Chesten Marchant

Chesten Marchant or Cheston Marchant, who died in 1676 at Gwithian, Cornwall,^[1] reportedly having reached the age of 164 (the claim apparently going back to either William Scawen^[2] or, according to Henry Jenner, to William Borlase^[3]), is believed to have been the last monoglot Cornish speaker, as opposed to other speakers such as Dolly Pentreath who could also speak English.

See also

• John Davey

References

1. "Gwithian Village, Cornwall". cornwallinfocus.co.uk. Retrieved 12 November 2010.
2. Vulliamy, Colwyn Edward (1925). Unknown Cornwall. John Lane. p. 220. Retrieved 14 August 2014. Cornish people seem to live to great ages, though some of the records of longevity should, perhaps, be treated with a certain reserve. C. S. Gilbert gives a long list of centenarians, and super-centenarians, including a woman named Chester [sic] Marchant who lived in Gwithian, and who, in 1676, according to one Mr. Scawen, reached the astounding age of 164 years.
3. Jenner, Henry (2012) [1904]. "I. The Story of the Cornish Language". A Handbook of the Cornish Language: Chiefly in Its Latest Stages, with Some Account of Its History and Literature (Reprint ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 16. ISBN 978-1-108-04702-9. Retrieved 16 January 2016. It is recorded by Dr. Borlase that Cheston Marchant, who died at Gwithian in 1676 aged 164 (!), could speak nothing but Cornish.