Shaun Glenville (1884–1968)


When An Irishman Goes FightingIrish-born comedian and songwriter Shaun Glenville’s greatest hit was If You’re Irish, Come Into The Parlour (with Frank Miller, 1920). His mother was the manager of the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. He and his wife, singer Dorothy Ward, were among Godfrey’s circle of friends; their son Peter Glenville, a childhood friend of Godfrey’s youngest daughter Peggie (1912–2001), later became a well-known film director (“The Comedians”).

Together, Glenville and Godfrey wrote If You Come From Yorkshire (By Gum, Tha’s Reet Up T’Mark) (1916); Soldiers Like It (1918); and Wait A Minute (There’s A Little Bit More To Come!) (with Godfrey writing as “Edward E. Elton”, 1929). The date of another song, There’s Something In The Irish After All (with Leslie Leonard Cooke), is uncertain but believed to be ca. 1914, the same year as When An Irishman Goes Fighting (published sheet music credits Godfrey and Leslie Leonard Cooke; EMI also credits Glenville).