William French was born into a farming community in Cumberland in 1897 and served in Europe and the Mediterranean during the First World War. His interests in ornithology and natural history developed following his return in 1918. About this time, he began to intensify his collecting activities, and joined the Carlisle Natural History Society. French travelled to Australia in 1924, where he found work wheat farming and grape picking in Victoria, and cutting timber in New South Wales. After visiting the East Indies and New Guinea, French began managing a coconut plantation in the Solomon Islands for Lever Brothers during the late 1920s. In 1942, with the outbreak of the Second World War in the Pacific and the advance of the Japanese, French abandoned the plantation. He was eventually relocated by Lever Brothers to West Africa, where he oversaw copra and palm oil plantations. In 1946, French was nearly killed in a lorry accident and was sent home to Britain for convalescence. He left Lever Brothers and spent several years working in London and Ireland, before returning to Cumberland about 1950, where he was employed by the Ministry of Defence as a clerical officer. He died of a heart attack in 1960.

French’s letters reveal his enduring interest in ornithology. While abroad he collected birds’ eggs when opportunity allowed and learned taxidermy. Specimens he sent home from the Solomon Islands during the 1930s were presented to the British Museum (Natural History), now the Natural History Museum. He continued collecting following his return to England, and during 1954-56 he visited Scandinavia several times to identify the breeding grounds of European wading birds.