Frederick Weatherly
Encyclopedia
Frederic Edward Weatherly (4 October 1848 – 7 September 1929) was an English lawyer, author, lyricist and broadcaster. He is estimated to have written the lyrics to at least 3,000 popular songs, among the best-known of which are the sentimental ballad Danny Boy
set to the tune Londonderry Air
, the religious "The Holy City
", and the wartime song "Roses of Picardy
".
, the eldest son in the large family of Frederick Weatherly (1820–1910), a medical doctor, and his wife, Julia Maria, née Ford (1823–98). He was educated at Hereford Cathedral School
from 1859 to 1867, and won a scholarship to Brasenose College, Oxford
in 1867. Among his tutors was Walter Pater
, who taught him about Italian art. Weatherly entered three times for the Newdigate Prize
for poetry, but without success. In 1868, he helped out members of the Brasenose rowing team under Walter Bradford Woodgate
who had practised for the Stewards' Challenge Cup
at Henley Royal Regatta
without a cox. The race at the time was for coxed four
s and Weatherly volunteered to start the race with them and immediately jump out of the boat. He did so and the team won but were disqualified. Woodgate had made his point and the race was later changed to one for coxless four
s. Weatherly graduated with a degree in Classics in 1871, and in the same year he married Anna Maria Hardwick (d. 1920), with whom he had a son and two daughters. Weatherly and his wife later lived apart.
After leaving the university, Weatherly remained in Oxford, briefly working as a schoolmaster and then as a private tutor. He continued in that capacity until 1887 when he qualified as a barrister
, practising first in London and then in the west of England. He remained active in the legal profession until the end of his life. The Times
wrote of his dual career, "His fertility was extraordinary, and though it is easy to be contemptuous of his drawing-room lyrics, sentimental, humorous and patriotic, which are said to number about 3,000 altogether, it is certain that no practising barrister has ever before provided so much innocent pleasure." He celebrated his golden jubilee as a songwriter in 1919, at a dinner given for him by publishers and composers with whom he had been associated over the past fifty years. In his last years he was much in demand as a lecturer, broadcaster and after-dinner speaker.
On 2 August 1923 Weatherly married Miriam Bryan, née Davies (d. 1941), widow of a well-known tenor, John Bryan. He was made a King's Counsel
, a senior barrister, in 1926. In the same year he published an autobiography, Piano and Gown. He died at his home, Bathwick Lodge, Bath, after a short illness on 7 September 1929, at the age of 80. At his funeral in Bath Abbey
, the Londonderry Air, to which he had written the well-known words, was played as a voluntary.
" in 1910, but it did not meet with much success. In 1912 his sister-in-law in America sent him an old Irish tune called "Londonderry Air
", which he had never heard before. The tune matched his lyrics almost perfectly. He published the now-famous song in 1913. His ballad "Roses of Picardy
", written in 1916 and set to music by Haydn Wood
, was one of the most famous songs from World War I
.
Of his huge output of songs, Weatherly listed a selection of 61 titles in his Who's Who
entry. In addition to the above, they were: "Nancy Lee"; "The Midshipmite"; "Polly"; "They all love Jack"; "Jack’s Yarn"; "The Old Brigade
"; "The Deathless Army"; "To the Front"; "John Bull"; "Darby and Joan"; "When We are Old and Grey"; "Auntie"; "The Chimney Corner"; "The Children’s Home"; "The Old Maids of Lee"; "The Men of Ware"; "The Devoted Apple"; "To-morrow will be Friday"; "Douglas Gordon"; "Sleeping Tide"; "The Star of Bethlehem"; "Beauty’s Eyes"; "In Sweet September"; "Bid me Good-bye"; "The Last Watch"; "London Bridge"; "The King’s Highway"; "Go to Sea"; "Veteran’s Song"; "Up from Somerset"; "Beyond the Dawn"; "Nirvana"; "Mifanwy"; "Sergeant of the Line"; "Stone-cracker John"; "Ailsa Mine"; "Old Black Mare"; "Coolan Dhu"; "Three for Jack"; "Bhoy I Love"; "The Blue Dragoons"; "At Santa Barbara"; "The Grenadier"; "Reuben Ranzo"; "Dinder Courtship"; "Friend o’Mine"; "When You Come Home"; "Little Road Home"; "Greenhills of Somerset"; "Danny Boy"; "As you pass by"; "Ships of my dreams"; "Why shouldn’t I?"; "When Noah Went-a-sailing"; "Time to go"; "Chumleigh Fair"; "Our Little Home"; "and "Little Lady of the Moon".
