Warks roots of popular It’s a Long Way to Tipperary song

IT’S a song almost everyone knows but perhaps not so many people are aware of its Warwickshire origins.

It’s a Long Way to Tipperary is perhaps more closely associated with World War One than any other song and was written in Honiley, near Kenilworth.

The origins of the classic marching song are in the appropriately named Tipperary Inn, though the pub’s name was changed because of its connection to the song.

A former resident of the pub, which was formerly known as The Plough Inn, co-wrote the song.

The pub in Meer End Road was once the home of Harry Williams, who wrote the song with music hall entertainer Jack Judge in 1912.

Harry met Jack, who hailed from Swinford, County Mayo, in the Republic of Ireland, in Oldbury. At the time Jack was running a fish stall in the Black Country town.

The pair went on to write 32 songs in a successful partnership which lasted 15 years.

Harry lived in the shadow of his more extrovert songwriting partner, who performed the song across the country, but this was perhaps in part because he was confined to a wheelchair.

He lived in the pub with his parents when it was known as

The Plough Inn and was left disabled after falling down the stairs at the pub as a child and breaking both his legs.

The pub was renamed the Tipperary Inn after Harry purchased the pub from his parents with money made from the song.

And he made a lot of money from it - in fact the song made both men rich.

Between them they earned £164,000 in 1915 from the royalties with three million copies of the music being sold in the UK after 1912.

Interestingly when it was originally written the song had a different title.

It had been called It’s a Long Way to Connemara, but its name was changed after Jack won a five shillings bet with a fellow artist at the

Grand Theatre in Stalybridge, near Manchester, that he couldn’t write and perform a new song in 24 hours.

In an interview with the Telegraph in 2014, Harry’s grand-niece Meg Pybus spoke about her great uncle and the origins of the song.

She said: “Harry was a very sensitive, sickly man. He was in a wheelchair and prone to all kinds of illnesses. But he was a great poet, an accomplished pianist and composer. He played lots of different instruments.

“I have the proof it was written at The Plough in 1909 from my mother, who lived at the pub, including the original manuscript.”

Regarding the song’s title change and that five-shilling bet she said: “It was originally written as a sentimental ballad about a lovesick boy in London.

“A bit of a gambler” Jack pulled out their unpublished work and switched Connemara with Tipperary.

The song was published in 1912 by London publisher Bert Feldman.

Meg added: “I don’t know if he knew of the approaching war but Bert made two important suggestions.

“Firstly to change the song from a ballad to a marching song; and secondly the repetition of the word ‘long.’ In the original printed manuscript the correct title is It’s a long, long way to Tipperary.

“The song sold three million copies in the UK and six million worldwide after 1912.

“Both men earned £164,000 between them in 1915 from royalties - a fortune at the time.”

Daily Mail journalist George Curnock was one of the first to hear the song on holiday in Boulogne on August 13 1914, by the second Battalion of the Connaught Rangers, an Irish regiment based in Tipperary as they arrived in the seaport.

“He wrote a wonderful piece on this lovely song he heard coming off the boat with all these rich Irish voices marching through the town,” said Meg. He reported it on 18 August 1914.

“The song was quickly picked up by other units of the British Army. In November 1914 it was recorded by the well-known tenor John McCormack, which helped its worldwide popularity.” The song’s approval by troops on the battlefields of France and Belgium spread across the world.

After the war ended it was taken home by Canadian, Australian, Indian and New Zealand troops. The Williams family still receive 100 per cent of the royalties from the song, after Jack Judge sold his share to the family.

Harry Williams died in February 1924, aged 50. He is buried in Temple Balsall.

As recently as 2014 the leasehold of the Tipperary Inn was up for sale for £40,000 from Enterprise Inns.

Visitors to the pub can see an extensive display of photographs and memorabilia relating to Harry Williams and the famous song.