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Description: | This song details an alleged robbery and subsequent transportation. Transportation to colonies, in particular Australia, became extremely popular during the nineteenth century, reaching its peak in the 1830s. Four out of five death sentences were transmuted to transportation, the practice continuing until the early 1850s, when Sydney and Melbourne refused to take anymore convicts. Prisoners in Newcastle, who were condemned to this fate at the local assizes, were retained at Newgate gaol, or in the basement of the keep whilst they awaited transfer to a transportation ship. It is not clear whether or not 'Craggs' was indeed a real criminal - perhaps records of the trial are still in existence.The song forms part of a selection of songs from the Bell/White manuscript song-collection held by Newcastle University. Bound in leather the volume includes songs in the hand of John Bell, Robert White and James Telfer, as well as correspondence to and from other collectors of local song. The volume was published by the Surtees Society in 1985 under the title of 'Songs from the manuscript collection of John Bell'. In his introduction to the publication David Harker reveals more about the contents of the collection - 'Of the 485 manuscript items, 189 appear to be in John Bell's hand. A further 147 items are either addressed to him, or are written by his known correspondents. There are also 17 items that can be dated by watermark to 1830 or before, when the collection was still in Bell's possession. 352, or 72% of the manuscript items are thus attributable with some confidence to the collection work of Bell. Using similar criteria, only 69, or 14%, of the manuscript items are attributable to Robert White and his sources, notably William and James Telfer'.It is to John Bell in particular that we owe much of the wealth of collected material available in the North East. A voracious collector of all things and books in particular, Bell amassed a huge collection of broadsheets, chapbooks and notated songs throughout his life. Unfortunately Bell was not a wealthy man and through his financial desperation was forced to sell parts of his collection on a number of occasions. It fairly likely that the Bell/White manuscripts remained in Bell's hands until at least 1839. Certainly a letter in the volume dated 1857, which is thought to be in Bell's hand, would suggest an even later date. According to Harker it is most likely that John Bell sold the collection of manuscripts to Robert White sometime between 1857 and 1864. White and Co. continued to add to the volume which was eventually donated to Newcastle University where it is now held. ; 19th century song manuscripts collected and compiled by John Bell and Robert White | Rights holder: | rights holder : Newcastle University | Subjects: | criminals & transportation Law and Order | Temporal: | start=1801;end=1840; | Source: | Folk Archive Resource North East | Identifier: | farne:N2632901 | Go to resource |
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