Weatherly's prose publications include Wilton School, (1872); The Rudiments of Logic, Inductive and Deductive, (1879); Oxford Days: or How Ross got his Degree, (1879); Questions in Logic, Progressive and General, (1883) and Musical and Dramatic Copyright (1890), with Edward Cutler). He published several collections of verse including Muriel and other Poems; Dresden China and other Songs; and Songs for Michael, 1927. Beatrix Potter
's first signed illustrations were published in A Happy Pair, a book of verse written by Weatherly.
Weatherly also worked in opera, making English translations of Pagliacci
and Cavalleria rusticana
, for Covent Garden
and writing the lyrics for the 1894 premiere of Mirette
at the Savoy Theatre
.
Danny Boy
-Background:The words to "Danny Boy" were written by English lawyer and lyricist Frederic Weatherly in 1910. Although the lyrics were originally written for a different tune, Weatherly modified them to fit the "Londonderry Air" in 1913, after his sister-in-law in the U.S. sent him a copy. Ernestine...
set to the tune Londonderry Air
Londonderry Air
Londonderry Air is an air that originated from County Londonderry in Ireland. It is popular among the Irish diaspora and is very well known throughout the world. The tune is played as the victory anthem of Northern Ireland at the Commonwealth Games. "Danny Boy" is a popular set of lyrics to the...
, the religious "The Holy City
The Holy City (song)
The Holy City is a semi-religious Victorian ballad dating from 1892, with music by Michael Maybrick writing under the alias Stephen Adams, with lyrics by Frederic Weatherly.-Context:...
", and the wartime song "Roses of Picardy
Roses of Picardy
Roses of Picardy is a wartime ballad written by lyricist Frederick Weatherly while he was an army officer in 1916. Set to music by Haydn Wood, it was one of the most famous songs from World War I....
".
Biography
Frederic Weatherly was born and brought up in Portishead, SomersetPortishead, Somerset
Portishead is a coastal town on the Severn Estuary within the unitary authority of North Somerset, which falls within the ceremonial county of Somerset England. It has a population of 22,000, an increase of over 3,000 since the 2001 census, with a growth rate of 40 per cent, considerably in excess...
, the eldest son in the large family of Frederick Weatherly (1820–1910), a medical doctor, and his wife, Julia Maria, née Ford (1823–98). He was educated at Hereford Cathedral School
Hereford Cathedral School
Hereford Cathedral School is an independent, co-educational day school, with around 520 pupils aged between the ages of 11 and 18. It has four houses, named Langford , Stuart , Somerset and Cornwall Hereford Cathedral School is an independent, co-educational day school, with around 520 pupils aged...
from 1859 to 1867, and won a scholarship to Brasenose College, Oxford
Brasenose College, Oxford
Brasenose College, originally Brazen Nose College , is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. As of 2006, it has an estimated financial endowment of £98m...
in 1867. Among his tutors was Walter Pater
Walter Pater
Walter Horatio Pater was an English essayist, critic of art and literature, and writer of fiction.-Early life:...
