, Welsh and French.
A key role in the revival was played by the organisations set up to promote Celtic languages and culture. In 1891, An Comunn Gàidhealach (The Gaelic Association) was founded in Scotland to support and promote Scottish Gaelic language and culture. Conradh na Gaeilge (The Gaelic League), founded in 1893, promoted Irish language and culture, and was followed in 1894 by the foundation of the Gaelic Athletic Association, set up to govern and standardise Irish Gaelic sports such as hurling and Gaelic football. The Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (Welsh Language Society), which envisaged a bilingual Wales, was established in 1885 at the National Eisteddfod, a festival celebrating Welsh literature and music. On the Isle of Man, Yn Çheshaght Ghailckagh (The Manx Gaelic Society) was established in 1897 for “the preservation of everything that is distinctively Manx, and, above all, to the cultivation of a national spirit” (Morrison 1914: 132). Cowethas Kelto-Kernuak (The Celtic Cornish Society) was founded in 1902 for “the study and preservation of the Celtic remains in the Duchy of Cornwall, the revival of national customs and sports, [and] the Cornish language as a spoken tongue” (N.N. 1902). The clear parallels here in the five Celtic regions of the British Isles can be seen to illustrate the prevailing sentiment of pride in language and culture at the time, which led to increased communication and exchange between the regions.
The long-running Welsh Eisteddfod tradition had made a comeback in the wake of the Blue Books, with the first national Eisteddfod held in 1861. This inspired similar national events in both Scotland, with An Comunn Gàidhealach organising the first Mòd in 1892, and in Ireland, with Conradh na Gaeilge holding the Oireachtas from 1897. Similar events on the Isle of Man and in Brittany were also held but not until considerably later, in 1924 and 1971 respectively. Representatives and performers from each of the three regions regularly attended these festivals (O’Leary 1986: 103), which became a platform for intercultural discourse. At the 1898 Eisteddfod, the idea of forming a pan-Celtic association was discussed (ibid.), and this was then founded in 1900 as the Dublin-based Celtic Association (Stewart 2018: 148).
Though Celtic organisations and events throughout these regions were officially non-political, many contributed to a sense of identity and, particularly in Ireland and Scotland, a feeling of nationalism, and it was not uncommon for members to be involved in local or national politics. Hechter (2017: 167) uses Ireland as an example to illustrate the role a revival can play in nationalism: “the
