Nice. Too bad "Oxford" is such a wild card in database searching, otherwise one might find "the ballad of the Oxford" or some such thing.

Indeed, "Oxford" breaks the ideal rhyme scheme, so to retain it, rather than to substitute something else to make rhyme, could suggest it is essential to include.

In which case the germ of the idea of the song might revolve less around the pathetic character of a "Paddy" and the unfortunate-yet-typical situations he gets in, in general, and more around the tale of a particular ship.

I wonder if Hugill's "[Limey barque the] Hotspur" isn't also a mishearing of "Oxford."