Page 8 - The 17th Percy French Festival: The Quest for Authenticity

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 "#"$