Convict's Child, The

DESCRIPTION: "The convict ship lay near the beach, The morn was drear and dark." One of the convicts is cradling an infant, his only child. The guards tear the baby from him. His wife wants to die but vows to live for the sake of the child
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1844 (Broadside Bodleian Harding B 15(61b), etc.); Anderson estimates his broadside as c. 1790
KEYWORDS: transportation separation father children wife
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Anderson-FarewellToOldEngland, pp. 65-66, "The Convict's Child"
ADDITIONAL: Hugh Anderson, _Farewell to Judges and Juries: The Broadside Ballad and Convict Transportation to Australia, 1788-1868_, Red Rooster Press, 2000, p. 73, "The Convict's Child" (1 text, with a tune on p. 544)
Roud #V351
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 15(61b), "Convict's Child," E. M. A. Hodges (London), 1844-1845; also Harding B 11(688)=Johnson Ballads 488, E. M. A. Hodges (London), 1844-1845; Firth b.26(265), H. Shuch (London); Firth c.17(61), G. Henson and J. Taylor (Northampton/Aylesbury), n.d.; Firth c.17(62) (unknown), n.d.; Harding B 22(385), ? Birt (London), 1831-1851; Harding B 11(689), J. Livsey (Manchester), n. d.; Harding B 11(690), Ryle and Paul (London), 1838-1859; Firth b.34(67), J. Paul and Co (London), 1838-1845; Firth b.26(9)=Harding B 11(924)=Johnson Ballads 647, C. Paul (London), n.d.; Harding B 11(1957)=Harding B 20(85), B. Stewart (Carlisle), n.d.; Firth b.26(402), B. Stewart (Carlisle), n.d.; Firth b.25(349)=Harding B 11(76)=Johnson Ballads 1973, G. Henson and J. Taylor (Northampton/Aylesbury), n.d.; Harding B 11(1426), W. F. Forty (London), 1858-1885; Harding B 11(712), Stone, Keys, Reed, Brown (Exeter, Devonport, Newport, Bristol), n.d.
File: AnFa065

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography