Sung by Robert Barratt Puddletown Dorset to the Hammond Brothers in 1905. He had throat cancer and could only whisper the tune. He managed, somehow to communicate 50 odd songs.
The song was included in 'Marrowbones' by Frank Purslow. It was taken up by Fin and Eddie Fury who had an LP called I live Not Where I Love, and then a raft of Irish singers, who seemed to believe it was an Irish song, turned it into something it never was.
It first appeared as 'The Constant Lover' in 1638. Then filtered down through numerous Broadside printers in the nineteenth century.
It may have been originally written by one Peter Lowberry. The tune is not as old as the words (I think) and seems to have been prevalent in the West Country. Sharp found a fragment in Somerset, but nowhere else.
Roud 593 will give any other versions. The tune is fairly obviously an art music composure, but none the worse for that. It is a testament to the quality of both tune and words that it survived until the early part of the 20th Century virtually unchanged since
William Chappell 'Popular Music of Olden Times' Vol 2 Page 451-3 printed it c.1855, with a very similar tune.
That's the best I can do, hope it helps.
Nick