, who taught him about Italian art. Weatherly entered three times for the Newdigate Prize
Newdigate prize
Sir Roger Newdigate's Prize is awarded to students of the University of Oxford for Best Composition in English verse by an undergraduate who has been admitted to Oxford within the previous four years. It was founded by Sir Roger Newdigate, Bt in the 18th century...
for poetry, but without success. In 1868, he helped out members of the Brasenose rowing team under Walter Bradford Woodgate
Walter Bradford Woodgate
Walter Bradford Woodgate was a British barrister and oarsman who won the Wingfield Sculls three times, and various events at Henley Royal Regatta including the Silver Goblets five times and the Diamond Challenge Sculls once...
who had practised for the Stewards' Challenge Cup
Stewards' Challenge Cup
The Stewards' Challenge Cup is a rowing event for men's coxless fours at the annual Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames in England. It is open to male crews from all eligible rowing clubs. Two or more clubs may combine to make an entry....
at Henley Royal Regatta
Henley Royal Regatta
Henley Royal Regatta is a rowing event held every year on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. The Royal Regatta is sometimes referred to as Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage...
without a cox. The race at the time was for coxed four
Coxed four
A coxed four is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars and is steered by a cox....
s and Weatherly volunteered to start the race with them and immediately jump out of the boat. He did so and the team won but were disqualified. Woodgate had made his point and the race was later changed to one for coxless four
Coxless four
A coxless four is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars.The crew consists of four rowers, each having one oar. There are two rowers on the stroke side and two on the bow side...
s. Weatherly graduated with a degree in Classics in 1871, and in the same year he married Anna Maria Hardwick (d. 1920), with whom he had a son and two daughters. Weatherly and his wife later lived apart.
After leaving the university, Weatherly remained in Oxford, briefly working as a schoolmaster and then as a private tutor. He continued in that capacity until 1887 when he qualified as a barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
, practising first in London and then in the west of England. He remained active in the legal profession until the end of his life. The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
wrote of his dual career, "His fertility was extraordinary, and though it is easy to be contemptuous of his drawing-room lyrics, sentimental, humorous and patriotic, which are said to number about 3,000 altogether, it is certain that no practising barrister has ever before provided so much innocent pleasure." He celebrated his golden jubilee as a songwriter in 1919, at a dinner given for him by publishers and composers with whom he had been associated over the past fifty years. In his last years he was much in demand as a lecturer, broadcaster and after-dinner speaker.
On 2 August 1923 Weatherly married Miriam Bryan, née Davies (d. 1941), widow of a well-known tenor, John Bryan. He was made a King's Counsel
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
, a senior barrister, in 1926. In the same year he published an autobiography, Piano and Gown. He died at his home, Bathwick Lodge, Bath, after a short illness on 7 September 1929, at the age of 80. At his funeral in Bath Abbey
Bath Abbey
The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Bath, commonly known as Bath Abbey, is an Anglican parish church and a former Benedictine monastery in Bath, Somerset, England...
, the Londonderry Air, to which he had written the well-known words, was played as a voluntary.
Works
The first of Weatherly's well-known works was the hymn "The Holy City", written in 1892 to music by the British composer Stephen Adams. The song includes the refrain "Jerusalem, Jerusalem!". He wrote the song "Danny BoyDanny Boy
-Background:The words to "Danny Boy" were written by English lawyer and lyricist Frederic Weatherly in 1910. Although the lyrics were originally written for a different tune, Weatherly modified them to fit the "Londonderry Air" in 1913, after his sister-in-law in the U.S. sent him a copy. Ernestine...
" in 1910, but it did not meet with much success. In 1912 his sister-in-law in America sent him an old Irish tune called "Londonderry Air
Londonderry Air
Londonderry Air is an air that originated from County Londonderry in Ireland. It is popular among the Irish diaspora and is very well known throughout the world. The tune is played as the victory anthem of Northern Ireland at the Commonwealth Games. "Danny Boy" is a popular set of lyrics to the...
", which he had never heard before. The tune matched his lyrics almost perfectly. He published the now-famous song in 1913. His ballad "Roses of Picardy
Roses of Picardy
Roses of Picardy is a wartime ballad written by lyricist Frederick Weatherly while he was an army officer in 1916. Set to music by Haydn Wood, it was one of the most famous songs from World War I....
", written in 1916 and set to music by Haydn Wood
Haydn Wood
Haydn Wood was a 20th century English composer and a respected violinist.-Life:Haydn Wood was born in the Yorkshire town of Slaithwaite on 25 March 1882...
