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Transportation ballads are a genre of broadside ballads that concern the transportation of convicted criminals, originally to the American colonies and later to penal colonies in Australia. They were intended to serve as warnings of the hardships that come with conviction and thereby a deterrent against criminal behavior. Transportation ballads were published as broadsides—song sheets sold cheaply in the streets, at markets and at fairs. Many have passed into the folk tradition. [1] [2]
Transportation ballads are almost exclusively related in the first person from the perspective of the convicted person. They employ a number of frequent themes including:
More rarely, transportation ballads served as a form of protest, particularly as a means of opposing the sentencing of those convinced of political crimes.
The following extracts exemplify such themes:
My father and my mother dear they nourished me in my tender years,
They little thought I should be trapann'd and banished from my native land.
I fell in love with a damsel, she was handsome and gay,
I neglected my work more and more every day.
And to keep her like a lady, I went on the highway,
And for that I got sent to Australia.
Farewell my aged mother, I'm vexed for what I've done,
I hope none will upcast to you the race that I have run;
I hope you'll be provided for when I am far away,
Far frae the bonnie hills and dales o' Caledonia.— "Jamie Raeburn's Farewell", as sung by Daisy Chapman [6]
They chained us two by two and whipped and lashed along
They cut off our provisions if we did the least thing wrong
They march us in the burning sun until our feet are sore
So hard's our lot now we are got to Van Diemen's shore
"Sweet Polly Oliver" is an English broadside ballad, traceable from 1840 or earlier. It is also known as "Pretty Polly Oliver" and has several variant sets of lyrics, set to a single anonymous melody.
"The Black Velvet Band" is a traditional folk song collected from singers in Ireland, Australia, England, Canada and the United States describing how a young man is tricked and then sentenced to transportation to Australia, a common punishment in the British Empire during the 19th century. Versions were also published on broadsides.
"Matty Groves", also known as "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" or "Little Musgrave", is a ballad probably originating in Northern England that describes an adulterous tryst between a young man and a noblewoman that is ended when the woman's husband discovers and kills them. It is listed as Child ballad number 81 and number 52 in the Roud Folk Song Index. This song exists in many textual variants and has several variant names. The song dates to at least 1613, and under the title Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard is one of the Child ballads collected by 19th-century American scholar Francis James Child.
"The Wild Rover" is a very popular and well-travelled folk song. Many territories have laid claim to have the original version.
The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud, a former librarian in the London Borough of Croydon. Roud's Index is a combination of the Broadside Index and a "field-recording index" compiled by Roud. It subsumes all the previous printed sources known to Francis James Child and includes recordings from 1900 to 1975. Until early 2006, the index was available by a CD subscription; now it can be found online on the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website, maintained by the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS). A partial list is also available at List of folk songs by Roud number.
Lord Lovel is number 75 of the ballads anthologized by Francis James Child during the second half of the 19th century, and exists in several variants. This ballad is originally from England, originating in the Late Middle Ages, with the oldest known versions being found in the regions of Gloucestershire, Somerset, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, and Wiltshire.
"Jim Jones at Botany Bay" is a traditional Australian folk ballad dating from the early 19th-century. The narrator, Jim Jones, is found guilty of poaching and sentenced to transportation to the penal colony of New South Wales. En route, his ship is attacked by pirates, but the crew holds them off. When the narrator remarks that he would rather have joined the pirates or indeed drowned at sea than gone to Botany Bay, Jones is reminded by his captors that any mischief will be met with the whip. In the final verse, Jones describes the daily drudgery and degradation of life as a convict in Australia, and dreams of joining the bushrangers and taking revenge on his floggers.
The Suffolk Miracle is Child ballad 272 and is listed as #246 in the Roud Folk Song Index. Versions of the ballad have been collected from traditional singers in England, Ireland and North America. The song is also known as "The Holland Handkerchief" and sometimes as "The Lover's Ghost".
"Jack Monroe", also known as "Jack Munro", "Jack-A-Roe", "Jackaro", "Jacky Robinson", "Jackie Frazier" and "Jack the Sailor", is a traditional ballad which describes the journey of a woman who disguises herself as the eponymous character to board a sailing ship and save her lover, a soldier.
"Jamie Raeburn" is a traditional Scottish song about penal transportation. Jamie Raeburn is reputed to have been a baker in Glasgow before being sentenced for petty theft, although he was allegedly innocent, and then sent out to the colonies as punishment.
"One Morning in May" is an English folk song which has been collected from traditional singers in England and the USA and has also been recorded by revival singers. Through the use of double-entendre, at least in the English versions, it tells of an encounter between a grenadier and a lady.
"The Unfortunate Lad", also known as "The Unfortunate Rake", is a traditional folk ballad, which through the folk process has evolved into a large number of variants, including the country and western song Streets of Laredo.
The School of Geography and the Environment (SoGE) is a department of the University of Oxford in England, which is part of the university's Social Sciences Division. It is located in the Oxford University Centre for the Environment on South Parks Road, in central Oxford.
"All Jolly Fellows that Follow the Plough" or The Ploughman's Song is an English folk song about the working life of horsemen on an English farm in the days before petrol-driven machinery. Variants have been collected from many traditional singers - Cecil Sharp observed that "almost every singer knows it: the bad singers often know but little else". It has been recorded by many singers influenced by the second British folk revival.
Van Diemen's Land or Henry the Poacher, Young Henry's Downfall, Beware Young Men. is an English transportation ballad. It was widely published in broadsides during the 19th century, and was collected from traditional singers in England during the twentieth century. It has been recorded by many singers influenced by the British folk revival.
The Bold Fisherman is an English folk song popular with traditional singers and widely collected in the early and mid 20th century CE. It has been frequently performed and recorded by contemporary folk singers and groups.
"When Jones' Ale Was New" is an English folk song about men of various trades drinking at an ale-house or tavern. Other titles include "Joan's Ale is New" and "When Johnson's Ale Was New". Originating in the 16th century CE it has been collected frequently from traditional singers in England, and has been found occasionally in Scotland and the USA. It has evolved over the years, and is popular as a chorus song in folk clubs in England.
The Lark in the Morning is an English folk song. It was moderately popular with traditional singers in England, less so in Scotland, Ireland and the United States. It starts as a hymn to the ploughboy's life, and often goes on to recount a sexual encounter between a ploughboy and a maiden resulting in pregnancy.
The Golden Glove is an English folk song also popular in Scotland, Ireland and North America. It tells the tale of a young woman who falls in love with a farmer and devises a somewhat far-fetched ruse to win his love. This song is also known as Dog and Gun and The Squire of Tamworth
The Banks of Sweet Dundee is a folk song very popular with and frequently collected from traditional singers in Britain and Ireland, fairly common in North America, and also performed by revival singers and groups. A young woman escapes a forced marriage by shooting dead both the squire who is her intended husband and her uncle who attacks her.
