Joseph Johnson, Black British singer, from Vagabondia, 1817

Black British people and Black people in Britain have always been part of the English folk revival, from artists as diverse as Davey Graham (innovative folk guitar tunings and playing), Nadia Cattouse (British/Caribbean folk), and Dorris Henderson (American folk and folk rock), to Edward II now (folk reggae), but it's less well known how far back Black British ballad singing was a daily part of the English music scene.

 

Joseph Johnson was a Black merchant navy veteran who, because he had been born abroad and wasn't entitled to a pension or parish relief, earned his living as a street singer in London, Romford, St Albans, Staines, and the villages in between, reputedly hitching lifts with passing wagoners. He performed while wearing an elaborate hand-crafted model of the Royal Navy ship HMS Nelson on his head, a sculpture he presumably created himself. According to Vagabondiana, Anecdotes of Mendicant Wanderers through the Streets of London, a series of prints of well-known street traders and beggars, published in 1815-17, Johnson sang "The Wooden Walls of Old England" and "The British Seaman's Praise" - most likely the songs now known as "The Tough Wooden Walls" (Roud V11049) and "The Neglected Tar" (Roud V4171, aka "The Hardy Tar"), both of which positioned him as a British sailor worthy of the money he was earning as a disabled veteran. Since neither song seems to have either a clear text transcript or a brief history available on the internet, I've provided both below. The most interesting additional fact is that one of Johnson's signature songs was probably originally authored by political radical, disability activist, and anti-slavery campaigner Edward Rushton, of whom I've also included a brief biography below (under 1806).

 

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"I sing the British seaman's praise", aka The Neglected Tar, aka Hardy Tar, Roud V4171, recorded from 1791 onwards. It was published regularly for 15 years before being claimed by radical Liverpudlian author Edward Rushton, who is indeed a likely candidate for the poem's authorship. The book Thames Valley Villages, 1910, claims Neglected Tar was sung to the tune Country Garden (a tune mentioned as early as 1728).

 

1790-1840, Hardy Tar, London, broadside ballad in Bodleian collection.

 

Bodleian: ballads.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/search/roud/V4171/

 

1791, The Neglected Tar, London, prints in Yale and British Library collections.

 

Yale: findit.library.yale.edu/catalog/digcoll:553527

 

British Museum: www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collecti...

 

The Neglected Tar, 1791, transcript from print in Yale collection

 

I sing the British seaman's praise;

A theme renown'd in story;

It well deserves more polish'd lays;

Oh! 'tis your boast and glory.

When mad brain'd war spreads death around,

By them you are protected;

But when in peace the nation's found,

These bulwarks are neglected.

 

Chorus.

Then, Oh! protect the hardy tar,

Be mindful of his merit;

And when again you'r plung'd in war,

He'll show his daring spirit.

 

When thickest darkness covers all,

Far on the trackless ocean;

When lightnings dart, when thunders roll,

And all is wild commotion;

When o'er the bark the white topp'd waves,

With boist'rous sweep are rolling,

Yet coolly still, the whole he braves,

Untam'd amidst the howling.

 

Then, Oh! protect &c.

 

When deep immers'd in sulphurous smoke,

He feels a glowing pleasure;

He loads his gun, he cracks his joke,

Elated beyond measure.

Though fore and aft the blood-stain'd deck,

Should lifeless trunks appear;

Or should the vessel float a wreck,

The sailor knows no fear.

 

Then, Oh! protect &c.

 

When long becalm'd on southern brine,

Where scorching beams assail him;

When all the canvas hangs supine,

And food and water fail him;

Then oft he dreams of Britain's shore,

Where plenty still is reigning;

They call the watch, his rapture's o'er,

He sighs, but scorns complaining.

 

Then, Oh! protect &c.

 

Or burning on that noxious coast,

Where death so oft befriends him;

Or pinch'd by hoary Greenland frost,

True courage still attends him:

No clime can this eradicate,

He glories in annoyance;

He fearless braves the storms of fate,

And bids grim death defiance.

 

Then, Oh! protect &c.

 

Why should the man who knows no fear,

In peace be then neglected?

Behold him move along the pier,

Pale, meagre and dejected!

Behold him begging for employ!

Behold him disregarded!

Then view the anguish in his eye,

And say, are Tars rewarded?

 

Then, Oh! protect &c.

 

To them your dearest rights you owe,

In peace then would you starve them?

What say ye Britain's sons? - oh! no!

Protect them and preserve them.

Shield them from poverty and pain,

'Tis policy to do it;

Or when grim war shall come again,

Oh Britons, ye may rue it!

 

Then, Oh! protect &c.

 

1792, Edinburgh syren, or, Musical bouquet, Being a new selection of modern songs, sung at the various places of amusement in Great Britain and Ireland, 1792, Edinburgh, book in the National Library of Scotland collection. Only minor typographical differences from the 1791 print in the Yale collection.

 

National Library of Scotland: digital.nls.uk/special-collections-of-printed-music/paget...

 

1805, A collection of songs, moral, sentimental, instructive, and amusing, edited by James Plumtre, 1805, London, book. Minor typographical and phraseological variations. The Neglected Tar is credited to a "gentleman of Liverpool".

 

"Serene amidst the howling." was "Untam'd amidst the howling."

