Pioneers of planned languages in Banbury, Oxfordshire

Pioneers of planned languages in Banbury, Oxfordshire

Volapük is a constructed language, created in 1879 and 1880 by a Roman Catholic priest called Johann Martin Schleyer in Baden, Germany. Volapük was designed to be easy to learn, with a system of simple roots derived from European languages, and regular affixes which attached to the roots to make new words. Although its vocabulary is based on English and the Romance languages, the word roots in Volapük have been modified to such a degree that they are virtually unrecognisable; for example, lol is from the English ‘rose’, nim is from ‘animal’. The name of the language is made up of the words “world” and “speak”. Despite its relative complexity it was the first invented language to gain widespread success and was the first international auxiliary language to have an organisation to promote its use. In around 1900 Volapük was eclipsed by Esperanto, which had been published in 1887. 

According to a review of the first 10 years of  Volapük, Rupert Kniele (in ‘Das erste Jahrzehnt der Weltsprache Volapük’, Schoy, Überlingen 1889, p 106, written in German),  the Banburg (sic) Volapük Club was founded in 1888, and had 35 members. It was the first in the United Kingdom. Its president was a German (later naturalised as a British citizen), Dr Heinrich M. Hain who taught at All Saints School, Bloxham. The unnamed Secretary lived at 54 Parson’s Street, Banbury. He was in fact Samuel Soden Linnett (1839 to 1909), a chemist and druggist.

 A curious source is the Aberdeen Evening Express which reported on 25 April 1888 that ‘Twenty-four boys at All Saints’ School, Bloxham, are learning Volapuk’.

 A long detailed letter from Heinrich M. Hain, "dipl. Professor of Volapuk" appeared in the Banbury Guardian on 5 December 1889. It starts with “I scarcely ever come to Banbury without being asked whether Volapuk is progressing». In a postscript he offers lessons gratis during the Christmas holidays.

We learn a little about Heinrich Maria Hain in a history of the school.  “The Bavarian-born master was both a talented linguist, fluent in five languages and knowledgeable in others, and an outstanding musician with a high reputation outside Bloxham. He enjoyed the unusual distinction of being a volunteer officer in both the German army and the Oxfordshire Light Infantry”.  (Source: A History of Bloxham School by Brian S. Smith, Bloxham School and the Old Bloxhamist Society, 1978).

The Volapuk Club in Banbury was clearly the first society for a planned language to exist in the United Kingdom, according to Kniele, and the school in Bloxham was certainly the first at which an artificial or planned language was taught.

There was also an Esperanto group in Banbury, whose secretary in its founding year of 1913 was Mrs Braggins of 6 Calthorpe Road. The group met at the home of Mrs Gillett, The Elms. (Source: inside cover of The British Esperantist magazine, March 1913). Mrs M.C. Gillett became a Fellow of the British Esperanto Association in 1916. She was active in the Esperanto world for many years. She attended a conference on teaching the language in schools held in Geneva in 1922 and was a ‘delegate councillor of the national Esperanto Association in 1928. In that year The British Esperantist recorded a decline in membership in Banbury. (BE p. 17 January 1928). 

In 1927 the secretary of the Esperanto group in Banbury was Miss G.M. Mason, Astrop Road, Kings Sutton.

Pupils at the Friends School at Sibford formed an Esperanto group In 1928 (B.E. 1928, p. 27) Nine pupils from that school passed an Esperanto Preliminary examination in 1928 (B.E. 1928, p. 40.) A teacher of Esperanto there was Frank Parkin.

The earliest pioneer of Esperanto in the town was Thomas James Mander (1887-1918) of Bridge House. He is remembered on the Roll Of Honour in Banbury Parish Church. In October 1918 Mander was appointed as second lieutenant in the Indian Army Reserve of Officers. Sadly he died in Mesopotamia on 9th November 1918, and he was buried in Tehran War Cemetery. He learned Esperanto in 1906, and is listed as Esperantist 13316 in the Adresaro (Directory of addresses) published by Esperanto’s creator Dr Zamenhof in 1907. 

One wonders if there there early minute books of these Banbury linguistic groups’ activities in existence? Did any of these enthusiasts pass on letters or postcards in the languages to later generations?

Book:

“Das erste Jahrzehnt der Weltsprache Volapük”, Schoy, Überlingen 1889, p 106.