"Bobby Shafto's Gone to Sea" or "Bobby Shafto" (frequently spelled Shaftoe) (

Roud 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. Roud's Index is a combination of the Broadsid ...

1359) is an

English folk song The folk music of England is a tradition-based music which has existed since the later medieval period. It is often contrasted with courtly, classical and later commercial music. Folk music traditionally was preserved and passed on orally with ...

and

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and other European countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. Fr ...

Tune

Lyrics

The most common modern version is: :Bobby Shafto's gone to sea, :Silver buckles at his knee; :He'll come back and marry me, :Bonny Bobby Shafto! :Bobby Shafto's bright and fair, :Combing down his yellow hair; :He's my love for evermore, :Bonny Bobby Shafto!I. Opie and P. Opie, ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), pp. 90–91. This is very close to the earliest printed version in 1805. A version published in John Bell's ''

Rhymes of Northern Bards ''Rhymes of Northern Bards'' (full title – "Rhymes of Northern Bards: being a curious collection of old and new Songs and Poems, Peculiar to the Counties of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle, Northumberland and County Durham, Durham – Edited b ...

'' (1812) gives these additional verses: :Bobby Shafto's tall and slim, :He always dressed so neat and trim; :The ladies they all kick at him, :Bonny Bobby Shafto. :Bobby Shafto's gettin' a bairn, :For to dangle on his arm; :In his arm and on his knee, :Bobby Shafto loves me. Other publications have made changes to some of the words, including the spelling of the last name: :Bobby Shaftoe's gone to sea, :With silver buckles on his knee; :He'll come back and marry me, :Pretty Bobby Shaftoe! :Bobby Shaftoe's fat and fair, :Combing down his yellow hair; :He's my love for evermore, :Pretty Bobby Shaftoe!

Origins

The Opies (folklorists) have argued for an identification of the original Bobby Shafto with a resident of Hollybrook, County Wicklow, Ireland, who died in 1737. However, the tune derives from the earlier "Brave Willie Forster", found in the Henry Atkinson manuscript from the 1690s, and the

William Dixon manuscript The William Dixon manuscript, written down between 1733 and 1738 in Northumberland, is the oldest known manuscript of pipe music from the British Isles, and the most important source of music for the Border pipes. It is currently located in the ...

, from the 1730s, both from north-east England; besides these early versions, there are two variation sets for

Northumbrian smallpipes The Northumbrian smallpipes (also known as the Northumbrian pipes) are bellows-blown bagpipes from Northeastern England, where they have been an important factor in the local musical culture for more than 250 years. The family of the Duke of ...

, by John Peacock, from the beginning of the 19th century, and by

Tom Clough Tom Clough (1881–1964), known as "The Prince of Pipers", was an English player of the Northumbrian pipes, or Northumbrian smallpipes. He was also a pipemaker, and the pipes he made with Fred Picknell include several important innovations, an ...

, from the early 20th century. The song is also associated with the region, having been used by the supporters of Robert Shafto (sometimes spelt Shaftoe), who was an eighteenth-century

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

Member of Parliament (MP) for County Durham (c. 1730–97), and later the borough of Downton in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

. Supporters used another verse in the 1761 election: :Bobby Shafto's looking out, :All his ribbons flew about, :All the ladies gave a shout, :Hey for Bobby Shafto! The song is said to relate the story of how he broke the heart of Bridget Belasyse of

Brancepeth Castle Brancepeth Castle is a castle in the village of Brancepeth in County Durham, England, some 5 miles south-west of the city of Durham (). It is a Grade I listed building. History A succession of buildings has been on the site. The first was a ...

, County Durham, where his brother Thomas was rector, when he married Anne Duncombe of Duncombe Park in Yorkshire. Bridget Belasyse is said to have died two weeks after hearing the news. Thomas & George Allan, in their illustrated edition of Tyneside Songs and Readings (1891), argued that the "Bobby Shafto" of the song was in fact his son, although his father fits the description of the lyrics better. In reality, it is likely that his grandson, Robert Duncombe Shafto, also used the song for electioneering in 1861, with several of the later verses being added around this time.

Notes

External links

Portrait of his son, Robert
by Sir

Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter who specialised in portraits. The art critic John Russell (art critic), John Russell called him one of the major European painters of the 18th century, while Lucy P ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bobby Shafto's Gone to Sea English folk songs Traditional children's songs English nursery rhymes Songs about oceans and seas Songs with unknown songwriters Year of song unknown Songs about politicians