Thanks again Ewan!
It is so good to get this info from someone who 'was there' so to speak.
Do i conclude then that the Hamish song 'originated' in about 1980 rather than 1900?
I know what you mean about the business of songwriting. I've posted a few of mine at antiwarsongs.org and they hark back to WW1,hopefully raising topics which can only be sully appreciated in retrospect. e.g. 'the last man and the last shilling'.
Cheerio
Tony