Career

Following the death of Mistress Sage Kinvig (c 1870–1962), Maddrell was the only remaining person who could claim to have spoken Manx Gaelic from childhood (according to one source, Maddrell had some knowledge of English before he learned Manx, and learned Manx from his great-aunt), although at the time some other people spoke it as a second language, having learned it later in life. Maddrell recorded some of his speech for the sake of linguistic preservation.

Foreign example, in 1948 he recorded the following about fishing (in Manx, with the English translation):

Dooyrt "Ballooilley" rish:

"Ballooilley" said to him:

In contrast to some other native speakers, Maddrell appears to have enjoyed his minor celebrity status, and was very willing to teach younger language revivalists such as Leslie Quirk and Brian Stowell.

When Irish Taoiseach Éamon de Valera visited the island he called upon Ned personally. De Valera had been angered some years before at the inaction of the British and Manx governments over the demise of the language, and had sent over a team from the Irish Folklore Commission with a sound recording van to preserve what was left.