To all,

Greeting....just to add grist to the mill, there exists another version of this famous tune/song and it is sung by the Queen's Royal Lancers at every formal dining function in all the Regiment's Messes.
The tune can be heard on the Royal Lancers Band CD called 'Into History'. As far as I'm aware the Regiment has sung this song since before the Indian Mutiny and proudly continues to do so today. Here are the words:

"A tall stalwart Lancer lay dying,
And as on his deathbed he lay,
To his friends who around him were sighing,
These last dying words he did say,

CHORUS: Wrap me up in my old stable jacket,
And say a poor buffer lies low,
And six stalwart Lancers shall carry me,
With steps, solemn, mournful and slow.

Had I the wings of a white dove,
Far away, far away, would I fly,
Straight for the arms of my true love,
And there would I lay me and die. CHORUS

Then get you two little white tombstones,
Put them one at my head and my toe,
And get you a penknife and scratch there,
Here lies a poor buffer below, CHORUS

And get you six brandies and sodas,
And set them all out in a row,
And get you six jolly good Lancers,
To drink to this buffer below. CHORUS

And then in the calm of the twilight,
When the soft winds are whispering low,
And the darkening shadows are falling,
Sometimes think of this buffer below. CHORUS"

It's obviously an adaptation of the orignal, but I think you're far more likely to hear it being sung by the 700 members of the Regiment than on board any ship these days......

Hope this proves of interest to somebody.

Warm Regards.

GW Brown
(A still serving Lancer)