Steve, In this thread Masato Sakurai says Kidson considwered it old in 1891!:-

"Johnny Todd" is in Frank Kidson's Traditional Tunes: A Collection of Ballad Airs (1891; reprinted S.R. Publishers, 1970, pp. 103-104; with music).

"JOHNNY TODD is a child's rhyme and game, heard and seen played by Liverpool children. The air is somewhat pleasing, and the words appear old, though some blanks caused by the reciter's memory had to be filled up."--Kidson