G'day Malcolm,

Thanks for the date (well, floreat, at least) for Stan Ellison. I guess that the critical date is for Richard Pomfret, i.e. whether this is entirely a modern work, or whether Stan Ellison set an old poem, collected - or found in older books.

The attitudes and background suggest the late 19th / very early 20th century, at the latest, for these working conditions ... but I might just be biased by my Australian viewpoint. I do know that my paternal Grandmother worked about 80 hours a week (in a strawberry garden) with little holiday leave, down around Portsmouth (Titchfield) ... until 1919, when she came to Australia and married my grandfather (who had enlisted in the Australian Army, fought in France and met her before demob.).

Either way, it's a great industrial song - but there are strongly modern aspects about the song, as performed by Mike Harding.

Regards,

Bob Bolton