Page 7 - The 17th Percy French Festival: The Quest for Authenticity
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‘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•
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