> The Watersons > Songs > The Whitby Lad / Boston Burglar
> Louis Killen > Songs > The Boston Burglar

The Whitby Lad / The Boston Burglar

[ Roud 261 ; Laws L16 ; Ballad Index LL16 ; trad.]

The Watersons sang The Whitby Lad in 1966 on thier album A Yorkshire Garland. Like most of the tracks from this LP, it was re-released in 1994 on the CD Early Days. Both this track and a live recording from the South Street Seaport, New York on July 5, 1978 (with Martin Carthy singing lead) were included in 2004 on the Watersons' 4 CD anthology Mighty River of Song. A.L. Lloyd commented in the original album's sleeve notes:

A big family of highwaymen and poacher songs interbred with a family of transportation songs to produce a large number of offspring all resembling each other closely. A central feature of them all is the lamentation of the aged parents. The Whitby Lad was collected from Mr. W. F. Verril of Staithes some sixty years ago by R. A. Gatty. In other versions the young transportee comes from other parts and sails down other rivers than the Humber. On the face of it the song is modest enough but it has exercised a powerful interest on singers and hearers alike and versions of it quickly became common in Scotland, Ireland and America (where it still flourishes under such titles as The Boston Burglar and The Jail at Morgantown).

The Clancy Brothers with Louis Killen recorded The Boston Burglar in 1972 for their album Save the Land.

Pete Coe sang Boston Burglar in 2004 on his CD In Paper Houses. He commented in his liner notes:

This repentant villain has confused me for years. Was he from Boston, Lincs, or Boston Mass.? Was he transported to Charleston, West Virginia (or South Carolina) or was he shipped out of Charlestown, Cornwall?

Norma Waterson sang Boston Burglar in 2010 on her and Eliza's Topic CD Gift. Eliza Carthy commented in the liner notes:

Boston Burglar comes from two sources: Delia Murphy and Dominic Behan. Mam has some great stories about Dominic, but she isn't sharing out of respect to everyone involved…

Recently the gift of a CD of Delia Murphy from Bob Davenport brought the memories of the whole thing flooding back. She was loved by Mam's Grandma who loved The Spinning Wheel, the closest thing you got to a “hit” in the fifties. The Dominic Behan connection comes from being on tour with the Watersons in the sixties, it was one of his favourite songs.

Lyrics

The Watersons sing The Whitby Lad

Come all ye bold and ye rambling boys and a warning take by me
For I'd have you quit night walking and shun bad company

Chorus (after each verse):

(For it's:) Son oh son what have you done?
You're bound for Botany Bay

I was born and bred in Whitby town and raised most honestly
Till I became a roving blade which proved my destiny

Well I broke into some lady's house about the hour of three
And two peelers stood behind the door and they soon had an hold on me

It was at the quarters sessions that the judge to me did say
Well the jury's found you guilty you're bound for Botany Bay

Well I've seen me aged father there a-trembling at the bar
Likewise me dear old mother a-tearing her white hair

It was on the 28th of June from England we made way
And as we come down the Humber well we heard them sailors say

New chorus (after each verse):

(Well it's:) Boys oh boys there are no joys
Down there in Botany Bay

Oh there is a lass in Whitby town and the girl that I love full well
And it's if I had me liberty along with her I'd dwell

Norma Waterson sings Boston Burglar

I was born and bred in Boston, a place you all know well,
Brought up by honest parents and the truth to you I'll tell.
Brought up by honest parents and reared most tenderly
Till I became a sporting blade at the age of twenty-three.

My character was broken and I was sent to gaol;
My friends and parents did their best to get me out on bail.
The jury found me guilty and the judge he wrote it down:
“For the breaking of the Union Bank you were sent to Charlestown.”

I could see my dear old father a-standing at the bar,
Also me dear old mother, she's a-tearing her grey hair.
She's a-tearing of her old grey locks and the tears come trickling down,
“Son, oh son what have you done to be sent to Charlestown?”

I set my foot on an eastbound train one cold December day,
And every station I passed by I could hear the people say:
“There goes that Boston Burglar, in iron chains he is bound;
For the breaking of the Union Bank he is sent to Charlestown.”

There's a girl in Boston City, boys, a girl I know quite well;
If I get my liberty it's with her I will dwell.
If ever I get my liberty rough company I will shun,
Likewise a-walking of the streets and a-drinking of the rum.

Now you that have your liberty pray keep it if you can,
And don't go in night rambling or you'll break the laws of man.
And if you do, you're sure to rue and you find yourself like me,
A-sentenced down to twenty-one years of penal severity.

Links and Acknowledgements

See also the Mudcat Café thread Origins: Boston Burglar.

Garry Gillard transcribed The Whitby Lad from the singing of the Watersons.