William Hals (1655–1737) was a British historian who compiled a ''History of Cornwall'', the first work of any magnitude that was printed in Cornwall. He was born at Tresawsan, in the parish of

Merther Merther ( kw, Eglos Merther, meaning ''marter's church'') is a small hamlet east of Truro in Cornwall, England. It lies on the eastern side of the Tresillian River in the civil parish of St Michael Penkevil. It was formerly the churchtown of ...

in Cornwall. Much of his work was never published but was used by other Cornish historians, including

Davies Gilbert Davies Gilbert (born Davies Giddy, 6 March 1767 – 24 December 1839) was an English engineer, author, and politician. He was elected to the Royal Society on 17 November 1791 and served as President of the Royal Society from 1827 to 1830. He ...

Thomas Tonkin Thomas Tonkin (1678–1742) was a Cornish landowner and historian. Early life He was born at Trevaunance, St Agnes, Cornwall, and baptised in its parish church on 26 September 1678, was the eldest son of Hugh Tonkin (1652–1711), vice-warden of ...

, and John Whitaker. Some of his original work is now held by the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

Family

His parents were James Hals of Fentongollan, and Anne, daughter of John Martin of Hurston, Devon. James was a son of Sir Nicholas Halse. He married three times. His first wife was an Evans of Landrini in Wales, his second a Carveth of

Perranzabuloe Perranzabuloe (; kw, Pyran yn Treth) is a coastal civil parishes in England, civil parish and a hamlet in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Perranzabuloe parish is bordered to the west by the Atlantic coast and St Agnes, Cornwall, St Agnes par ...

, and his last wife was a Courtenay of Tremere. He died without issue in 1737 or 1739 at Tregury (Tregurtha), in the parish of

St Wenn St Wenn ( kw, Sen Gwenna) is a civil parish and village in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is situated six miles (10 km) west of Bodmin and nine miles (14.5 km) east of Newquay. The parish population at the 2011 census ...

, of which he owned the rectorial tithes.

Parochial History of Cornwall

Hals began his work on the history of Cornwall in 1685, forming a collection which he continued until 1736, but it was never actually finished. In about 1750 Andrew Brice, a publisher from Exeter, published Hals's ''Complete History of Cornwall, Part II being the Parochial History'', containing accounts of seventy-two parishes, Advent to

Helston Helston ( kw, Hellys) is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the Lizard Peninsula approximately east of Penzance and south-west of Falmouth.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map she ...

. The fascicules were printed progressively at Truro (160 pages in all). However the first part was never published. It is believed that the scandalous details included by Hals caused a discontinuance of the publication. Hals's incomplete ''History'' is very rare. The most complete copy is in the Grenville Library at the

. The ''Parochial History of Cornwall'' by

was based on the collections of Hals, with additional collections by

. Much of Hals's digressions and gossip is omitted. The manuscripts of Hals's ''History'' passed through various hands, and belonged at one time to Dr John Whitaker. They were given by Whitaker's daughter, Mrs Taunton, to

Henry Sewell Stokes Henry Sewell Stokes (1808–1895) was a British poet. The Cornish poet was a schoolfellow of Charles Dickens; later literary friends included Tennyson and Robert Stephen Hawker. His great nephew, Sewell Stokes, was a novelist, biographer and play ...

of Bodmin, Cornwall. Mr Stokes transferred them to Sir John Maclean, from whom they were acquired in 1875 for the British Museum.

Other works

Cornish British Vocabulary by William Hals

] Other works in manuscript form held in the British Library *''The History of St. Michael's Mount'' *''Cornish British Vocabulary''

dd. MS 71157 DD, dd, or other variants may refer to: Arts and entertainment *"D.D.", a track on mixtape ''Echoes of Silence'' by The Weeknd *DD (character), a character in ''The Saga of Seven Suns'' novels by Kevin J. Anderson *DD National or DD1, an India ...

(c. 1701) *''An Latimer ay Kernow, a Dictionary of the Cornish Language'' *

John Keigwin John Keigwin (1641–1716) was a Cornish antiquary, born at Mousehole, Cornwall. He was a leading member of a group of antiquaries in west Penwith: this group also included John and Thomas Boson, William Gwavas, Thomas Tonkin, William Borlase, ...

's MS. of ''Mount Calvary (

Pascon agan Arluth The anonymous poem ''Pascon agan Arluth'' is the oldest complete literary work in the Cornish language, dating from the 14th century. The modern title (it is untitled in the oldest manuscript) means "The Passion of Our Lord", but the poem has al ...

)'', (1679–1680) (amended transcript)

Sources

*Boase and Courtney's Bibl. Cornub. 1874, i. 204, iii. 1214 *Polwhele's Hist. of Cornwall, 1806, v. 203 *D. Gilbert's Parochial Hist. of Cornwall, passim *Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. xii. 22 *Gent. Mag. 1790 pt. ii. pp. 608, 711, 1791 pt. i. p. 32 *

William Thomas Lowndes William Thomas Lowndes (c. 1798 – 31 July 1843), English bibliographer, was born about 1798, the son of a London bookseller. His principal work, ''The Bibliographer’s Manual of English Literature''—the first systematic work of the kind—w ...

's ''Bibliographer's Manual'' 1858, i. 525 *Lysons's Magna Britannia, 1814, cv. 2 *H. Merivale's Historical Studies, 1865, p. 357 *Journal of Brit. Archæol. Assoc. xxxiii. 37 *Information from Mr. Stokes; see also note in Mr Stokes's Voyage of Arundel.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hals, William 1655 births 1737 deaths Historians of Cornwall Writers from Cornwall People from Lamorran and Merther