Shamrock Cockade, The

DESCRIPTION: "St Patrick he is Ireland's Saint And we're his Volunteers." We are ready to fight the French, if they invade. The Cork Volunteer societies are named: Union, True Blue, Boyne, Aughrim, Enniskillen and Blackpool.
AUTHOR: John Sheares? (see Croker-PopularSongsOfIreland note)
EARLIEST DATE: 1780 (_The Cork Remembrancer_, according to Moylan-TheAgeOfRevolution-1776-1815)
KEYWORDS: France Ireland nonballad patriotic soldier
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Moylan-TheAgeOfRevolution-1776-1815 3, "The Shamrock Cockade" (1 text, 1 tune)
Croker-PopularSongsOfIreland, pp. 42-46, "The Shamrock Cockade" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Green Cockade" (subject of the 1782 Volunteers)
cf. "The Song of the Volunteers" (subject of the 1782 Volunteers)
cf. "Ally Croker" (tune, according to Croker-PopularSongsOfIreland)
NOTES [236 words]: Moylan-TheAgeOfRevolution-1776-1815 p. 1: "On St Patrick's Day, 1778, the first company of Belfast Volunteers was formed in response to the danger of a possible war between Britain and France. [According to Peter and Fiona Somerset Fry, A History of Ireland, p. 186, the year was 1777, though few other companies formed until 1778.] The movement spread like wildfire and soon there were companies in all parts of Ireland."
Croker-PopularSongsOfIreland: "Fitzgerald thus chronicles the matter in his 'Cork Remembrancer:'--'1780, March 17. The armed societies of this city paraded on the Mall with shamrock cockades, and fired three volleys in honour of the day."
Croker-PopularSongsOfIreland has the text "from a manuscript copy in the autograph of Mr John Shears [executed in Dublin for high treason in 1798]" sung at the 1780 dinner. - BS
For more on the Volunteers and their effect on Anglo-Irish relations, see the notes to "The Song of the Volunteers." The reference to Saint Patrick may seem a little strange from a pro-British force, but many of the Volunteers were Catholic though the majority were Protestants. It should be remembered that the Volunteers helped encourage the formation of the independent Irish parliament -- and, since they were granted that parliament, they were relatively pro-British.
For John Sheares (the usual spelling), see the notes to "The Brothers John and Henry Sheares." - RBW
File: Moyl003

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