Since the song appeared on broadsides from the early 19th century - see The Tradesman's Complaint - Pitts, dated as 1802-1819, G-Force's remembered comment of Shirley Collins, that the "just come from the war" referred to the Boer War can't be true as the verse is in the broadside. Napoleonic war perhaps.

The Roud index is mostly entries for the Copper family version or 19C broadsides. I don't know if there's anything earlier. Steve?

There is a song in Roxburgh VII p4, "The Tradesman's Complaint Upon the Hardness of the Times, Deadness of Trade, and Scarcity of Money", which deals with a similar theme and may have been an inspiration, if not an ancestor of this one.

Mick