Origins: who wrote the Woad Song?

Subject: ADD Version: Woad (from Joe Hickerson)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Jan 23 - 10:43 PM

I learned this song from Joe Hickerson's recording, and I heard him sing it live once or twice. Here's how he sang it on his Folk-Legacy album with the lengthy title Folk Songs and Ballads Sung by Joe Hickerson with a Gathering of Friends

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NKO48XGUPc

WOAD

WOAD (DT Lyrics) What's the use of wearing braces, Hats or spats or boots with laces, Coats and vests you buy in places Down on Brompton Road? What's the use of shirts of cotton, Studs that always get forgotten? These affairs are simply rotten-- Better far is woad. Woad's the stuff to show men, Woad to scare your foemen Boil it to a brilliant blue And rub it on your back and your abdomen. Ancient Britons never hit on Anything as fine as woad to fit on Neck or knees or where you sit on-- Tailors, you'll be blowed! Romans crossed the English Channel All dressed up in tin and flannel; Half a pint of woad per man'll Clothe us more than these. Saxons, you can keep your stitches, For making beds for bugs in britches We have woad to clothe us which is Not a nest for fleas. Romans, save your armors, Saxons, your pajamas, Hairy coats were made for goats, Gorillas, yaks, retriever dogs and llamas. March on Snowdon with your woad on Never mind if you get rained or snowed on. Never need a button sewed on, W-O-A-D woad(or, Glory be to woad!)(or, Bollocks to the breeze!)

WOAD (Joe Hickerson liner notes) What's the use of wearing braces, Hats and spats and boots with laces, Vests and pants you buy in places Down on Brompton Road? What's the use of shirts of cotton, Studs that always get forgotten? These affairs are simply rotten-- Better far is Woad. Woad's the stuff to show men, Woad to scare your foe, men! Boil it to a brilliant blue Then rub it on your back and your abdomen. Ancient Britons never hit on Anything as fine as Woad to fit on Necks or legs or where you sit on-- Tailors, you'll be blowed! Romans crossed the English Channel All dressed up in tin and flannel; Half a pint of Woad per man'll Clothe us more than these. Saxons, you can save your stitches, For making beds for bugs in britches We have woad to clothe us which is Not a nest for fleas. Romans, save your armors, Saxons, your pajamas, Hairy coats were made for goats, Gorillas, yaks, retriever dogs and llamas. March on Snowdon with your Woad on Never mind if you get rained or snowed on. Never need a button sewed on, W-O-A-D Woad

@clothes
sung by Joe Hickerson
filename[ WOADWEAR
TUNE FILE: HARLCH
CLICK TO PLAY
DC

Popup Midi Player

Joe Hickerson's Notes:
I learned this attempt at ancient salesmanship from Bob and Bobby Keppel. The latter was Bobby Russell when she and I sang in Gilbert & Sullivan chorus lines at Oberlin. After she married C. Robert Keppel, for many years a mainstay of folksong-revival activity in the Boston area, we exchanged bits of song by correspondence and occasional visits. In 1958, they presented me with their slightly differing but fiercely independent versions of "Woad," and directed me to Dick and Ruth Best's Song Fest (New York, 1955, p. 99) for further subtle divergences. Also that year, Anne Shaver of Oberlin sent me a text she had learned while at school in England the previous year, with a note saying her source believed that the song had originated some years before at Bedford, a British boys' school. There was no question about the tune, however: "Men of Harlech." I guess I have made a few trifling textual changes of my own; the only one I can recall as conscious creation in the final phrase, "W-O-A-D Woad."
For those unacquainted with the mysteries of ancient colouration, Woad refers to a brassicaceous plant (Isatis tinctoria) and to the bluish-purple dye derived therefrom, which was used by ancient Britons at the time of Julius Caesar for ritualistic purposes. Lynn, who has recently become interested in herb cultivation, has planted some Woad seeds in our garden; we'll soon see if it works!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: GUEST,ripov
Date: 09 Nov 18 - 07:50 PM

