Steve, I have a downloaded copy of Harland, thanks. As you say he prints several different 'Jone' ballads and a (disputed) account regarding the origins of the primary text ('Battle wi' French'). The original tune was 'The Chapter of Kings' (as given with the Poor Cotton Weaver text in Bert's FSE), and I understand this was the tune to which all the offshoot Jone ballads were intended to be sung - Sid Calderbank is he expert on that question. That's one of the reasons I think the Four Loom Weaver tune is MacColl's.

John Stafford specified 'Jone' as the tune for a set of words he wrote about his family's experience of the Peterloo: his two brothers and sister were at the meeting, but he and his father set ou late and turned back on hearing of the carnage. He published this in a self-produced booklet together with other radical pieces.

Richard / jag, I'm sure Professor Goldman's grasp of industrial history is perfectly sound, but it didn't sound to me as though he'd had much experience of the street literature of the period in question. I might leave a comment on the BBC website if it's possible. I was disappointed that the programme made no mention of Beckett Whitehead, even if his association with the song may not be everything that Ewan claimed.