Bailiff's Daughter of Islington, The [Child 105]

DESCRIPTION: A youth is in love with the Bailiff's daughter. He is apprenticed in London for seven years. At last she disguises herself to see if he is still true. They meet; he asks of his love. She says she is dead; he grieves; she reveals herself
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1731 (ballad opera, "The Jovial Crew"); before 1697 (broadside, Bodleian Douce Ballads 2(230a))
KEYWORDS: love separation disguise apprentice
FOUND IN: Britain(England(All),Scotland(Aber,Bord,Hebr)) US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES (42 citations):
Child 105, "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (1 text)
Bronson 105, "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (35 versions+4 in addenda)
Bronson-SingingTraditionOfChildsPopularBallads 105, "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (6 versions: #1, #8, #11, #18, #24, #32)
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "BAILIFF'S DAUGHTER OF ISLINGTON, THE"
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #115, p. 1, "The Bailie's Daughter" (1 text)
Greig/Duncan1 168, "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (5 texts, 6 tunes) {A=Bronson's #12, B=#7, C=#34, D=#10, E=#14, F=#13}
Lyle-Andrew-CrawfurdsCollectionVolume1 15, "The Squire's Son of Aizling Town" (1 text)
Ritson-AncientSongsBalladsFromHenrySecondToTheRevolution, pp 265-266, "True Love Requited: or, The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (1 text)
Williams-FolkSongsOfTheUpperThames, pp. 174-175, "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (1 text) (also Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Ox 187)
Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Mi 529, "Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (1 fragment)
Barry/Eckstorm/Smyth-BritishBalladsFromMaine pp. 225-227, "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (1 text)
Percy/Wheatley-ReliquesOfAncientEnglishPoetry III, pp. 135-137, "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (1 text)
Rimbault-Musical IllustrationsOfBishopPercysReliques LVI, p. 100, "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (2 partial texts, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #16(?), #24}
Davis-TraditionalBalladsOfVirginia 28, "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune) {Bronson's #25}
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, pp. 68-69, "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #6}
Morris-FolksongsOfFlorida, #164, "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #21}
Hudson-FolksongsOfMississippi 18, pp. 114-116, "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (1 text)
Hudson-FolkTunesFromMississippi 4, "The Comely Youth" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #4}
Moore/Moore-BalladsAndFolkSongsOfTheSouthwest 29, "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders/Olney-BalladsMigrantInNewEngland, pp. 41-42, (no title) (2 excerpts which the editors apparently regard as part of "The Bailiff's Daughter")
Flanders/Ballard/Brown/Barry-NewGreenMountainSongster, pp. 61-63, "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (1 text plus an excerpt, 1 tune) {Bronson's #31b}
Flanders-AncientBalladsTraditionallySungInNewEngland3, pp. 67-75, "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (2 texts plus 2 fragments, 4 tunes, two of the tunes being from the same informant and used for the same text, with some of the differences being perhaps transcribers' variants) {A(1)=Bronson's #31b, A(2)=#31a, B=#23}
Linscott-FolkSongsOfOldNewEngland, pp. 160-162, "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (1 text, 1 tune) {cf. Bronson's #24, seemingly the source for the tune printed}
Burton/Manning-EastTennesseeStateCollectionVol1, pp. 100-101, "The Bailiff's Daughter" (1 text, 1 tune, likely learned from a revival recording)
Creighton/Senior-TraditionalSongsOfNovaScotia, pp. 58-62, "The Bailiff's Daugher of Islington" (3 texts, 3 tunes) {Bronson's #19, #20, #18}
Greenleaf/Mansfield-BalladsAndSeaSongsOfNewfoundland 14, "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (1 fragment)
Karpeles-FolkSongsFromNewfoundland 15, "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-TheBalladBook, pp. 313-315, "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (2 texts, but the second of these looks more like a George/John Riley text)
Friedman-Viking/PenguinBookOfFolkBallads, p. 140, "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (1 text, 1 tune)
Quiller-Couch-OxfordBookOfBallads 162, "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (1 text)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 30, "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (2 texts, 2 tunes){Bronson's #3, #5}
Gainer-FolkSongsFromTheWestVirginiaHills, pp. 66-67, "The Bailey Daughter of Hazelentown" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hodgart-FaberBookOfBallads, p. 67, "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (1 text)
Chappell-PopularMusicOfTheOldenTime, pp. 203-204, "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (1 text, 2 tunes) {first tune=Bronson's #16}
Chappell/Wooldridge-OldEnglishPopularMusic II, p. 159, "The Bailiff's Daughter" (1 tune, partial text) {Bronson's #16}
Jolly-Miller-Songster-5thEd, #73, "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (1 text)
Darling-NewAmericanSongster, pp. 73-75, "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (1 text)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 219, "Bailiff's Daughter Of Islington" (1 text)
GirlScouts-SingTogether, p. 37, "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (1 text, 1 tune)
Olson-BroadsideBalladIndex, ZN2549, "There was a youth, and a well belov'd youth"
DT 105, BAILDAUG*
ADDITIONAL: John Ashton, _A Century of Ballads_, Elliot Stock, London, 1887; reprinted 1968 by Singing Tree Press, pp. 158-160, "True-love Requited or The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (1 text)
Roud #483
RECORDINGS:
Albert Beale, "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (on FSBBAL1)
Tony Wales, "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" (on TWales1)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Douce Ballads 2(230a), "True Love Requited" or "The Bayliffs Daughter of Islington", P. Brooksby (London), 1672-1696; also Douce Ballads 2(229a), Harding B 5(8), Douce Ballads 3(94a), "True Love Requited[!]" or "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington"; Firth c.26(181), "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington"; Harding B 11(129), Harding B 11(1196), "[The] Bailiff's Daughter"
SAME TUNE:
I Have a Good Old Mother at Home (per broadside Bodleian Douce Ballads 2(230a))
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Comely Youth
Nancy the Bailiff's Daughter
True Love Requited
The Shepherd
The Hills o' Traquair
NOTES [22 words]: The 1731 date is for the tune, but the the broadside, ZN2549, was published by Phillip Brooksby sometime between 1683 and 1696. - WBO
Last updated in version 6.8
File: C105

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