Recapping (yet once more) ...

Malcolm wrote:

"
Sedley's notes included the following:

"It originated in the last half of the eighteenth century".

That is to say, the song; not the form in which he published it.
"

As far as I can make out (which I'm coming to realise isn't as far as I though [g]), the earliest extant texts would be the two Irish fragments dated from 1790. Lloyd quotes two quatrains and Lomax (I think) a separate quatrain.

I think this is where the late 18thC / Irish business originates. Then we jump to "The Buck's Elegy", which I'm still assuming is the earliest full version -- obviously deriving from the Irish fragments, but written down in the (early?) nineteenth century, and now located in London. Then "The Unfortunate Lad". Then "The Trooper ..." I'm assuming that the Trooper versions come later as they incorporate new elements -- the flash girls and the swaddy/squaddie.

All this has already been said, I think, so apologies for the repetition, but I'm trying to get it straight in my head.

Robin