W. Walter Gill
| William Walter Gill | |
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| Born | William Walter Gill 1876 Isle of Man |
| Died | 31 December 1963 Lezayre, Isle of Man |
| Nationality | Manx |
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William Walter Gill (1876–1963) was a Manx scholar, folklorist and poet. He is best remembered for his three volumes of A Manx Scrapbook.
Gill was born on the Isle of Man in 1876, of Manx and Welsh descent. Much of his youth was spent with his maternal grandfather, named Jones, a director of the North and South Wales Bank in Douglas, who lived in a house next to St. Ninian's church. After a time in a private academy in Finchley Road, Douglas, he spent the remainder of his youth in Maughold and Glen Auldyn.
In 1913 Gill had a number of his poems published in William Cubbon's review of poetry from the Isle of Man, A Book of Manx Poetry. Although a personal friend, Cubbon's estimation of Gill's poetry was evidently high, as his selection included six of his poems, in a small collection that featured only eleven poems from the Manx National Poet, T. E. Brown. Also in 1913, Gill performed in a supporting role as Pa'zon Gale in a dramatisation of "Betsy Lee", the first part of T. E. Brown's Fo'c's'le Yarns.
After some time earning his living at sea, Gill volunteered to become a private during World War I. It was whilst serving in France that Gill released a collection of poetry, Juan-y-Pherick’s Journey and Other Poems. This was printed through the Manx Society, Yn Çheshaght Ghailckagh, to raise funds for the war effort, as was announced in the Society's journal upon its release:
"Mr. Gill will give us, in his little volume, verse with a swing in it, and real Manx feeling, He will hand over the entire gross proceeds to the Manx Society's fund for sending music, reading matter, and comforts to Manx sailors and soldiers"
One of the best remembered poems from this collection today is 'Boaldyn':
Writing shortly after Gill's death, Mona Douglas was to comment on him that: "Our Manx literature is too small in bulk, and too uneven in quality, for us to miss claiming full recognition for a writer who was, perhaps, the finest Manx poet of our generation." Three further poems by Gill that had not featured in Juan-y-Pherick’s Journey were published posthumously in 1972 in the first edition of the journal, Manninagh, edited by Mona Douglas.
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