Greenock Railway, The

DESCRIPTION: Paddy pays a fare on the Greenock Railway to Glasgow. He enters a box and fights an upper-class man who says he is in the wrong fare class. He fights and escapes to work the harvest and return to Ireland, or is taken by a peeler and serves three months.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1879 (broadside, LOCSinging sb30407a)
KEYWORDS: violence travel escape technology Scotland humorous police railroading
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig/Duncan2 290, "The Greenock Railway" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #1821, p. 123, "Paddy on the Railway" (` reference)
Roud #5833
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(823), "Paddy on the Railway" ("A paddy once in Greenock town"), H. Such (London), 1863-1885; also 2806 c.15(276),"Paddy on the Railway"; Harding B 11(2925), 2806 b.11(250), Harding B 11(2924), "Paddy on the Railway" ("Paddy one day from Greenock town")
LOCSinging, sb30407a, "Paddy on the Railway," H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.178.A.2(086), "Paddy on the Railway," unknown, c.1870; also SSSSSS, "X"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Iron Horse (I)" (theme: country folk ride the railroad)
NOTES [129 words]: If the description has not made it clear, this is another song about the country man confused by "wonders" of "civilization" for "never one in the county of Clare, Ever saw or heard of a Railway."
Sir Robert Peel established the Royal Irish Constabulary in 1812 and its success led, in 1829, to the Metropolitan Police Act for London. Originally the term "Peeler" applied to the London constabulary. (source: Sir Robert "Bobby" Peel (1788-1850) at Historic UK site.)
Greig/Duncan2 texts are fragments; broadside Bodleian Harding B 11(823) is the basis for the description.
Broadside LOCSinging sb30407a: H. De Marsan dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
Last updated in version 3.5
File: GrD2290

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