Page 10 - The 17th Percy French Festival: The Quest for Authenticity

and France. Two of the anti-German songs that French
wrote during the war–Am Tag (To the Day) and All By
the Baltic Say–were unusual in their harsh com ments
on contemporary individuals or events. (Illus. 10)
French’s health deteriorated after he tried to board
a train at Blackrock in 1916 and was dragged along
the platform.37 Although most Irish people eventually
turned against the seemingly interminable war, French’s
support for various war-related charities persisted until
the conflict’s end. This was not surprising, given his fam -
ily’s participation in the war effort: his youngest sibling,
Christopher St George French (1872–1940), served as
a lieutenant in the 7th (City of London) Battal ion of the
London Regiment and as a captain in the Royal Irish Illus 10. An advertisement for Percy French’s Am Tag,
Fusiliers during the war;38 Ettie, his eldest daughter, marking the end of the First World War. Evening Herald,
served as a driver in the Women’s Legion in St Albans;39 13th November 1918.
and his beloved nephew, Lieutenant Arthur Charles de
Burgh Daly, was killed on 9th Septem ber 1916 at Ginchy
while serving in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. He was only
19 years old at the time of his death.40 (Illus. 11). French
also found time to give his support to causes that had
nothing to do with the war, such as The Grand Concert
he put on in Dublin’s Moles worth Hall in February 1918
to aid the Church League for Women’s Suffrage.41

After the War
French’s support for war charities did not end when
the conflict finished, as he staged several performances
to aid wounded British servicemen in 1919. The final
role that he played was that of the elderly schoolmaster,
Matthew Kavanagh, in the comedy The Letter from
the Front, in Glasgow’s Palette Club on 16th January
1920. Just over a week later, on 24th January 1920,
Illus 11. Percy French’s nephew, Lieutenant Arthur Charles
French died, broken down in health and suffering from de Burgh Daly, Royal Dublin Fusiliers. Irish Independent,
pneu monia, in the Formby home of his cousin, Canon 22nd September 1916.
John (‘Johnny’) Brooke Richardson (1857–1928).42
He was buried in St Luke’s Church of England cemetery Notes

in Formby in Lancashire (now Merseyside), England. 37 de Burgh Daly, Chronicles, pp.185 –186.

38 London Gazette, 14th April 1915.
39 French, Willie, pp.98–99.

Brian Griffin April 2025
40 Irish Independent, 22nd September 1916; de Burgh Daly, Chronicles, p.54. His entry
on the Commonwealth and War Graves Commission website states that he was
a member of the 5th Battalion and was attached to the 9th Battalion when he died.

41 Church League for Women’s Suffrage, 1st February 1918.

42 He remained in good spirits until the end. Ettie French records that Canon
Richardson’s elderly mother, Percy’s favourite aunt, was also confined to bed
in her son’s house and that she and Percy ‘exchanged comic notes with each
other from their respective bedsides’: French, Willie, p.83.

THE QUEST FOR AUTHENTICIT Y •9•