M. A. (Margaret Ann) Courtney

Born in Penzance in 1834, Margaret Ann Courtney was an English writer, poet, and folklorist whose work is closely tied to Cornwall. She is especially associated with recording the everyday traditions and beliefs of west Cornwall at a time when many of them were beginning to fade from common use.

Her best-known book is Cornish Feasts and Folk-Lore (1890), a detailed account of local celebrations, customs, and stories. She also worked on Glossary of Words in Use in Cornwall and contributed writing on Cornish folk traditions to periodicals, helping preserve regional speech and culture for later readers.

Courtney died in 1920. Today she is remembered as an important collector of Cornish folklore, valued not just for storytelling but for saving details of community life that might otherwise have been lost.