No idea as to origin, but a favourite at choir camp in the 50s, along with "never let your braces dangle" and "Lloyd George knew my father" and of course "*insert local vicar's daughters name here* ate some marmalade"
Our variation- "hats and things you buy in places/ Down the Old Kent Road". and the "Go it ancient B's" refrain.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: BobL
Date: 09 Nov 18 - 04:05 AM

Has anyone ever tried translating it into Welsh?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: GUEST,Mike Field
Date: 08 Nov 18 - 11:14 PM

The third verse, quoted by Reiver 2 on 13 Jun 10, is one I learnt as part of the whole song in the Scouts in Australia in the 50s/60s. (Dave, writing on 11 Sep 13, notes that the third verse is in fact an Aussie addition to Ho-Jo's original two-verse version.)

As someone else said earlier, this was always a favourite song around the camp-fire, being shouted out and stomped to with great glee...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: Lighter
Date: 24 Aug 18 - 04:57 PM

The "Cambridge Review" of Oct. 25, 1906, mentions "W. Hope-Jones" as a member of the General Committee of the Cambridge Church Society, King's College. He appears to have been a notable foot-racer.

The"Eton College Chronicle" of Oct. 17, 1907, mentions "W. Hope-Jones, Esq."

More interestingly, Hope-J`ones appears as a character in M. R. James's story, "Wailing Well," "first read at a camp of Eton Boy Scouts" in July, 1927.

Wikipedia has an entire article on "The National Anthem of the Ancient Britons." It asserts that William Hope-Jones, a housemaster at Eton, "sang it at a College dinner" in 1914, but it first appeared in print in the "Hackney Scout Song Book," as noted by Dave Earle above, in 1921.

According to his obituary in the "Mathematical Gazette" (1965), Hope-Jones was the "greatest personality" in the Mathematics Association "of the past 40 years":

"Probability, he said, was a bee which buzzed in his bonnet, and he paid full heed to the implications of the theory. When it showed him that if 36 runners enter for a race, for which there are 6 prizes, 4 heats of 9 runners with two from each heat in the final will be more likely to give a fair result than 6 heats of 6 runners with one from each heat in the final, he took a large spade and widened the road where the Eton school mile starts, so as to make room for 9 runners....

"To know H-J was a tonic, a corrective to pessimism The world became a simpler, brighter, happier place when he was present."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: GUEST,Tony Smith
Date: 24 Aug 18 - 12:51 PM

These are the same words we sang to as a young scout in the early 1950's . As l recall it was known as 'Go it Ancient B's'.To Men of Harlech. A great favourite around the bonfire (-;

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: meself
Date: 18 Oct 14 - 11:52 AM

This song is not well-known in Canada. I'm surprised to see above that it was (is?), apparently, a staple in British Girl Guide songbooks - in Canada, it would have been considered inappropriate for respectable girls to be singing about naked men - woad or no woad! (Now watch someone come along and tell me its been in Canadian Girl Guide books since time immemorial ... ).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 18 Oct 14 - 08:22 AM

'...bought in places down in Brompton Road' clearly refers to Harrods, London's most upmarket department store --

"Harrods is an upmarket department store located in Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London...
The store occupies a 5-acre (20,000 m2) site and has over one million square feet (90,000 m2) of selling space in over 330 departments making it the biggest department store in Europe." Wikipedia

It has been at this site since mid-C19.

≈M≈

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: bubblyrat
Date: 18 Oct 14 - 07:15 AM

Marie Osmond did a version called "Hit The Woad, Jack" .

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: Dave Earl
Date: 18 Oct 14 - 06:56 AM

Havent time to read the whole thread but my copy of The Hackney Scout Song book has the "National Anthem of the Ancient Britons" (p122 1949 edition)attributed to one W. Hope Jones who I am led to believe was a teacher / headmaster at one of Englands Public Schools - Eton or Harrow I'm not sure which now although somebody once told me which it was.

Does this answer the OP's qustion?

