"Snarleyow" is a poem by

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

, published in late 1890. The title character was a horse that was part of a team pulling a gun. The poem is one of many Kipling wrote depicting the life of soldiers in the British army. It appears that this one is based on an incident in the life of Staff Sergeant Nathaniel W. Bancroft, of the old

Bengal Horse Artillery The Bengal Army was the army of the Bengal Presidency, one of the three presidencies of British India within the British Empire. The presidency armies, like the presidencies themselves, belonged to the East India Company (EIC) until the Govern ...

and later the

Royal Horse Artillery The Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) was formed in 1793 as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery (commonly termed Royal Artillery) to provide horse artillery support to the cavalry units of the British Army. (Although the cavalry link ...

.Kipling.org.uk - ''Snarleyow'': notes by Roger Ayers
/ref> The poem was one of the many Kipling poems set to song by

G. F. Cobb Gerard Francis Cobb (Nettlestead, Kent, 15 October 1838 – 31 March 1904) was Junior Bursar of Trinity College, Cambridge. He was active as an Anglican layman, organist and amateur composer. Life He was the fourth son of William Francis Cobb, re ...

References

External links

{{Wikisource, Departmental Ditties and Ballads and Barrack-Room Ballads/"Snarleyow", "Snarleyow" 1890 poems Poetry by Rudyard Kipling