Page 4 - The 17th Percy French Festival: The Quest for Authenticity
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Percy French

                                                               A Brief Biography




                                                               Childhood and Early Adulthood
                                                               William Percy French, (Illus. %) songwriter, singer,
                                                               musician, humourist, and artist, was born on %st May
                                                               %&'( at Cloonyquin House, Co. Roscommon. He was the
                                                               second son and the third child of the nine children born
                                                               to Christopher French (%&#%– %&)*), a landlord, and
                                                               Susan Emma French (née Percy), (%&#*–%)%(), the
                                                               daughter of the Reverend William Alexander Percy
                                                               (%*)+–%&+)), rector of Kiltoghert Church of Irel and
                                                               parish in Co. Leitrim and his wife, Elizabeth Percy (née
                                                               Lloyd) (c.%&,, –%&(*).- French’s childhood was an idyllic
                                                               one in many ways: Cloonyquin House was a marvel lous
                                                               place in which to play hide-and-seek and also a game
                                                               which the boisterous Percy and his siblings called
                                                               ‘The Lion Hunt’, and in his quiter moments Percy loved
                                                               drawing, carving wooden !gures with a penknife, and
          Illustration !. Frontispiece of Emily de Burgh Daly (ed),   playing with tin soldiers. His father’s library was also
          Prose, Poems and Parodies of Percy French, Dublin: Talbot Press, %)#).  a favourite haunt, where he spent ‘many a splendid

                                                               hour [ . . . ] following the fortunes of Nicholas Nickleby,
                    Notes
           %    Belfast News-Letter, +th April %&(*; Cork Constitution, $rd March %&+);    or !ght ing Malay pirates and mediæval robbers with
                  Leinster Reporter, %'th May %&)*; Daily Express, $%st December %)%(;    Charles Reade. He also participated in such outdoor
                  Emily de Burgh Daly (ed), Chronicles and Poems of Percy French (Dublin:    pursuits as cricket, !shing and horse-riding at Cloony -
                    Talbot Press, %)##), p.%.
             #    de Burgh Daly, Chronicles, pp.(; +; %#; %'–%+; %); $)–(#.   quin.. It is likely that the good relations which pre vailed
             #    de Burgh Daly, Chronicles, p.($.             between Christopher French and his tenants contrib -
           (    Roscommon Herald, %'th December %&+,, %(th June %&+#.    uted to the harmon ious atmosphere that prevailed
                  In June %&+& he gave a party to #+, of the schoolchildren living on his estate.
                  The Roscommon Herald commented on %$th June: ‘All remarked on the clean    at Cloonyquin when Percy was growing up there./
                  and healthy appearance of the children, and with such a prospect of a rising    Percy’s father was known as ‘Christopher the Good’ due
                  generation there need be little apprehension of a decrease of the population    to his generous hospitality in host ing annual dinners
                  on the Cloonyquinn [sic] estate–but, did every landlord take the same interest
                  Mr French does in the prosperity of their tenants, the country generally would    for his tenants,0 and in Septem ber %&*), during the
                    present a di3erent appearance to what it does.’   severe agricul tural depres sion in the West of Ireland
             '    Roscommon Herald, #,th September %&*).       which was a catalyst for the Land War, the Roscommon
             +    de Burgh Daly, Chronicles, pp.+; #$.         Herald stated that Christopher French’s name was ‘the
             *    Derbyshire Advertiser and Journal, #'th June %&*'; Lakes Herald, %,th December %),).
             &    de Burgh Daly, Chronicles, p.#'.             syn onym of good landlordism’ and lauded his decisiont
             )    Ulster Gazette, %)th March %&&%; de Burgh Daly, Chronicles, p.((.   to lower rents on his estate by #, per cent.1
        %,    Berrie O’Neill, Tones that are Tender: Percy French !"#$–!%&'
                  (Dublin: Lilliput, Press, #,%+), p.$'.
        %%    de Burgh Daly, Chronicles, pp.#&–#); Ettie French, Willie (Holywood:    Percy was !rst taught at home by tutors and govern -
                    Percy French Society, %))(), pp.#'–#+.     esses, but when he was ten years old the French family
          %#    de Burgh Daly, Chronicles, p.+,;  O’Neill, Tones that are Tender, pp. (#–($.   moved to Derbyshire to further the children’s educa -
        %$    O’Neill, Tones that are Tender, pp.(#–($; Stefanie P. Jones, ‘Price, James’,     tion.2 Percy !rst attended for two years at the Reverend
                    Dictionary of Irish Biography, https://www.dib.ie/biography/price-james-a*())
        %(    de Burgh Daly, Chronicles, pp.$,–$$.             John Barton’s (%&%+–%&*') school at Kirk Langley,







           •C•                                                                THE P ERCY FRENCH FESTIVAL "#"$
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