Dave

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 18 Oct 14 - 06:37 AM

Several people asked about Brompton Road in connection with this song - Apart from being an Up Market shopping area in W London , Brompton Road is also the location of Baden Powell House .HQ of the Boy Scouts movement in UK . As Woad was written for Eton Scouts , the reference to Scouts HQ seems a tad obvious . Tont O Neill performs the song fairly regularly at Maidenhead F C

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 18 Oct 14 - 01:21 AM

Re above remark that this is often sung in a Welsh accent: surely this would be by association with the tune, an ancient Welsh war song.   

"Harlech (Welsh pronunciation: [ˈharlɛx]) is a town and seaside resort in Gwynedd, within the historical boundaries of Merionethshire in northwest Wales, lying on Tremadog Bay" ... "'Men of Harlech' or 'The March of the Men of Harlech' (in Welsh: Rhyfelgyrch Gwŷr Harlech) is a song and military march which is traditionally said[1] to describe events during the seven-year siege of Harlech Castle between 1461 and 1468.[2][3] Commanded by Constable Dafydd ap Ieuan, the garrison withstood the longest known siege in the history of the British Isles". Wikipedia

≈M≈

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: LadyJean
Date: 18 Oct 14 - 12:52 AM

I was told by an elderly gentleman from Shrivenham that the woad song was a scout song.

I learned it at Miss Sally Sutherland's School for Scottish Arts in Banner Elk North Carolina, from one of the Armstrong family.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: GUEST,ketchdana
Date: 17 Oct 14 - 05:28 PM

Without any authority at all, ^{[citation needed]} just thinkin' 'bout it, and noting W.Hope-Jones' affiliation, might the line in the "third" verse be:
...
Eaton cubs would not wear nylon
Even if it snowed.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: GUEST,Blaze58
Date: 17 Oct 14 - 12:29 PM

I remember this song fondly from my junior school music lessons in the 60's in Blackburn Lanc's.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: GUEST,Dave
Date: 11 Sep 13 - 05:44 AM

The third verse is from Australia. Chesty Bond is a popular brand of singlet. Unley Road is a main road in Adelaide, South Australia.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 28 Nov 11 - 06:49 AM

I don't know whether it is because of the colour link, But even 'Old Blue Eyes' got in on the act:

Sinatra: "One for My Baby (and One More for the Woad)"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 28 Nov 11 - 03:09 AM

Ewan MacColl wrote a Radio Ballad called "Song of a Woad"
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: GUEST,T de Stig
Date: 28 Nov 11 - 03:00 AM

I note the modern versions all seem to conclude "go it ancient B's" but in the early 50s we alsways sang it based on the Scouts Gilwell song book as "go it ancient Brits"

Just my 2c worth

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 17 Jan 11 - 04:25 AM

I played the Narrator in a school production of 1066 & All That, the musical based on Sellar & Yeatman's famous book of 1930 [but previously pubd in parts in Punch] when I was teaching at Peckham Manor School, SE London in 1962. The Woad Ode is definitely NOT part of the original book of that musical, being much older; but it could of course have been interpolated into some productions, this being the sort of episodic show that invites such treatment. For ours, e.g., I wrote a few new songs/scenes about astronauts/cosmonauts & suchlike more contemporary "history", to bring it up to date.

~Michael~

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 17 Jun 10 - 06:01 PM

Found in (of all places) a sidebar in the chapter called "Dyestuffs and Coloured Compounds" subheading "Indigo" in Classics in Spectroscopy: Isolation and Structure Elucidation of Natural Products by Stefan Berger, Dieter Sicker (Weinheim: Wiley-VCH, 2009), page 246:


THE WOAD ODE
Anonymous, 1921.

