Sorcha's story(the French origin, passed on to the old Pretender and entering Britain with the Jacobites in 1745) seems inherently unlikely.Given the undoubted popularity of the song in London(as an anti-Jacobite rabble-rouser) in October 1745; and also given the fact that Bonnie Prince Charlie's army didnt even get into England till the middle of November:the time scale seems too compressed. Are we to believe that a speedy horeman dashed ahead of the rebel army carrying the Jacobite song, arriving in London in say August, and that the song was hi-jacked by the loyal Hanoverians and turned round politically and made into an almighty hit by October? It's possible, but it all seems to be a bit far-fetched. Particularly as there is plenty of evidence( though perhaps not totally conclusive) that the song was sung in England from 1740.The publication of the song c1742 in London is often quoted, but the date of that particular song book could be a few years out, apparently(or so I have read). All "facts" about this song have a habit of shimmering and changing when you look at them closely. Except the undeniable one(??) that it was well up and running in October 45 in England.