Bobby Shafto
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Robert Shafto (sometimes spelt Shaftoe) was an 18th Century British MP and beau who was the likeliest subject of a famous North East English folk song and nursery rhyme.
- Bobby Shafto's gone to sea,
- Silver buckles on his knee;
- He'll come back and marry me,
- Bonny Bobby Shafto!
- Bobby Shafto's bright and fair,
- Combing down his yellow hair;
- He's my love for evermair,[1]
- Bonny Bobby Shafto!
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[edit] Biography
Robert Shafto was born in 1732[2] at his family seat of Whitworth in County Durham. The Shafto family had long been involved in politics, with both his father John Shafto and uncle Robert Shafto being Members of Parliament.[3] He continued this tradition becoming MP for Durham in 1760, using his nickname Bonny Bobby Shafto and the now famous song for electioneering purposes, a seat he held until 1768. He was later to become MP for the borough of Downton in Wiltshire.
The song is said to relate the story of how he broke the heart of Bridget Belasyse of Brancepeth Castle, County Durham, where his brother Thomas was rector, when he married Anne Duncombe of Duncombe Park in Yorkshire instead. Bridget Belasyse is said to have died two weeks after hearing the news,[4] although other sources claim that she died a fortnight before the wedding of pulmonary tuberculosis.[5]
He married Anne Dumcombe on 18th April 1774, and is said to have spent her personal fortune. In Baron Feversham's opinion the countless young ladies whom he jilted on his return from his travels enjoyed "a lucky escape".[6]
The exact date of Anne's death is uncertain, but is believed to have been shortly after July 1784. She was buried at Downton. Robert Shafto died in November 1797, and is buried in the Shafto family crypt beneath the floor of Whitworth Church.[7]
They had three children, John, Robert, and Thomas. Robert Shafto was the last of the male line of the branch of the family and who lived at Benwell Towers, near Newcastle upon Tyne. Thomas & George Allan, in their illustrated edition of Tyneside Songs and Readings (1891), have argued that the "Bobby Shafto" of the song was in fact his son, although his father fits the description of the lyrics better.[8] In reality, it is likely that his grandson, Robert Duncombe Shafto, also used the song for electioneering in 1861, with several of the later verses being added around this time.[9]
[edit] Literary
The rhyme Bobby Shafto is a theme in several literary works. It is sung (incorrectly) in The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie. Bobby Shaftoe is also the name of a character in Cryptonomicon and an ancestor of his in The Baroque Cycle.
[edit] Musical
The tune to which the rhyme is usually sung is almost better known than the rhyme itself. Certainly few people can recite all the verses from memory. Most learn only the first verse and the chorus as children, but the tune is instantly recognized, especially in North-eastern England. It was included in the "Three Rivers Fantasy" by composer Arthur Wilkinson, a piece written to be used as the daily opening theme for Tyne Tees Television.
[edit] References
- ^ A local dialect or possibly Scottish pronunciation of "evermore".
- ^ The date of his birth appears to be contradictory from a number of sources. Whitworth Hall claims it to be 1730, but the majority claim 1732.
- ^ North Eastern surnames website, URL accessed September 30th, 2006
- ^ Famous North Eastern names, URL accessed September 30th, 2006
- ^ Whitworth Hall history, URL accessed September 30th, 2006
- ^ Duncombe Park website, URL accessed September 30th, 2006
- ^ Whitworth Hall history, URL accessed September 30th, 2006
- ^ Famous North Eastern names, giving this opinion. URL accessed September 30th, 2006
- ^ Whitworth Hall history, URL accessed September 30th, 2006