[The text, except for punctuation, is the same as that posted by Gurney above.]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: GUEST,Tiggywinkle
Date: 16 Jun 10 - 06:12 AM

This song was pretty popular in the SCA mumblety-mumble years ago, when I was a sweet young thing. In that time & place, the last line was usually changed to, "bottoms up for woad!"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: Reiver 2
Date: 16 Jun 10 - 12:18 AM

Micca, The book, '1066 and All That" has long been a favorite of mine. I've never seen the theatrical production, but would love to see it. I have mixed feelings about singing that 3rd verse, but it IS clever. It just seems to me a bit out of context with the original verses. Do you have the lyrics to the song, and - if so - could you post them here?

Reiver 2

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: Micca
Date: 15 Jun 10 - 05:02 PM

Reiver2, I think Valmai was suggesting it (the song) may have been inserted into the Theatrical production!!, I, on the other hand, was refering to the often repeated phrase in the book. I enjoy singing the song from time to time, haven't included the "synthetics" verse yet tho'

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: Reiver 2
Date: 15 Jun 10 - 03:50 PM

Hi Micca. I have a copy of '1066 and All That' and have read it several times. I can find no reference to woad except on page 2 in the statement, "...but the Ancient Britons... painted themselves true blue, or woad, and fought as heroically under their dashing queen, Woadicea, as they did later in thin red lines..." Did I miss something?

[BTW, I can't help wondering if the 'thin red line' was an outgrowth of the practice of the ancient Briton's, as noted by Gurney, of painting a white stripe down their chests -- the notable "white stripe down the middle of the woad"?]

Reiver 2

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: Micca
Date: 15 Jun 10 - 07:04 AM

You have to have read the book "1066 and all that"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: Micca
Date: 15 Jun 10 - 04:13 AM

Valmai, but was it a Good Thing?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: Reiver 2
Date: 15 Jun 10 - 01:10 AM

Micca, thanks for catching the missing line in my post. I love that one Gurney!!

Reiver 2

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: Gurney
Date: 15 Jun 10 - 12:16 AM

Bernard, there is an old joke about a Briton who turned out for battle with a chalky streak down his chest...
add flannel here...
"It's the white line down the middle of the woad!"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 15 Jun 10 - 12:14 AM

G'day Valmai,

If you go back about 30 posts (the late Malcom Douglas, February 2001) you will see: "that W. Hope Jones was a master at Eton, and wrote the song, c.1921, for the college's Boy Scout troop. ("Gilwell Camp Fire Song Book" and comments on the web.) ... quite a while before 1066 and All That!

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Woad.
From: Gurney
Date: 14 Jun 10 - 10:49 PM

You didn't read the footnote, Mr Happy. 'Corrected by the author.'

Although I personally prefer variants.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: Bernard
Date: 14 Jun 10 - 09:52 AM

Let's not forget Roger Miller - 'King of the Woad'...

(I'll get me coat!)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 14 Jun 10 - 09:47 AM

I have been told it came from the stage version of 1066 And All That. Wikipedia says:

In 1938, the musical comedy 1066—and all that: A Musical Comedy based on that Memorable History by Sellar and Yeatman was produced. The book and lyrics were by Reginald Arkell; the music was composed by Alfred Reynolds. It was revived at the Palace Theatre, London in 1945.

Valmai

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Woad.
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 14 Jun 10 - 07:16 AM

"Some errors in this version."

Not really. It's been adapted many times over the years for various reasons - it's called the folk process.

Didn't you once tell me it was far too short so you were going to write a few more verses, John?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: Mr Red
Date: 14 Jun 10 - 06:07 AM

"Go it Ancient B's" (as in Britons) was the line I remember most clearly. But then, I was not a scout in the 20's.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Woad.
From: Mr Happy
Date: 14 Jun 10 - 06:03 AM

Some errors in this version.

See the proper one here:@displaysong.cfm?SongID=7952

Subject: Lyr Add: Woad.
From: Gurney
Date: 14 Jun 10 - 02:53 AM

Woad    (W. Hope-Jones.)    From The Youth Hostellers Song Book (1962 edition)
^^^ NATIONAL ANTHEM OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS.
(Tune: Men of Harlech.)

What's the use of wearing braces,
Vests and pants and boots with laces,
Spats or hats you buy in places,
Down in Brompton Road ?
What's the use of shirts of cotton,
Studs that always get forgotten,
These affairs are simply rotten-
Better far is woad !
Woad's the stuff to show, men-
Woad to scare your foemen-
Boil it to a brilliant hue
And rub it on your back and your abdomen
Ancient Briton never hit on
Anything as good as woad to fit on
Neck or knees or what you sit on-
Tailors, you be blowed !

Romans come across the Channel,
All wrapped up in tin and flannel ;
Half a pint of woad per man'll
Dress us more than these !
Saxons, you may waste your stiches
Building beds for bugs in breeches,
We have woad to clothe us, which is
Not a nest for fleas.
Romans, keep your armours,
Saxons, your pyjamas,
Hairy coats were meant for goats,
Gorillas, yaks, retriever dogs and llamas.
Tramp up Snowdon with our woad on,
Never mind if we get rained or blowed on,
Never want a button sewed on,
Go it, Ancient B's !


[Footnote]
Written about 1921 for the Eton College Boy Scouts. Printed in the Hackney Scout Song Book. We are indebted to the author for correcting (1962) the inaccurate version published in previous editions. [Of the YHA Song Book, presumably.]


Braces=suspenders. Vest=undershirt. Studs=retainers for detachable shirt-collars.
You be blowed=a mild term of personal rejection.
Punctuation and spacing carefully copied.
Often sung in a Welsh accent, the Welsh being descendants of the Ancient Britons, but possibly because the most widely heard professional recording was by a Welsh performer on a LP of Rugby Football songs.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: Rob Naylor
Date: 13 Jun 10 - 07:23 PM

Reiver 2: That's the version I sang in a Gang Show in 1969. Thanks for the memories.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: Micca
Date: 13 Jun 10 - 07:08 PM

Reiver2 in the "new" verse there is a line missing ( it doesnt scan properly without), it should read

   Dacron jumpers have no style on;
   Orlon undies just look vile on,
Even cubs would not wear Nylon
   Even if it snowed.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Jun 10 - 05:34 PM

Very expensive as in Harrods have an entrance from Brompton Road!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 13 Jun 10 - 05:19 PM

Reiver - Brompton Road is in Knightsbridge, London, and there are some very expensive fashion stores there....

Kitty

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: Gurney
Date: 13 Jun 10 - 04:40 PM

Her Indoors' YHA Songbook (1962) attributes as follows:
W. Hope-Jones. Written about 1921 for the Eton College Boy Scouts. Printed in the Hackney Scout Song Book. We are indebted to the author for correcting (1962)The inaccurate version published in previous editions.

That has to be the definitive version, I should think. Fairly close to Reiver 2's version above, but not exactly.

Busy day coming up. I'll post the version when I have a moment and let Joe decide what to do with it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: Reiver 2
Date: 13 Jun 10 - 03:12 PM

The above is pretty close to the version I learned in the 1950's. Used to sing it to my kids who loved the inventive rhyming and phrasing. I've hunted for Brompton in my British Isles atlas. There are 5 Bromptons and 4 Bramptons listed but I could find no Brompton Road. I have no record of where I found the song, who I learned it from or of it's source. I had two "original" verses:

WOAD [Tune: Men of Harlech]

1] What's the use of wearing braces,
   Hats or spats or shoes with laces,
   Vests or pants you buy in places
   Down on Brompton Road.
   What's the use of shirts of cotton,
   Studs that always get forgotton?
   Those affairs are simply rotten;
   Better far is woad.

    Woad's the stuff to show men;
    Woad to scare your foemen.
    Boil it to a brilliant blue,
    And rub it on your legs and your abdomen.

Ancient Briton's never hit on
Anything as good as woad to fit on.
Neck or knees or where you sit on --
Tailors you be blowed!

2] Romans came across the channel
   All dressed up in tin and flannel;
   Half a pint of woad per man'll
   Clothe us more than these.
   Saxons, you may save your stiches
   Building beds for bugs in britches;
   We have woad to clothe us which is
   Not a nest for fleas.

