Lyr Add: The Dorset Militia Song

Subject: THE DORSET MILITIA SONG
From: wildlone
Date: 14 Oct 01 - 12:49 PM

THE DORSET MILITIA SONG
Traditional

From Dorchester we marched away
To Selsey camp without delay
King George's word we must obey
When we heard the French was landed.

And when to Selsey camp we came
Our Colonel he thought it no shame
For to cheat us brave young Dorset men
Out of what we call our bounty.

Here are so many brave Dorset lads
That have come so many miles from home
There's no-one here will stand their friend
No! without a royal sovereign.

And as we marched from town to town
The landlords on us all did frown
They never did ask us to sit down
But we made ourselves right welcome.

So never mind what they do say
Our knives and forks we'll make them play
We'll pay them fourpence for one day
And we'll march away next morning

recorded by the Yetties on
In Praise of Dorset cassette YETC3013 CD YETCD3013
dc

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE DORSET MILITIA SONG
From: Ditchdweller
Date: 14 Oct 01 - 01:50 PM

So our Captain, being an honest man, It's straight to London he is bound An Audience with King George he's found, And he laid the facts before him.

There are another two verses I can not remember that tell how King George order that each man must have his right and their rights were read in oders, with much well deserved embarrasment to the Colonel.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE DORSET MILITIA SONG
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 14 Oct 01 - 04:40 PM

Did the Yetties credit their source?  What tune is it sung to?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE DORSET MILITIA SONG
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 14 Oct 01 - 05:57 PM

William Barnes wrote several pieces about the Militia, I may be able to find out if this is one of his, but I'm too pissed.

LTS

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE DORSET MILITIA SONG
From: Stewie
Date: 14 Oct 01 - 08:13 PM

The Yetties noted that it was collected at the village of Corscombe by H.E.D. Hammond. They found it in the Folk Song Society's Journal No 11. ['The Yetties Song Book' EFDS Publications].

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE DORSET MILITIA SONG
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 14 Oct 01 - 09:54 PM

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:

Old Militia Song

Old Militia Song (variant)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE DORSET MILITIA SONG
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 15 Oct 01 - 09:59 AM

Little local military history. It was never the called the Dorsetshire Militia, there was only the Dorsetshire Regiment. And even that was changed by some pedant, who pointed out that Dorset had never been granted Shire status, so shouldn't be called Dorsetshire at all... That change came some time between the World wars (forget when) and when they amalgumated with the Devonshire Regiment in 1952, they became the Devon and Dorset Regiment.

Dorsetshire Regiment was made up of the 39th and 52nd Regiments of Foot, and the odd Militia man. The Dorset Militia were never sent abroad to fight, they were a sort of local Police/Customs support group who were there to stop Napoleon from landing (Thomas Hardy's 'The Trumpet Major' & J Meade Faulkner's 'Moonfleet' describe the tasks pretty well), smuggling and other such stuff.

The Commanding officer was usually the local squire, although Dorset had several landed families, I seem to remember the Digby family had a lot to do with their formation and upkeep. The Earl of Ilchester (Strangways) and the Lord Wynford also had connections. One Lord Wynford later went on to serve in the Dorset Regt in both world wars and lost an arm. Ilchester favoured the Queen's Own Dorset Yeomanry - a regiment of Cavalry.

You can find out lots more about the Militia at the Dorset Military Museum (Website doesn't have much but gives details of the address, which should be here.... www.keepmilitarymuseum.org/ (sorry the blicky hasn't worked, can Joe Clone fix it for me please?)).

LTS - sorry, it was my best ever job working there, I get carried away.....

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE DORSET MILITIA SONG
From: MMario
Date: 15 Oct 01 - 11:23 AM

NWC file from wildlone's source sent to joe. (different key from Lalcolm's but essentially the same.)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE DORSET MILITIA SONG
From: GUEST,wildlone
Date: 15 Oct 01 - 01:09 PM

Malcolm
As I live in Dorset and have an interest in the local songs and tunes I was asked if I could post some of the songs that come from Dorset that do not apear in the database. When I have a tune that I can scan into my computer I send that for inclusion as a midi.
Please forgive me if I am wrong but I thought that this site was about music.
dave logged out

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE DORSET MILITIA SONG
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 15 Oct 01 - 01:32 PM

Sorry if I seemed a bit stern, Dave; bad day, and nothing personal meant, as I said.  Sleeve notes are important, though, if they give information about the song, so it really is best to include any background information you may have.  I've spent an awful lot of time identifying sources and tunes for song texts that people have posted here in the past with no real information given, so I do tend to get a bit impatient about it.  A song isn't music without a tune, after all, and with traditional songs the background can be very important indeed; here, for example, Snuffy's information from the sleeve notes meant that I could find the tune, and the missing half of the song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE DORSET MILITIA SONG
From: GUEST,wildlone
Date: 15 Oct 01 - 01:43 PM

This is the reason that songs should be posted.
Now we have an intact song with a lot more info than I knew.
I have put the verses together so that when I sing it at napoleonic re-enactments i can now sing the full version

dave

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE DORSET MILITIA SONG
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 13 Nov 18 - 04:54 PM

Any more commercial recordings other than the Yetties?

We're including Taunton's seemingly unique song in our next book in the Hammond-Gardiner series. I've altered it slightly to make it scan and rhyme better. As far as I know no more info has come to light since 01.