Many of the Music Hall songs of Harry Clifton, Harry Linn and J. B. Geoghegan appeared in the collections round about 1900 simply because they sound and look like folksongs.

Yes - it was quite a shock to me to discover that 'Ten Thousand Miles Away' (which I'd learned from a Walter Pardon recording) and 'Hey John Barleycorn' were Geohegan compositions. They certainly do 'sound like folksongs'.