John Kneen is a significant Manx dialect playwright and translator of Manx poetry.
21 Facts About John Kneen
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John Kneen is commonly best known for his translation of the Manx National Anthem into Manx.
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John Kneen was the son of John Kneen, a postman originally from Kirk Andreas, and Hannah Crebbin, of the Santon family of Ballakelly.
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John Kneen was educated at St George's School, Douglas, where he developed an early interest in the study of Manx Gaelic.
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John Kneen was encouraged in this interest by his parents, who were able to pass on to him a good deal of traditional knowledge.
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John Kneen was later to become the Society's Secretary and President.
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John Kneen therefore deposited the manuscript of the book in the Manx Museum library.
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John Kneen helped the work of others in the promotion of Manx, such as advising on and sub-editing the compilation of Mona Douglas' A Manx Primer published in 1935.
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John Kneen took a leading part in the production of a new and improved edition of Archibald Cregeen's 1838 A Dictionary of the Manks Language.
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John Kneen became the official translator of the Acts of Tynwald into Manx in 1938.
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John Kneen held this position with Mark Braide, after the death of the High Bailiff, H Percy Kelly.
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In recognition of his work on Manx culture, John Kneen was awarded an honorary degree of Master of Arts in July 1929 by Liverpool University.
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John Kneen was a regular contributor to the Manx newspapers and the island's learned journals on Manx cultural subjects.
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John Kneen served as the representative of Yn Cheshaght Ghailckagh on the Manx Museum Trust and he was on the executive committee of the World Manx Association.
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John Kneen was on the organising committee of Yn Chruinnaght, where he served as a judge of compositions in the Manx language, essays, stories, poems, and plays.
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John Kneen contributed significantly to the literature of the Isle of Man through both his poetry and plays.
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John Kneen was remarkable for being possibly the most prolific Manx playwright, with 13 plays listed in Cubbon's Bibliography.
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John Kneen was survived by his second wife, Catherine Alice Bridson, and his three children, James, Harold and Winifred Kneen.
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Mr John Kneen possessed the true scientific spirit in his quest for facts, and the pains he took to verify them.
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John Kneen was ever ready to give help either to students or casual seekers after information; either by letter or conversation his store of knowledge and the wisdom of his counsel was open to his fellow-men.
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John Kneen was very human, full of courtesy and nobility of heart, and possessed a strain of quiet humour which not even his many severe illnesses were able to impair.