Van Dieman's Land (II -- Young Henry's Downfall)

DESCRIPTION: (Six) poachers are taken and sent to Van Dieman's Land. Destined to work for a planter, the singer is frightened to see the conditions of the workers, but is instead picked out to be a bookkeeper. He meets another prisoner, Rosanna; they fall in love
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1845 (broadside, Bodleian Firth c.19(62))
KEYWORDS: transportation poaching love
FOUND IN: Australia Britain(England(Lond,South,West))
REFERENCES (11 citations):
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "YOUNG HENRY THE POACHER"
Fahey-Eureka-SongsThatMadeAustralia, pp. 16-17, "Henry's Downfall" (1 text, 1 tune)
Anderson-FarewellToOldEngland, pp. 51-53, "Henry's Downfall" (1 text)
Reeves-TheEverlastingCircle 91, "Me and Five More" (1 text)
Kidson-TraditionalTunes, p. 130, "Young Henry the Poacher" (1 fragment)
Purslow-TheConstantLovers, pp. 112-113, "Young Henry the Poacher" (1 composite text, 1 tune)
Palmer-FolkSongsCollectedBy-Ralph-VaughanWilliams, #57, "Young Henry the Poacher" (1 text, 1 tune)
Palmer-SongsOfTheMidlands, pp. 73-74, "Henry's Downfall" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, VANDIEM2
ADDITIONAL: Roy Palmer, _The Folklore of Warwickshire_, Rowman and Littlefield, 1976, p. 146, "Young Henry the Poacher" (a facsimile of a broadside print)
Hugh Anderson, _Farewell to Judges and Juries: The Broadside Ballad and Convict Transportation to Australia, 1788-1868_, Red Rooster Press, 2000, p. 187, "Henry Downfall" (1 text, with a tune on p. 566)
Roud #221
RECORDINGS:
Walter Pardon, "Van Dieman's Land" (on Voice04)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.19(62), "Young Henry the Poacher," J. Pitts (London), 1819-1844; also Harding B 11(4369), Harding B 11(4370), Harding B 11(4371), Harding B 11(4372), "Young Henry the Poacher"; Firth c.19(61), "Henry's Downfall"; Harding B 17(349a), "Young Henry's Downfall"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Van Dieman's Land (I)" [Laws L18] (plot)
cf. "The Girls of the Shamrock Shore" (floating lyrics)
NOTES [141 words]: Yates, Musical Traditions site Voice of the People suite "Notes - Volume 4" - 19.8.02: "Roy Palmer has traced this song (which has been found only in England [sic]) to two real poaching affrays that occurred in Warwickshire in 1829." - BS
The "other" "Van Dieman's Land" has a plot so similar that I was not sure but that they should be classified as one. The tunes and texts are, however, distinct.
A typical stanza of this version is:
I and five more went out one night
To Squire Dunhill's park
To see if we could get some game
But the night it proved too dark.
And to our sad misfortune
They've hemmed us in with speed
They sent us off to Warwick Gaol
Which caused our hearts to bleed.
Chorus:
Young men all now beware
Lest you are drawn into a snare.
For notes on the history of Van Diemen's Land, see the entry on "Van Diemen's Land (I)." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: FaE16

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