This was popular on the British music halls in the 1860s. It opens 'I live in North Wales and one evening last summer…' and puts the singer on a London train, but it is otherwise almost word for word the version given by Joe (28 August). Kilgarriff dates it to c.1863 and names singers as Fred Albert and W Randall. I have sheet music of that period, with a coloured lithographic cover showing the widow leaving the Welsh gent holding the baby. Alas, the music pages are in deplorable condition through many past years of heavy use.

The London publisher was Duff and Hodgson. No composer is named and the tune is obviously traditional. My copy says it was 'written by W H Cove' and 'sung with immense success by Mr W Randall'. Kilgarriff says that the other named singer, Fred Albert, claimed to sing only his own songs, but he was clearly not on oath.

Are any other songs by Gove or Cove known?