My pretty Yorkshire Lass

Dear friends, I come before you now,
My happy lot to tell,
And sing about a pretty girl,
With whom in love I fell.
She comes from out of Yorkshire, 
Her name is Emily Lee
About as nice a Yorkshire lass,
As one would wish to see.

Her eyes are like the little stars 
That shine so bright above,
Her cheeks are like the red rose bush, 
And her I fondly love;
She has pearly teeth and golden hair, 
A fairy she'd surpass,
The pride of all the country is 
My bonny Yorkshire lass.

Her father keeps a little farm,
Not many miles from here,
Amongst the flowers and in the dells
I roam with Emily dear.
Her sister, father, brother, 
Are happy as can be,
But the pride of all the country 
Is my own dear Emily.

To see her in the dairy 
To me seems quite a treat,
Her milking pails, her pots and pans, 
They look so trim and neat;
But the best of all amongst them 
And dearer far to me,
Is that pretty little Yorkshire lass, 
My own dear Emily.

George Leybourne (1842-84) sang this song in the Halls in the 1870s. It was written for him by Frank Egerton, a name which does not appear in the usual histories of the Halls – I have put together a brief biography below.

My Pretty Yorkshire Lass has indisputably passed into the folk music tradition, where it is often simply known as Yorkshire Lass : the folks at The Yorkshire Garland describe it as an unofficial anthem for the East Riding. Follow the links the Yorkshire garland group or to the version collected by Steve Gardham to hear some versions by source singers. (The Yorkshire Garland folks also suggest that a song known as Bonny Emily or Little Emily RN20466 may well be same song.)

Frank Egerton (c1847 – 1905) wrote songs and performed in the Halls in the period 1870-1905, but was better known as a Music Hall manager and agent. Most of the following information comes from a very useful article which appeared in The Era in 1896: A Chat With Frank Egerton. The article celebrates his appointment as manager of the New South London Music Hall, giving an overview of his career to that date. We can estimate from the article that Egerton was born in around 1847, first appeared on the musical stage at the age of 17, and was for 30 years a performer and songwriter. As a performer he had his greatest successes in London, but he also toured the “provincial” halls and performed in America. He claims to have written over a thousand songs, but in 1896 “finds no present opportunity for song writing”. His best known song was perhaps more of a parlour ballad than a Music Hall song: We never speak as we pass by (Roud 22432). His managerial career began as an agent, and he was briefly in a partnership with GH MacDermott, before taking over at the New South London. The article gives an interesting insight into the social history of the Halls. Much of it is devoted to how unpleasant and downmarket “provincial” music halls were in the past: dismissing them as “spittoons”and “prossing shops”. The 1890s was a period when many Halls were keen to promote themselves as respectable places of entertainment. Egerton died of cancer in 1905 in Brighton and was buried in Lambeth Cemetery, Tooting. I have attempted to compile a list of his songs, and my provisional list unfortunately only stretches to 35 songs of the thousands he apparently wrote. It’s available for download below, with links to Roud Index numbers where I have found them.

Sources:

• VWML entry
• Kilgarrif Sing Us
• Lyrics (verse 1 and 2) from Sheet music: University of Michigan
• Info, sheet music and verse 3 from Yorkshire Garland Song entry
• WorldCat entry for Frank Egerton
• A version collected by Steve Gardham
• A chat with Frank Egerton, The Era, Saturday,  Mar. 28, 1896
• Deaths (Frank Egerton), The Era, 14 October 1905

Last Updated on December 1, 2022 by John Baxter | Published: August 3, 2020