Page 6 - The 17th Percy French Festival: The Quest for Authenticity

‘negro melodies’ at Punchestown races on one occasion.14 in Cavan inspired some of his finest paintings, as well as
French considered emigrating to Manitoba, but instead two of his best-known songs: Phil the Fluther’s Ball, pub -
in 1883 took up a post with the Board of Works, working lished in 1889 ‘although it had probably been sung at
as an inspector of loans to farmers in Co. Cavan: this job many a party and concert before that’, and the nostal gic
chiefly entailed inspecting sites relating to improve ments Come Back, Paddy Reilly, to Ballyjamesduff, written in 1912.27
to agricultural properties.15 His work as a self-styled
‘inspector of drains’ continued until he was made The Jarvey years
redundant in September 1888.16 After he lost his job with the Board of Works, due to
a marked decrease in the number of loans applied for
French was an active participant in the social life of Cavan’s by farmers in Cavan,28 French went to Dublin to visit
Illus 3. Advertisement for a performance by the Kinnypottle Church of Ireland commu nity, taking part in various fund- Richard James Mecredy (1861–1924), editor of the Irish
Komicks. Emily de Burgh Daly (ed), Chronicles and Poems of raising concerts to help paint and restore Belturbet church Cyclist, (Illus. 4) to which news paper French had previ ously
Percy French.Dublin: Talbot Press, 1922, p.56.
and to restore and replace its organ;17 to repair the organ contributed some humorous prose and verse. He asked for Illus 4. R.J. Mecredy, Health’s Highway (Dublin:
in Cavan’s Church of Ireland building and to raise money a job on the Irish Cyclist and was surprised to instead be Mecredy, Percy & Co., 1909), frontispiece.
for the parish sustentation fund;18 and to liqui date the offered the position of editor of a new comic news paper
debt of Cavan Protestant Hall.19 French, a lifelong teeto - which Mecredy was about to launch, The Jarvey. French
taller, also entertained members of the Killoughter branch edited this newspaper from January 1889 to December
Notes
of the Church of Ireland Temp er ance Society at a soirée in 1890. (Illus. 5) The Jarvey ccasionally contained some
15 Lawrence William White and Desmond McCabe, ‘French, (William) Percy’,
Dictionary of Irish Biography, https://www.dib.ie/biography/french-william-percy-a3371 the local schoolhouse in March 1884.20 Much of his time in sharp social commentary, but its con tents mostly con -
16 French marked his appointment with the Board of Works by composing a song for Cavan was spent in playing tennis at country houses dur - sisted of comic observations on the social world of fash ion -
the family magazine which he, his siblings, their Richardson cousins and their friends,
ing the summers (including winning several prizes at the able Irish society, a kind of Irish version of Punch. French
the Godley brothers, sons of Reverend James Godley (1821–1910), rector of Carrigallen,
produced for their entertainment. Originally titled The Tulsk Morning Howl, the magazine county tour naments). French combined his engineer ing produced a prodigious and varied amount of mater ial for
later became known as The Trombone of Truth. The lyrics of the original version–
skills with his love of tennis in the laying of tennis courts at The Jarvey: limericks; com ical short stories, including paro -
The Effusion of William Inspector of Drains–are published in James N. Healy, Percy French
the rear of the Protestant Hall in Cavan, for which he had dies of the works of pop ular novelists such as Walter Scott,
and His Songs (Dublin and Cork: Mercier Press, 1966), pp 16–19. A shorter version with
altered lyrics–Song of William, Inspector of Drains–may be found in de Burgh Daly, many tons of sand trans ported from Bundoran.21 In the Rudyard Kipling, Victor Hugo, Charles Dickens, and H. Rider
Chronicles, pp.59–60.
winters he engaged in tobogganing, fencing and playing Haggard; humorous verse and songs, including material
17 Cavan Weekly News, 14th March 1884; 24th October 1884; 25th December 1885;
7th October 1887; 28th October 1887. hockey; according to his solicitor friend, William Henry that paro died the work of well-known authors such as
18 Cavan Weekly News, 14th March 1884: 3rd April 1885. Halpin of Ford Lodge (1862–1937), he was ‘good at them Thomas Moore, Henry Wadsworth Long fellow, Alfred Illus 5. Percy French at the editor’s desk of The Jarvey.

