This song appears unique in oral tradition to Mrs Smithers and yet the song can be traced back to at least 1780 when it was printed in “A Sailor’s Songbag: An American Rebel in an English Prison, 1777-79“, in Massachusetts. It also appears on a broadside as “The Constant Maid and Deceitful Squire”. But Mrs Smithers has provided the only ever tune for this song.
Notes by Gwilym Davies 6 July 2015