Page 8 - The 17th Percy French Festival: The Quest for Authenticity
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preferred to o3er London publi cations to their cus tom -
                                                               ers. Another obsta cle was the fact that the best Irish
                                                               comic talent had been ‘absorbed’ by London and New
                                                               York publishers..6

                                                               Percy French in the !"#$s
                                                               On #&th June %&),, French married Ethel (‘Ettie’)
                                                               Kathleen Armytage-Moore (%&*%– %&)%) of Arnmore
                                                               House, Drumelis, Co. Cavan, the second daughter of
                                                               William Armytage-Moore (%&,'–%&&$), manager of the
                                                               Annesley estate at Castlewellan, Co. Down, and his wife
                                                               Mary Elizabeth Lockwood (née Metcalfe) (%&('–%)$#)./7
                                                               Ettie, a talented artist, contributed many drawings to
                                                               The Jarvey and also conducted its society column,
                                                               ‘Chit Chatters’, in %&),. For a brief period the newlyweds
                                                               ran a shop, The Old Curiosity Shop, at $% Little Denmark
                                                               Street in Dublin, whose main output was engravings,
                                                               sketches and paintings in oils and in watercolours pro -
                                                               duced by Percy./- Ettie died in Dublin of meningitis
                                                               or septicaemia on #)th June %&)%, after giving birth
                                                               to a daughter, Ethel Florence Cecilia, on 'th June; her
                                                               baby died on 'th July %&)% at Cloonyquin./. A grief-
                                                               stricken French threw himself into a hectic work sched -
                                                               ule, contributing comic sketches, poetry and drawings
                                                               on a regular basis to the Irish Cyclist, of which news -
                                                               paper’s sta3 he became a permanent member. Earlier
                                                               in %&)% French had collaborated with the musician, and
          Illus (. A photograph of Houson Collisson.
          Frontispiece of William Alexander Houston Collisson,    future clergyman in the Church of England, Dr William
          Dr Collisson in and on Ireland, London: Robert Sutton, %),&.  Alexander Houston Collisson (%&+'–%)#,) (Illus. *) in
                                                               producing The Knight of the Road, a comic opera which
                                                               was well received by Dublin audiences. Their friendship
                    Notes                                      and working partnership continued in the years after
        #)    The Jarvey, (th October %&),; %%th October %&),; Evening Telegraph, *th May %&)#.
        $,     Ulster Examiner, %%th April %&*%; Cavan Weekly News, #$rd February %&&$;    Ettie’s death, resulting in the pro duc tion of several comic
                  Illustrated London News, $rd March %&&$; Irish Society, ' July %&),; Banbridge    plays which they performed in Dublin and Irish provin -
                    Chronicle, $rd December %)$#.
        $%     O’Neill, Tones that are Tender, pp.*(–*'.       cial towns. French achieved national fame in Ireland in

        $#    Contemporary newspapers state that Ettie died of meningitis, but some modern   the %&),s with his versatile entertain ments in countless
                   sources say that septicaemia was the cause of her death: Daily Express, %st July %&)%;    Irish towns and villages, performances that included
                  Newry Telegraph, #nd July %&)%; Cavan Weekly News, %*th July %&)%; White and
                  McCabe, ‘French, (William) Percy’, Dictionary of Irish Biography; Tongue, Picture, p.%);    humorous songs, poems and anecdotes, slide shows,
                    O’Neill, Tones that are Tender, p.&%.      and quickly executed ‘smoke drawings’ on china plates.
        $$    Oxford Chronicle and Reading Gazette, %st January %&*,; Banbury Advertiser,    He also fell in love again, marrying for the second time
                  %st February %&)(; Alan Tongue, The Love Letters of Percy French and More Besides . . .
                    (Dublin: Lilliput Press, #,%'), p.%(#.     on #(th January %&)(. His bride was Helen (‘Lennie’)
          $(    French, Willie, p.'*; O’Neill, Tones that are Tender, p.)'.   May Cunningham Sheldon (%&+&–%)'+), the daughter
          $'    French, Willie, p.').                          of Jonathan Sheldon (%&(%–%)%)) a mill-owner, of
        $+    Folkestone Express, #%st September %)%#; de Burgh Daly, Chronicles, p.%'*;    Bur ming ton House, Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire
                  Hastings and St Leonards Observer, *th February %)$%; O’Neill, Tones that are Tender,
                  pp.%$(–%$+.                                  and his wife, Mary Clementina Sheldon (née Tribe)







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