Alfred Perceval Graves (22 July 184627 December 1931), was an
Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...
poet, songwriter and folklorist. He was the father of British poet and critic
Robert Graves
Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celtic ...
.
Early life
Graves was born in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
and was the son of
The Rt Rev. Charles Graves,
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...
Lord Bishop of Limerick, Ardfert and Aghadoe, and his wife Selina, the daughter of Dr
John Cheyne (1777–1836), the Physician-General to the British Forces in Ireland. His sister was
Ida Margaret Graves Poore
Ida Margaret Graves Poore, Lady Poore (28 December 1859 – 5 February 1941), was an Anglo-Irish autobiographer and poet.
Life and work
Born Ida Margaret Graves to Rt Rev Charles Graves and Selina Cheyne on 28 December 1859. Her father was De ...
. His paternal grandmother Helena was a Perceval, and the granddaughter of the
Earl of Egmont. His grandfather, John Crosbie Graves, was a first cousin of "Ireland's most celebrated surgeon",
Robert James Graves
Robert James Graves, F.R.C.S. (27 March 1796 – 20 March 1853) was an eminent Irish surgeon after whom Graves' disease takes its name. He was President of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, Fellow of the Royal Society of London and t ...
.
Alfred was educated both in England, at Windermere College,
Westmorland
Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...
, and in Ireland, at
Trinity College Dublin. As an undergraduate he contributed to the literary magazine ''
Kottabos
Kottabos ( grc, κότταβος) was a game of skill played at Ancient Greek and Etruscan symposia (drinking parties), especially in the 6th and 5th centuries BC. It involved flinging wine-lees (sediment) at a target in the middle of the roo ...
'', starting in 1869.
[ See e.g. ''Kottabos'', first issue (1869)]
p. 39
fifth issue (1870)
p. 134
signed as "A.P.G."
His first poem appeared in the ''Dublin University Magazine'' in 1863.
[ He graduated with a Master of Arts degree.] In 1869, he entered the Civil Service as clerk in the British Home Office, where he remained until he became an Inspector of Schools in 1874.
Author
Graves was a contributor of prose and verse to ''The Spectator
''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world.
It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...
'', ''Athenaeum
Athenaeum may refer to:
Books and periodicals
* ''Athenaeum'' (German magazine), a journal of German Romanticism, established 1798
* ''Athenaeum'' (British magazine), a weekly London literary magazine 1828–1921
* ''The Athenaeum'' (Acadia U ...
'', '' John Bull'', and ''Punch
Punch commonly refers to:
* Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist
* Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice
Punch may also refer to:
Places
* Pun ...
''.
For a time he lived at Red Branch
The Red Branch (; alternatively, ) is the name of two of the three royal houses of the king of Ulster, Conchobar mac Nessa, at his capital Emain Macha (Navan Fort, near Armagh), in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. In modern retellings it is s ...
House on Laurieton Road, Wimbledon, London
Wimbledon () is a district and town of Southwest London, England, southwest of the centre of London at Charing Cross; it is the main commercial centre of the London Borough of Merton. Wimbledon had a population of 68,187 in 2011 which includes ...
.[
He took a leading part in the late 19th-century renewal of Irish literature. He was for several years president of the ]Irish Literary Society The Irish Literary Society was founded in London in 1892 by William Butler Yeats, T. W. Rolleston ,and Charles Gavan Duffy. Members of the Southwark Irish Literary Club met in Clapham Reform Club and changed the name early in the year. On 13 Febru ...
, and he was the author of the comic song ''Father O'Flynn'' and many other songs and ballads. In collaboration with Charles Villiers Stanford, he published ''Songs of Old Ireland'' (1882) and ''Irish Songs and Ballads'' (1893), the airs of which are taken from the Petrie manuscripts; the airs of his ''Irish Folk-Songs'' (1897) were arranged by Charles Wood with whom he also collaborated on ''Songs of Erin'' (1901).[ Composer ]Mary Augusta Wakefield
Mary Augusta Wakefield (19 August 1853 – 16 September 1910) was a British composer, contralto, festival organiser, and writer.
Biography Early life
Wakefield was born in Kendal, where her paternal ancestors had been members of the Quaker ...
also set at least one of his poems to music.
He published an autobiography, ''To Return to All That'', in 1930, as a response to his son Robert
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
's World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
memoir, ''Good-Bye to All That
''Good-Bye to All That'' is an autobiography by Robert Graves which first appeared in 1929, when the author was 34 years old. "It was my bitter leave-taking of England," he wrote in a prologue to the revised second edition of 1957, "where I had ...
''.[
]
Later life
Graves built a large house, named "Erinfa", near Harlech, Wales, which he used as a summer retreat and where he spent his retirement. He had a keen interest in the Welsh language and the culture of Wales; he was elected as a Welsh bard
In Celtic cultures, a bard is a professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to praise t ...
in the National Eisteddfod of Wales
The National Eisteddfod of Wales (Welsh language, Welsh: ') is the largest of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales. Its eight days of competitions and performances are considered the largest music and poetry festival in Eur ...
at Bangor in 1902.[Richard Perceval Graves (1986), ''Robert Groves The Assault Heroic'', Biography 1895-1926. p. 75.]
He died in Harlech in 1931.
Legacy
Graves’ obituary in ''The Spectator'' concluded: "Mr Graves not only wrote songs but stirred up fresh public interest in the old folk-songs of Ireland, Wales and the Highlands, and, moreover, induced musicians and singers to become interested too. Keeping clear of politics, he did a great work for the popularizing of good music and good poetry in which Celt and Saxon may share."[
]
Family
Graves' marriage to Jane Cooper, (29 December 187424 March 1886) of Cooper's Hill, County Limerick, resulted in five children:[''Genealogy.net'']
* Philip Perceval
Sir Philip Perceval (1605 – 10 November 1647) was an England, English politician and knight. He was knighted in 1638, obtained grants of forfeited lands in Ireland to the amount of , and lost extensive property in Ireland owing to the Irish Re ...
, b. 25 February 1876 (or 1870), m. Millicent Gilchrist. Died in 1953.
* Mary, b. 6 June 1877, d. circa 1949. m. Arthur Sansome Preston.
* Richard Massie, b. 14 September 1880, d. 14 August 1960, m. Eva Wilkinson, 1912.
* Alfred Perceval ("Bones"), b. 14 December 1881, m. Eirene Gwen Knight, singer.
* Susan Winthrop Savatier Graves, b. 23 March 1885, m. Kenneth Macaulay.
After the death of his first wife, Graves married Amalie (Amy) Elizabeth Sophie (or Sophia) von Ranke, on 30 December 1891. The couple had five children:[
* Clarissa, b. 29 November 1892. Poet, artist and ]Christian Science
Christian Science is a set of beliefs and practices associated with members of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Adherents are commonly known as Christian Scientists or students of Christian Science, and the church is sometimes informally know ...
practitioner.
* Rosaleen-Louise, b. 7 March 1894, d. 3 August 1989. m. James Francis Cooper.
* Robert Graves
Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celtic ...
, also known as Robert von Ranke, b. 24 July 1895, d. 7 December 1985, poet, critic and author of '' I, Claudius'', ''Good-Bye to All That
''Good-Bye to All That'' is an autobiography by Robert Graves which first appeared in 1929, when the author was 34 years old. "It was my bitter leave-taking of England," he wrote in a prologue to the revised second edition of 1957, "where I had ...
'' and other novels.
* Charles Patrick Ranke Graves, b. 1899, d. 1971, journalist and writer.
* John Tiarks Ranke, b. 1903, d. 1980. m. Mary Wickens.
References
External links
Songs of Old Ireland: A Collection of Fifty Irish Melodies
with words by Alfred Perceval Graves and music arranged by Charles Villiers Stanford
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graves, Alfred Perceval
1846 births
1931 deaths
Irish Anglicans
Graves, AP
Irish folklorists
Graves family
People from Gwynedd