If the knowing old Dowzer which discovery’s madeHe scratching from location right after which phone calls his comrade,Stating, “Hallo!

If the knowing old Dowzer which discovery’s madeHe scratching from location right after which phone calls his comrade,Stating, “Hallo!

It then goes on that have enough time verses authored so you’re able to reflect Cornish dialect, appropriate the brand new conference of one’s miner ‘Cousin Jack/Jacky’ with his maid, Mary, in addition to their subsequent cam and deeds. Interestingly, an equivalent pamphlet offers research to possess ‘Cousin Jan’ and perhaps Jenny-each other The month of january and Jenny are present for other letters in the text of one’s poem, suggesting it as well was recognized as conventional brands to have Cornish emails, and ‘Cousin phlets that will be stated on the back out of A beneficial Cornish Ghost Story, particularly This new Bal, otherwise, ‘Tes an excellent Bra’ Keenly Lode, Relative Jan’s Story (very first typed at Helston for the 1850) and its own sequel Cousin Jan’s Courtship and you will Marriage (first had written within Truro within the 1859), one another from the William Bentinck Forfar. The first of those, typed 3 years till the first source regarding OED resource in order to Relative Jan (that’s, in reality, obtained from a magazine advert because of it brochure out-of 1853, although the OED will not speak about this), boasts the second passageway:

If you can easily pay attention to myself for a moment, your shallHear everything about seeking to and dealing good Bal;How the Lode are located because of the a little hazel twig,Sent along side floor from the certain understanding old prig. ,’Tes the fresh new keenliest gozan thee ever before ded’st find. (13)

Cousin ple of the ore in order to a captain Polglaze, ‘a Purser, infamous, Who quickly, by the exploration, an abundant guy had grown’. The guy announces that they need to go to London to increase finance (‘The ran doing Bristol because of the a steamer of Hayle, And you can continued out-of Bristol in order to London area by the rail’), and their excitement will be recounted when you look at the Cornish dialect of the Cousin The month of january. Subsequently, the shape ‘Cousin Jan’ is found in a small number of Cornish magazine posts on the 1860s with the 1890s because the name out-of an excellent Cornish ‘everyman’ otherwise because the a broad term to have Cornishmen/Cornish miner, i.age. it seems to have performed as a variant sort of ‘Cousin Jack’/’Cousin Jacky’. This really is supported by the truth that ‘Cozen Jan’ very first seems from inside the Forfar’s poem as part of an expression you to definitely looks essentially just like Christopher Kid’s old-fashioned Cornish miner’s statement “Com’se collectively Relative Jacky”.

Without a doubt, so it passing seems to provide research to possess a good Cornish utilize out-of ‘Cousin Jack/Jacky’ to have an excellent miner still living during the Cornwall a bit regarding the 1850s otherwise early 1860s

The second publication that further illustrates an early usage of ‘Cousin Jack’ and similar in chicas escort Louisville KY Britain, without obvious reference to Cornish emigrants, is a report in The Cornish Telegraph for 27 September 1854. This briefly recounted the exhumation of a miner who fell down the shaft of Pednandrea Mine, Redruth in the 1820s. The rediscovery of his remains apparently prompted ‘great excitement’ and his funeral procession on Sunday, 17 September 1854, was attended by four thousand people, equal to around half of the population of Redruth at that time. What is particularly striking is that, although his real name is given as John Stephens, the newspaper notes that in life he was ‘better known as “Cousin Jack Cobbler,”‘(14) something that obviously suggests the use of the nickname ‘Cousin Jack’ in Cornwall as far back as the 1820s. The status of Stephens’ alternative name as a nickname is confirmed by the report on the inquest published the previous week in the Royal Cornwall Gazette:

Cozen The month of january, d’ee come ‘long wi’ me

On Saturday the 16th instant, an inquest was held. on the body of John Stephens, aged 25 years. According to the evidence of William Thomas, miner, it appeared that as long ago as the 9th of August, 1828, the deceased and his brother were employed in stripping the shaft, and drawing up the materials in the Pednandrea Mine, near Redruth. The deceased and witness both fell into the shaft together. Lifeless is actually well known regarding the neighborhood by the moniker regarding “Relative Jack Cobbler.”(15)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *