A.W. Moore

Who is A.W. Moore?

Arthur William Moore, known as A.W. Moore, was a Manx historian, folklorist, and politician born in 1853 who became the foremost documenter of nineteenth-century Manx tradition. Educated at King William's College and Cambridge, he returned to the Isle of Man and combined a career in public life with dedicated antiquarian scholarship. He served as a member of the House of Keys, the island's elected parliamentary chamber, and was elected its Speaker in 1898, holding the position until his death. Alongside his political career, Moore produced the two works that remain cornerstones of Manx cultural scholarship: "The Folk-lore of the Isle of Man" (1891), a systematic collection of the island's myths, legends, superstitions, customs, and proverbs gathered from oral sources across the parishes, and "A History of the Isle of Man" (1900), the standard general history of the island for decades afterward. He also compiled "A Vocabulary of the Anglo-Manx Dialect", published posthumously in 1924. Moore's fieldwork preserved a large body of proverbs, tales, and customs that would otherwise have been lost as English displaced Manx Gaelic as the island's everyday language, and his books remain primary reference sources for Manx folklore to this day.

Sources: A.W. Moore, The Folk-lore of the Isle of Man (1891) · A.W. Moore, A History of the Isle of Man (1900) · Manx National Heritage, biographical records on A.W. Moore