Robert Morton Nance (1873–1959) was a leading authority on the Cornish language, nautical archaeologist, and joint founder of the Old Cornwall Society.
Nance was born in Cardiff to Cornish parents. He wrote many books and pamphlets on the Cornish language, including a Cornish dictionary, which is a standard work, and edited magazines and pamphlets about Cornwall, including Old Cornwall, the journal of the Federation of Old Cornwall Societies. Nance was also a nautical archaeologist of distinction and was an originator of the Society for Nautical Research. His insight and learning were displayed in his book Sailing-ship Models which appeared in 1924. He studied art in Britain and France and was both a painter and a skilled craftsman.
1873: He was born in Cardiff
1898: He wrote "The Merry Ballad of the Cornish Pasty".
1906: He moved from Wales and settled at Nancledra near St Ives, Cornwall.
1911: He jointly founded the Society for Nautical Research.
1920: Together with Henry Jenner, he founded the first Old Cornwall Society at St Ives.
1924: The Federation of Old Cornwall Societies was established.
1925: The Federation established the periodical Old Cornwall.
1928: He jointly founded the Gorsedh Kernow, which was inaugurated at Boscawen-Un, where he took the bardic name Mordon ('Sea Wave').
1929: He published Cornish for All using the Unified Cornish spelling system.
1951 - 1955: He was President of the Royal Institution of Cornwall for 1951 - 1955.
1959: He died and was buried at St Senara's churchyard, Zennor
1912: Speight, E E; Nance, R Morton (1912-01-01). Britain's Sea Story. Henry Frowde. ASIN B000LQ60UM
1923: A Glossary of Celtic Words in Cornish Dialect. Falmouth: Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society
1924: Sailing-ship Models: a selection from European and American collections with introductory text. London: Halton and Truscott Smith (photographs)
---do.---2nd rev. ed. London; New York: Halton, 1949
Classic Sailing-ship Models in Photographs. Reprinted Dover Publications, Mineola, NY, 2000 ISBN 0-486-41249-0
1925- : Old Cornwall, as editor and contributor.
Articles in Old Cornwall, including "The Cornish Language in the Seventeenth Century", in: Old Cornwall; vol. VI, no. 1.
1955: Cornish-English Dictionary. Federation of Old Cornwall Societies ISBN 0-902660-05-5
1956: The Cledry Plays: drolls of Old Cornwall for village acting and home reading. Federation of Old Cornwall Societies B0000CJH1W
1961: Cornish for All: a guide to Unified Cornish. Federation of Old Cornwall Societies. B0000CKWG1
[n.d.]: A Guide to Cornish Place-names; with a list of the words contained in them. Federation of Old Cornwall Societies. (Three editions, before 1971.)