19 Cavan Weekly News, 13th November 1885. Detail from drawing by Ettie French.
all’.22 He also began a lifetime passion for painting Tennyson, and Edgar Allen Poe; and whimsical observa -
20 An admirer wrote of French’s performance that ‘the selection which he gave from The Jarvey, 27th December 1890.
landscapes, and one year after his appointment to Cavan tions on Irish life. Many of the cartoons in the news paper
his far-famed songs, the sweetness of his tuneful tenor voice, and the verve and
brilliance of his singing, formed a musical gem in a very faultless setting. He also he exhib ited watercolours in Dublin.23 His fondness for were drawn by French’s friend Richard Caulfeild Orpen
most kindly accompanied the various singers on the banjo with refined taste’:
musical enter tainments also continued, particularly as (1863–1938), (Illus. 6) with whom he had already collab o -
Cavan Weekly News, 14th March 1884.
evidenced by his playing the banjo with the Kinnypottle rated on several comical treatments of tennis in Dublin,
21 Cavan Weekly News, 20th April 1886; 2nd July 1886; 20th August 1886; French,
Willie, p.32; O’Neill, Tones that are Tender, p.55. Komicks, a Christy Minstrel group named after the river including Fiztwilliam Square, a Lawn Tennis Lay (1885),
22 French, Willie, p.32; Anglo-Celt, 24th April 1937. which flows through Cavan town.24 (Illus. 3) Cycling was The Tennis Worshippers, a lawn tennis special supplement
23 French, Willie, p.36. another of French’s pursuits when he lived in Cavan. of the Irish Cyclist and Athlete (1887) and Racquetry Rhymes
24 Sligo Champion, 7th February 1885; 14th February 1885; de Burgh Daly, Chronicles,
He cycled partly for economic reasons, as his riding (1888). Despite the best efforts of French and his small
pp.55–56. A poster featuring the Kinnypottle Komicks is reproduced in O’Neill,
Tones that are Tender, p.50. a bicycle when visiting farms as part of his job meant that team of permanent staff and occa sional contribu tors, The
26 de Burgh Daly, Chronicles, pp.56–57. the thrifty French was able to save the nine pence mileage Jarvey was not a financial success. French later claimed that
27 Healy, Percy French, pp.22–22; 164. allowance which the Board of Works granted to its offi - the news paper failed for a number of reasons, including
28 A copy of the letter announcing his redundancy, dated 28th July 1888, is reproduced
cials.25 French and his friend, John William Weekes, a mem - its title, which French felt was ‘not a good one’. Indeed, in
in Alan Tongue, A Picture of Percy French (Antrim: Greystone Books, 1990), p.12.
29 The Jarvey, 4th October 1890; 11th October 1890; Evening Telegraph, 7th May 1892. ber of the Kinny pottle Komicks and fellow Board of Works Oct ober 1890 he floated the idea of changing the title, but
25 de Burgh Daly, Chronicles, p.50.
employee, found that they could visit more farms when his was rejec ted by the readers and the publication contin -
27 Healy, Percy French, pp. 22–22, 164.
riding bicycles than if they travel led by car, thereby freeing ued as The Jarvey. French also felt that Dublin shop keepers
28 A copy of the letter announcing his redundancy, dated 28th July 1888, is reproduced Illus 6. One of Richard Caulfeild Orpen’s drawings
in Alan Tongue, A Picture of Percy French (Antrim: Greystone Books, 1990), p.12. up more time for playing tennis.26 French’s halcyon days were hostile to a local comic newspaper and much in The Jarvey. The Jarvey, 18th October 1890.

•4• THE P ERCY FRENCH FESTIVAL 2025 THE QUEST FOR AUTHENTICIT Y •5•