, was one of the most famous songs from World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
Of his huge output of songs, Weatherly listed a selection of 61 titles in his Who's Who
Who's Who (UK)
Who's Who is an annual British publication of biographies which vary in length of about 30,000 living notable Britons.-History:...
entry. In addition to the above, they were: "Nancy Lee"; "The Midshipmite"; "Polly"; "They all love Jack"; "Jack’s Yarn"; "The Old Brigade
The Old Brigade
For the Irish Republican song see The Boys of the Old BrigadeThe Old Brigade is a slow march written in 1881 with music by an Irishman Odoardo Barri and words by Frederic Weatherly. It was popularised by a 1926 recording by Peter Dawson...
"; "The Deathless Army"; "To the Front"; "John Bull"; "Darby and Joan"; "When We are Old and Grey"; "Auntie"; "The Chimney Corner"; "The Children’s Home"; "The Old Maids of Lee"; "The Men of Ware"; "The Devoted Apple"; "To-morrow will be Friday"; "Douglas Gordon"; "Sleeping Tide"; "The Star of Bethlehem"; "Beauty’s Eyes"; "In Sweet September"; "Bid me Good-bye"; "The Last Watch"; "London Bridge"; "The King’s Highway"; "Go to Sea"; "Veteran’s Song"; "Up from Somerset"; "Beyond the Dawn"; "Nirvana"; "Mifanwy"; "Sergeant of the Line"; "Stone-cracker John"; "Ailsa Mine"; "Old Black Mare"; "Coolan Dhu"; "Three for Jack"; "Bhoy I Love"; "The Blue Dragoons"; "At Santa Barbara"; "The Grenadier"; "Reuben Ranzo"; "Dinder Courtship"; "Friend o’Mine"; "When You Come Home"; "Little Road Home"; "Greenhills of Somerset"; "Danny Boy"; "As you pass by"; "Ships of my dreams"; "Why shouldn’t I?"; "When Noah Went-a-sailing"; "Time to go"; "Chumleigh Fair"; "Our Little Home"; "and "Little Lady of the Moon".
Weatherly's prose publications include Wilton School, (1872); The Rudiments of Logic, Inductive and Deductive, (1879); Oxford Days: or How Ross got his Degree, (1879); Questions in Logic, Progressive and General, (1883) and Musical and Dramatic Copyright (1890), with Edward Cutler). He published several collections of verse including Muriel and other Poems; Dresden China and other Songs; and Songs for Michael, 1927. Beatrix Potter
Beatrix Potter
Helen Beatrix Potter was an English author, illustrator, natural scientist and conservationist best known for her imaginative children’s books featuring animals such as those in The Tale of Peter Rabbit which celebrated the British landscape and country life.Born into a privileged Unitarian...
's first signed illustrations were published in A Happy Pair, a book of verse written by Weatherly.
Weatherly also worked in opera, making English translations of Pagliacci
Pagliacci
Pagliacci , sometimes incorrectly rendered with a definite article as I Pagliacci, is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe...
and Cavalleria rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from a play written by Giovanni Verga based on his short story. Considered one of the classic verismo operas, it premiered on May 17, 1890 at the Teatro...
, for Covent Garden
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
and writing the lyrics for the 1894 premiere of Mirette
Mirette (opera)
Mirette is an opéra comique in three acts composed by André Messager, first produced at the Savoy Theatre, London, on 3 July 1894.Mirette exists in two distinct versions. The first version of the libretto was written in French by Michel Carré but this was never performed. English lyrics were...
at the Savoy Theatre
Savoy Theatre
The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre located in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre opened on 10 October 1881 and was built by Richard D'Oyly Carte on the site of the old Savoy Palace as a showcase for the popular series of comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan,...
.
External links
- The "Londonderry Air": facts and fiction. URL accessed on 11 September 2005
- The Origin of "Danny Boy". URL accessed on 11 September 2005
- Who was at Brasenose? URL accessed on 11 September 2005
- First World War – Vintage Audio: "Roses of Picardy" URL accessed on 13 January 2009