Lyr Req: Spence Broughton

Subject: Spence Broughton
From: Teasle
Date: 14 Apr 00 - 06:44 PM

A friend has asked me to see if there are any Mudcatters have the words/tune to Spence Broughton - it's a song of transportation...

If anyone out there can help ..... and if you've got the words/tune to Spence Broughton as well, that'd be great!!

Cheers,

Teasle

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spence Broughton
From: GUEST,Bruce O.
Date: 14 Apr 00 - 07:01 PM

It's in Frank Kidson's 'Traditional Tunes' with two tunes for it, both of which are stressed note and mode coded in file COMBCOD2.TXT on my website. wwww.erols.com/olsonw

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spence Broughton
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 14 Apr 00 - 09:57 PM

Spence Broughton didn't get transported.  He was hung in York, and subsequently gibbetted near the scene of his crime, Attercliffe Common.  (He robbed the mail-coach in 1792.)  Nowadays that's in Sheffield.  A pub just opposite the Sheffield Arena on Broughton Lane -named after him- got re-vamped a few years back as a "Spence Broughton" theme pub, complete with -believe it or not- a gibbet outside, complete with cage and corpse!  There are several broadside copies at the Bodleian Library, one of which is  here.

Malcolm

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spence Broughton
From: The Beanster
Date: 15 Apr 00 - 01:38 AM

Haunting little poem, there, Malcolm...thanks for that link. And pardon my ignorance, but what's a gibbet??

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spence Broughton
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 15 Apr 00 - 09:56 AM

A gibbet was a gallows, most usually one on which the remains of executed criminals were suspended; presumably as an Awful Warning.  Often the corpse would be in an iron cage, which prevented the deceased's friends or family removing the body for burial.

Malcolm

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spence Broughton
From: The Beanster
Date: 15 Apr 00 - 11:44 AM

Oh dear! lol What an abominable idea! I'd never heard of that. Evidently, they had no reservations about punishing the loved ones of the criminal... I wonder if that horrendous practice actually had an impact on deterring crime. Very interesting, Malcolm. Thanks for the info.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spence Broughton
From: Teasle
Date: 15 Apr 00 - 12:42 PM

Wonderful Malcolm - thank you. A cheerful little tale, what?! That should keep my friend happy - he's a great singer of doleful songs!! Keeps the tradition alive though eh?

Ta muchly

Teasle

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spence Broughton
From: Margaret V
Date: 15 Apr 00 - 04:17 PM

I never saw a gibbet at a pub, but for the curious on this side of the Atlantic there is a gallows on display at the Mercer Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. No corpse or cage, though. The museum is an incredible, vast compendium of American artifacts related for the most part to trades and early industries. Well worth a detour--or even a special trip--from almost anywhere in the mid-Atlantic states. Margaret

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spence Broughton
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 15 Apr 00 - 11:31 PM

SPENCE BROUGHTON

To you my dear companions accept these lines I pray;
A most deeply felt trial has occupied this day.
'Tis from your dying Broughton, to show his wretched fate,
I hope you'll reformation make before it is too late.

The loss of your companion will grieve your heart full sore,
I know that my fair Ellen will my wretched fate deplore;
Thinking of those happy days that now are past and gone,
And I, unhappy Broughton, would I had ne'er been born.

One day unto St. James's with large and swelling pride,
Each man had a flash woman walking by his side,
And at night we did retire unto some ball or play;
In these unhappy pleasures our time did pass away.

Brought up in wicked habits which wrought in me no fear,
How little did I think that my time would be so near;
But now I'm overtaken, condemned and cast to die,
Exposed a sad example to all that does pass by.

O that I had but gone unto some far distant clime,
That a gibbet post for Broughton would never have been mine;
But as for such like wishes they are vanity and vain,
Alas, it is but folly and madness to complain.

One night to try and slumber I closed my weeping eyes,
I heard a foot approaching which struck me with surprise;
I listened for a moment, a voice made this reply,
"Prepare thyself, Spence Broughton, tomorrow thou must die."

O awful was the messenger, and dismal was the sound,
Like a maniac in distraction I rolled upon the ground;
My tears now flow in torrents, with anguish I am torn,
O poor unhappy Broughton, would I had ne'er been born.

Farewell my wife and children, to you I bid adieu,
I never should have come to this had I stayed at home with you;
But I hope through my Redeemer to gain the happy shore;
Farewell, farewell for ever, Spence Broughton is no more.

The versions of this song that I have seen show only small variations; the above is, I think, a reasonable compromise.  A midi of the tune -from Kidson, as Bruce says above- goes to the Mudcat Midi Site.  By way of a small advertisement, I should mention that this, and 29 other songs from South Yorkshire and the North Midlands, are included in The South Riding Songbook, which is available through the South Riding Folk Network's website, at  http://folk-network.com

Malcolm

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spence Broughton
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 17 Apr 00 - 09:12 PM

G'day,
Thanks to Malcolm the tune for "Spence Broughton" can be found here at the Mudcat MIDI site.

Cheers,
Alan