I have managed to track down that reference to "dons". It is in Folk Songs and Ballads of Lancashire by Harry & Lesley Boardman, OAk, 1973. The 4th verse of The Bard's Reformation by Samuel Bamford runs:

Adieu to the lads who are dons in the fray,
I've borne their sore bruises for mony a day;
There's Darby an' Dobbin,
Mad Ab' an' Rough Robin,
For kickin' or nobbin',
Do carry the bay,
There's no country gobbin can bear it away.