Here's a little more info on other Watercresses.

The Water-cress Girl I think is probably later than Clifton's song.
I have references to 5 broadsides, 3 without identified printer, all identical 3v and chorus. One is by Sanderson of Edinburgh which doesn't help as they were printing throuighout the 19thc and into the 20th, but I have one by Forth of Hull with stock number 171. Forth also printed Clifton's song, stock number 12. He started printing broadsides about 1870. I know these stock numbers don't give hard and fast dates and don't always come chronologically, but it does have some bearing.

To complicate matters even further, I have a copy of a broadside titled Water Cresses by Such stock number 377 first line 'Jack came home, his pockets lined' which seems wrong to me so I'm going to check this one.

According to Hindley in the Catnach biography, Catnach also printed a song of this title which would predate all of these.