Thank you, Stewie! I'm not entirely convinced that there's a lot of point in posting the texts of songs transcribed from commercial records made by revival performers unless somebody specifically asks for them, or unless they are placed in their proper context by acknowledging the traditional source from which they came, and giving the tune to which they should be sung. This shouldn't be taken as a personal criticism of anybody (I do understand that not everyone can spend time transcribing tunes), but I do feel that credit should be given where it is due, and that knowing the source of a song is fundamental to our understanding of it . Now that we know where this song came from, we can make this thread a wee bit more useful; and provide a tune for it so that it's a useable resource.
This song was, as Stewie says, printed in the Journal of the Folk Song Society (vol. III, issue 11, 1907). No details were given as to who noted it (presumably it was one of the Hammond brothers); it came from a Mr. Taunton of Corscombe, Dorsetshire, in September 1907, and was titled Old Militia Song. It should be noted that in each case where the Yetties sing Dorset, Mr. Taunton actually sang Dorsetshire. The verses missing from the Yetties record are as follows (they follow the final verse given above):
Our adjutant he was but one short;
He came to camp all with one shirt;
Place for his was a-sooner got
All in our showy regiment.
Our general being an honest man
Straightway to London he did run,
And there before the King he came,
And laid the cause before him.
Oh! then the King a letter wrote,
And sent to Selsey camp that night,
That every man should have his right,
Oh! his right was read in order.
Good Lord! how our Colonel he did frown,
And wish himself again at home,
He'd sooner lose five hundred pound
Than to have his fame so scandalised.
Anne Gilchrist commented, "Interesting as regards tune and also the form of the verse, which reminds one of a Danish folk-song. The music of the last line has quite the lilt of a Danish folk-melodi refrain."
Midis of the tune as given in JFSS go to The Mudcat Midi Pages; until they becomes available there, they can be heard via the South Riding Folk Network site: