G. H. MacDermott

His parents were Patrick Farrell, an Irish bricklayer, and Mary McDermott, also from Ireland, a laundress.

He became an actor at the Grecian Theatre in Shoreditch using the stage name Gilbert Hastings before adding his mother's maiden name and becoming known as G. H. Macdermott.

The song was written at the time of the Great Eastern Crisis and the threat of all-out war between Russia and Turkey.

[1][4] The song became hugely popular, so much so that the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII, had MacDermott sing it for him at a private audience.

In an obituary on 9 May 1901, The Daily Telegraph called G. H. MacDermott the last lion comique, artists whose stage appearance resplendent in evening dress contrasted with the cloth cap image of most of their music hall contemporaries.