William (Percy French) was born in 1854 at Cloonyquin House, County Roscommon. He was the second son of a landowner Christopher French and his wife Susan Emma (nee Percy). He was at various times known as William (Willie) French, William Percy French or W. Percy French but ultimately as Percy French

He was educated in England (Kirk Langley School and Windermere College) and in Ireland (Foyle College Londonderry).

In 1872 he began an engineering degree at Trinity College, Dublin from where in 1881, in his own words, " I was eventually allowed to take out my B.A. and C.E. degrees - I believe that the Board were afraid I should apply for a pension if I stayed any longer at T.C.D. I think that taking up the banjo, lawn tennis and watercolour painting, instead of Chemistry, Geology and the theory of strains, must have retarded my progress a good deal."

It was while at T.C.D. that he wrote his famous song 'Abdallah Bulbul Ameer' for a university smoking concert. Best known as a writer of humorous songs he was also at various times engineer, journalist, writer of sketches, poet, banjoist, watercolourist, songwriter and stage entertainer.

After a short period as an apprentice with the Midland Railway ("there was no work but none of us grumbled") Percy French (then known as Willie) was ready to emigrate to Manitoba when he was unexpectedly appointed inspector of loans to tenants by the Irish Board of Works with his headquarters to be in Cavan.

Later he wrote " Three hundred pounds a year and travelling expenses was untold wealth to a bachelor boy with my simple tastes" and keeping in mind his real interests he prepared for the challenges ahead by buying "a new set of banjo strings and a tennis racquet" ! His five years in Cavan are believed to have been some of the happiest of his life. His professional work as a civil engineer did not prevent him developing a rewarding social life both at the local tennis club where he helped lay the courts and with the musical and dramatic society. Here he also formed a Christy minstrel group, The Kinneypottle Komics, and his experiences travelling around the countryside would provide inspiration for the poem/recitation the 'Song of William, Inspector of Drains' and songs such as 'Phil the Fluter's Ball', the 'Road to Ballybay', 'Slattery's Mounted Fut' and much later, 'Come Back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff'. It was whilst in Cavan that Percy French met his first wife to be, the youthful Ettie Armytage Moore, with whom he enjoyed a mutual talent for watercolour sketching. However by 1888 Percy French's services with the Board of Works were no longer required and he became editor of a new Dublin comic weekly 'The Jarvey' in which he also was able to advertise his latest songs and his travelling 'Jarvey Concert Company'.

Despite the immense efforts of himself and his friends 'The Jarvey' was never perhaps fully financially viable but nonetheless he married Ettie Armytage Moore in 1890 on the strength of his income as editor. However the publishers decided to discontinue publication at the end of that year and then, tragically, his young wife died following childbirth in June 1891, one year after the wedding.

Dublin's Queen's Theatre

In 1894 French married Helen Sheldon of Warwickshire who had been in the chorus of one of the comic operas. They lived on Mespil Road, Dublin where a first daughter was born in 1896. His watercolour paintings were exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy and as a member of the Dublin Sketching Club he gave painting classes. A second daughter was born and with his career as an entertainer in the ascendant his fame spread to England.

Eventually c1900 on the advice of his agent Percy French and his family went to live in London where his talents found ever wider scope. Although he had some early music hall engagements he took advantage of the Edwardian fashion for entertaining in the home. He also entertained at public schools and colleges and even for the Royal Family but his more public recitals took place mostly at London's Steinway Hall where he became united again with Dr. Collisson. So successful were they in partnership that their show Humours of Art and Music travelled to Canada, USA, Bermuda, the West Indies and Panama in 1910.

The onset of war in 1914 brought an end to virtually all forms of entertainment in London and thereabouts and resulted in a serious decline in income for Percy French. He therefore extended his annual tour of Ireland to include many more inland locations and his engagement diaries illustrate a degree of popularity that was as pleasing as it was physically demanding. During one month (July) he performed at 28 different locations all over Ireland, a feat that could only be achieved by reason of the extraordinary comprehensive railway system that then existed.

During these later years French often joined Dr. Collisson on visits to the winter sports resorts of Switzerland to raise funds for Collisson's 'Waifs and Strays' charity. He loved to paint the snow scenes of the Swiss mountains - his work usually selling at the resorts. He also travelled to the continent to entertain the war wounded in hospitals - his famous painting 'The Ghost of Ypres' is a vivid reminder of the devastation wrought during the Great War.

In 1916 Percy French was in Dublin with a new version of Dublin Up-To-Date at the Little Theatre in Sackville Street (subsequently O'Connell Street) but plans to continue the show to England were abandoned after the 1916 Rebellion. By then his health was failing and he suffered a number of accidents. He continued to return to Dublin to entertain in partnership with a youthful May Laffan. His final engagement (also with May Laffan) was at Glasgow's Palette Club on 16th January 1920. On the return journey severe illness forced him to stop off at the home of his cousin Canon Johnny Richardson in Formby, Lancashire where he died from heart failure some days later. In London Percy French's great friend and musical collaborator, Rev. Dr. Houston Collisson conducted a memorial service and then, incredibly, within a week he had also passed away.

Percy French's grave and memorial stone is in the churchyard of St. Luke's parish where it is carefully tended by a group of enthusiasts from amongst the congregation.

(Berrie O'Neill - Bangor)