Descriptive Summary
Administrative Information
Access Points
Biography
Scope and Content
Descriptive Summary
Title: French (Henry M.) Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1873-1941
Collection number: Mss158
Creator:
Robert B. Bolt
Extent: 1.5 linear ft.
Repository:
University of the Pacific. Library. Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections
Shelf location: For current information on the location of these
materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Access
Collection is open for research.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], French (Henry M.) Papers, Mss158, Holt-Atherton Department of
Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library
Access Points
personal name
French, Henry Nelson
personal name
French, Henry M. (1851-1916)
personal name
French family
personal name
Tretheway family
corporate name
Prohibition Party (Calif.)
subject
Merchants -California -San Jose
subject
Prohibitionists -California
subject
Great Britain -History, Naval -19th century
subject
San Jose (Calif.) -Politics and government -1850-1950
Biography
Henry M. French (1851-1916) was born in Cornwall, enlisted in the British Navy (1866) and
served aboard the following ships: H.M.S. Cordelia, commanded by Capt. Charles Perry,
hero of the Sir John Franklin Rescue Expedition; H.M.S. Aboukir, a Canadian Lake steamer
converted to West Indian service; and H.M.S. Northumberland, largest ship in the British
Navy. Three diaries describe his naval career, including numerous appearances of the
British Royal Family and the coronation exercises of the King of Sweden. In 1874 he
resigned and emigrated to California where he married Frances Rebecca Tretheway of
Lockeford, San Joaquin County (1876). French then entered the grocery business in San
Jose while attending classes in the commercial dept of the University of the Pacific
(1879-1880). In 1882 became a naturalized citizen. Prominent in the Prohibition movement,
he ran for Mayor of San Jose on a hybrid Prohibitionist-Republican ticket, nominated John
Bidwell for Governor at the State Prohibition Party Convention (1888) and served as
Chairman of the State Central Committee of the Prohibition Party. French later studied
law, became a San Jose attorney and ran for Governor on the Prohibition Party ticket
(1896).
Scope and Content
This collection consists of the diaries (1873-1915), family papers and an account book
(1904-1916) of Henry M. French, prominent San Jose (Calif.) merchant, attorney and
politician. The collection also includes a diary of French's son Henry Nelson French
(1912).
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