Here are the lyrics of The Rose of York mentioned by a couple of people above.

THE ROSE OF YORK
Ken Thompson & Lesley Hale

Oh my name it is Mark Bennett, I am a Yorkshire man;
I earn my living by my pen, tell a stirring tale I can:
But the tale I tell you now, boys, was writ by foolish men,
And petals fell from the Rose of York, never to bloom again.

Come all of you young married men, you boys of the bulldog breed.
We're looking for the strong and brave, that's what Britannia needs.
And we'll fight the Hun in Flanders, and the Germans on the Seine,
And petals fell from the Rose of York, never to bloom again.

We first set out to Egypt, where the heat was hard to bear;
We were waiting for the call to France, for the Boche were fighting there.
And we talked of what we'd do, boys; brothers, sons and friends;
And petals fell from the Rose of York, never to bloom again.

At last we heard that the push was on, and we sailed across the Med;
We little thought in two week's time we'd most of us be dead.
And the girls at home would weep, boys, with a grief that's hard to mend,
And petals fell from the Rose of York, never to bloom again.

With shouts of joy we lads did charge towards the German wire;
Our handsome Major was the first to go as the guns they opened fire.
His face no longer handsome, on the barbed wire met his end;
And petals fell from the Rose of York, never to bloom again.

Well, we had a Sergeant-Major, bold by nature, Bold by name;
But the German guns don't pick and choose, and Bold died just the same.
Then the other gallants followed, their coin of life to spend,
And petals fell from the Rose of York, never to bloom again.

We didn't want to lose you, but we thought you ought to go;
"Your King and Country need You!" - Lord Kitchener told us so.
But the tale I've told you now, boys, was writ by foolish men -
And petals fell from the Rose of York, never to bloom again.

I transcribed the words years ago from "The Bitter Withy Sampler", Nevis NEVR005.
Bitter Withy were an excellent close-harmony group comprising Tich Frier, Lesley Hale and Andy Ramage. I think the album was produced by Jimmy MacGregor.
Ken Thompson was a journalist in Edinburgh in the '70s, Lesley Hale was also from there. Tich Frier appears regularly at Fylde and is a powerful solo performer.

I have sung this song several times (not often enough) and often wondered what the Yorkshire connection was between the authors and the subject. A little Googling revealed a note on the website of folk group Mithras to the effect that the song is based on a chapter from a novel "Covenant with Death" (1961) by John Harris. Based on fact, it is the story of a voluntary city battalion (the Sheffield Pals) through 1914 to 1916 and its destruction at the Battle of the Somme. See Reviews of "Covenant with Death" for some comments - on the basis of which I'm off to buy the book!

Ross