Q

The 1905 date probably came from The Traditional Ballad Index. This can be misleading as it is the earlies date for a publication that the editors have read themselves. The ballad(/carol) has had rather less attention the The Cherry Tree Carol as it isn't a Christmas carol and therefore doesn't fit so well into a lot of collections.

A. L. Lloyd, in his sleeve notes to The Watersons' Sound, Sound Your Instruments of Joy says it was available in chapbooks during the 1840s. Though he may be a bit enthusiastic at times, he doesn't usually invent chapbooks.

Folk hymns don't always reflect the views of the vicarage. Since the Middle Ages poor people have interpreted the Gospel legends and characters to suit themselves. In the Cherry Tree Carol, Joseph is a grumpy peasant suspecting that he has been cuckolded (he says to Mary: 'Let him gather thee cherries that put thee with child'). In The Bitter Withy the far-from-gentle-Jesus drastically brings down the pride of the uppish young lords, and gets his bottom smacked for his pains. This carol, more vengeful than pious, lasted particularly well in the West Midlands, perhaps under the inspiration of chapbook copies published in Birmingham in the 1840's.

BruceO may well be able to give us information about earlier copies.

:-)