Alfred Perceval Graves

Alfred Perceval Graves was an Anglo-Irish poet, songwriter, and school inspector. He took a leading part in the revival of Irish letters. He was for several years president of the Irish Literary Society, and was the author of the famous ballad of Father O'Flynn and many other songs and ballads. In collaboration with Charles Stanford he published Songs of Old Ireland (1882), Irish Songs and Ballads (1893), the airs of which are taken from the Petrie MSS.; the airs of his Irish Folk-Songs (1897) were arranged by Charles Wood, with whom he also collaborated on Songs of Erin (1901). He published an autobiography, To Return to All That, in 1930. He was a contributor of prose and verse to the Spectator, The Athenaeum, John Bull, and Punch magazine.