    Romans, keep your armors,
    Saxons, your pajamas.
    Hairy coats were made for goats,
    Gorillas, yaks, retriever dogs and llamas.

   March on Snowdon with your woad on,
   Never mind if you get rained or snowed on.
   Never need a button sewed on;
   Good for us today!

Somewhere along the line I came across another verse which was written in later years as it uses terms more characteristic of the 1950s, but utilizes similar inventive rhyming and phrasing:

3] Modern man's become more drastic,
   Keeps his pants up with elastic,
   Buys his socks and coats of plastic
   Down in Unley Road,
   Dacron jumpers have no style on;
   Orlon undies just look vile on,
   Even if it snowed.

    Keep your vile synthetics,
    Chesty Bond athletics,
    Drip-dry shirt collects no dirt
    And smells of hair oil, lotion and cosmetics.

All together, in all weather,
Never wear an ounce of cloth or leather;
Not a fig-leaf or a feather.
We'll just stick to woad!

Is anyone familiar with an Unley Road? Anywhere?

Reiver 2

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: GUEST,Philip Axe, Gothenburg, Sweden
Date: 03 Nov 07 - 10:05 AM

The version I learnt in the 7th Royal Tunbridge Wells (Skinners') scouts during the 1980s had the first verse:

What's the use of wearing braces
Shirts with cuffs and boots with laces
Hats and spats you buy in places
Down on Brompton Road

I remember some other differences too, but they may be due to the passage of 20 years:

Boil it to a brilliant hue
and rub it on your back and your abdomen (domen)

Ancient Britain never hit on
Anything as good as woad to fit on
Neck or knees or where you sit on
Tailors, you'll be blowed.

Romans came across the channel
All wrapped up in tin and flannel:
Half a pint of Woad per man'll
Dress us more than these.

Saxons you can waste your stitches
Building beds for bugs in breeches
We have woad to clothe us witches
Not a bed for fleas.

Romans keep your armour;
Saxons your Pyjamas etc...

The text we learnt came from the Hackney Scout songbook, which was a small green pocket book. If anyone knows where I could find a copy nowadays...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: GUEST,Murray on Saltspring
Date: 27 Sep 07 - 03:34 PM

Okay, but what about those spats? They aren't mentioned in the above versions. "Go it, Ancient B's" is what I've heard, and it does rhyme, weak though it may be.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: GUEST,David Martin
Date: 27 Sep 07 - 12:01 PM

Hi,
The lyrics above come from my site http://www.fdmartin.clara.co.uk/abtg/song.html as I used to chair a group called Ancient Britons Trefoil Guild (now disbanded). I'm fairly sure I still have the letter from Mrs Louise Wilkinson, somewhere.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: GUEST,Laban Tall
Date: 23 Apr 07 - 05:29 PM

"Known at Eton as "Hojo", William Hope Jones was a maths teacher noted for his eccentricity; he was feared among the Scouts for his loud, stentorian singing."

He appears in fiction in MR James ghost story Wailing Well, in which a group of masters take the Eton Scout Troop on an ill-fated camping expedition.

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~pardos/ArchiveWailing.html

I've just blogged the detective work at
http://ukcommentators.blogspot.com/2007/04/national-anthem-of-ancient-britons.html

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 09 Nov 03 - 10:24 AM

Tyhe Brompton Road reference is,I believe ,a definate Boy Scout input
as the British H Q of the Boy Scout movement is just round the corner

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: Hrothgar
Date: 09 Nov 03 - 01:09 AM

Now, somewhere I seem to remember it was written for a Boy Scout "Gang Show." My memory says early 1930s, but this seems too late for some of the evidence above.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: who wrote the Woad Song?
From: Amos
Date: 08 Nov 03 - 11:22 PM

It has been reported as far back as 1928 or so in the British Girl Guides. See above. I think that testimony is reliable (IMHO).

A