 

"He loads his gun - right heart of oak - " was "He loads his gun, he cracks his joke,"

 

"He sighs - forbears complaining." was "He sighs, but scorns complaining."

 

"He's calm amidst annoyance;" was "He glories in annoyance;"

 

1806, Edward Rushton (1756–1814), as a boy and young man, was a sailor on slave trading ships between Africa and the Americas. While on board one insanitary slave ship Rushton was blinded by an infection. He returned to his home in Liverpool and became a political radical, including campaigning for the abolition of slavery. Rushton published his West Indian Eclogues in 1787. He opened the successful and lasting Liverpool School for the Indigent Blind in 1791. He published a reprimand to George Washington for owning slaves in 1797. Rushton published his Poems in 1806, including a poem of praise to Toussaint L'Overture and the Black Haitian revolutionaries. Rushton's anti-slavery writings also included cultural details he had learned from his earlier contacts with enslaved Africans, such as a "negro" "Egbo", held in slavery in the British West Indies, who swears by "Obi" and has a wife named "Zuna". In 1807 an operation partially restored Edward Rushton's eyesight and he saw his wife and children for the first time.

 

Neglected Tar, 1806, from Poems by Edward Rushton

 

To ocean's sons I lift the strain,

A race renown'd in story;

A race whose wrongs are Britain's stain,

Whose deeds are Britain's glory.

By them, when courts have banish'd peace,

Your sea-girt land's protected,

But when war's horrid thunderings cease,

These bulwarks are neglected.

 

When thickest darkness covers all,

Far on the trackless ocean,

When lightnings dart, when thunders roll,

And all is wild commotion;

When o'er the barque the foam-capt waves,

With boisterous sweep are rolling,

The seaman feels, yet nobly braves,

The storm's terrific howling.

 

When long becalm'd on southern brine,

Where scorching beams assail him,

When all the canvas hangs supine,

And food and water fail him,

Then oft he dreams of that loved shore,

Where joys are ever reigning, -

The watch is called, his rapture's o'er,

He sighs, but scorns complaining.

 

Now deep immers'd in sulphurous smoke,

Behold him at his station,

He loads his gun, he cracks his joke,

And moves, all animation.

The battle roars, the ship's a wreck,

He smiles amid the danger,

And though his messmates strew the deck,

To fear his soul's a stranger.

 

When long becalm'd on southern brine,

Where scorching beams assail him,

When all the canvass hangs supine,

And food and water fail him,

Then oft he dreams of that loved shore,

Where joys are ever reigning;

The watch is called - his rapture's o'er,

He sighs, but scorns complaining.

 

Or burning on that noxious coast,

Where death so oft befriends him;

Or pinch'd by hoary Greenland's frost,

True courage still attends him.

No clime can this eradicate,

He glories in annoyance,

He, fearless, braves the storms of fate,

And bids grim death defiance.

 

Why should the man, who knows no fear,

In peace be thus neglected?

Behold him move along the pier,

Pale, meagre, and dejected;

He asks a berth with downcast eye,

His prayers are disregarded,

Refus'd — ah hear the veteran sigh,

And say, are tars rewarded?

 

Much to these fearless souls you owe,

In peace then would you starve them?

What say you, patriot souls? Oh no!

Admire, protect, preserve them.

And oh! reflect, if war again

Should menace your undoing,

Reflect, who then would sweep the main,

And shield your realm from ruin.

 

CHORUS

 

Then oh! protect the hardy tar,

Be mindful of his merit,

And if pure justice urge the war,

He'll show his daring spirit.

 

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1820, The Tough Wooden Walls, Roud V11049, recorded from 1820 (title recorded from 1804)

 

Reputedly sung at Vauxhall Gardens by the famous Mr Dignum in 1804 (according to books such as The Whim of the Day, and other sources), and possibly on the streets of London by the almost equally famous Black British naval veteran and street singer Joseph Johnson by 1817 (according to Vagabondiana, which names the song as "The Wooden Walls of Old England"), and perhaps popular enough to be parodied not long after.

 

Vaughan Williams Memorial Library: www.vwml.org/record/RoudBS/B86180

 

The Tough Wooden Walls (Roud V11049, oddly one number after the apparently later parody), 1820, from The Vocal Library, book

 

When the despots of France felt a wish to invade

The island that freedom had long call'd her own,

The impulse of honour each Briton obey'd,

Determined to fight for his country and crown:

Then encircled by fleets she has nothing to fear,

While no civil commotions her people dissever;

This adage remains ev'ry Briton to cheer,

The tough Wooden Walls of Old England for ever.

 

Then what fear can invasion impress on the mind

If Britons for ever united we stand,

While our brave Volunteers in true valour combin'd,

Step forward to fight for our dear native land:

With such guardians as these, let the boasters appear,

Shall we e'er yield to Frenchmen? Oh Englishmen, never;

For this adage remains, ev'ry Briton to cheer,

The tough Wooden Walls of Old England for ever.

 

Then a health to the fleets which our islands surround,

Success to their Adm'rals courageously brave;

With their actions of valour the heavens resound,

The deeds of our Navy, our country to save.

Approbation this toast from each Briton must meet,

Prosper well ev'ry Englishman's loyal endeavour,

May God save the King, his army and fleet,

The tough Wooden Walls of Old England for ever.

Done