Villikins and his Dinah

AKAWillikins …
Villikens ..
Billikins…
First published1853
LyricsEL Blanchard/Henry MayhewMusicJames Howe??Roud 271
Music Hall performersFrederick Robson, Sam Cowell
Folk performancesIts been collected from 63 different singers in the VWML, some earlier ones:
George Piper 1868-70 USA
Albert Doe, 1908, Hamps, England
William Garratt, 1908, Hamps, England
Mrs McGregor, c1910, Scotland
John Venvill, 1931, Oxfordshire, England
Mrs Emeline Jenks Crampton, 1930s, Michigan, USA
'Tis of a rich merchant who in London did dwell,
 He had but one daughter, an uncommon nice gel.
 Her name it was Dinah, scarce sixteen years old,
 With a very large fortune in silver and gold.
 
 Singing too ral li,  too ral li,  too ral li day.
 
 As Dinah was a' walking her garden one day,
 Her papa he came to her, and thus he did say:
 "Go dress yourself, Dinah, in gorgeous array,
 And get you a husband both gallant and gay! "
 
 "Oh, papa Oh, papa I've not made up my mind,
 And to marry just yet, why I don't feel inclined;
 To you my large fortune I'll gladly give o'er,
 If you'll let me live single a year or two more."
 
 "Go, go, boldest daughter," the parent replied;
 "lf you won't consent to be this here young man's bride,
 I'll give your large fortune to the nearest of kin,
 And you shan't reap the benefit of one single pin."
 
 As Villikins was walking the garden around,
 He spied his dear Dinah lying dead on the ground;
 And a cup of cold pizen it lay by her side,
 With a billet-doux stating 'twas by pizen she died.
 
 He kissed her cold corpus a thousand times o'er,
 He called her his Dinah though she was no more,
 Then swallowed the pizen like a lover so brave,
 And Villikins and his Dinah lie both in one grave.
 
 Now all you young maidens take warning by her,
 Never not by no means disobey your gov'nor,
 And all you young fellows mind who you clap eyes on,
 Think of Villikins and Dinah and the cup of cold pizen.

An extremely well remembered song, published repeatedly in the second half of the 19th century, and collected from multiple traditional singers across the English-speaking world. It’s tune has been used many many times for other songs, perhaps most famously for Sweet Betsy from Pike. The song is a Cocknified parody of an earlier song, William and Dinah – it was written for the legitimate theatre rather than for the Music Hall, but was later revived very successfully in the Halls by Sam Cowell.

The origins of the parody have been the subject of some dispute, and rely on accounts written 50 or more years after the events concerned . Many late 19th century writers believed it was written by EL Blanchard (1820-1889), who for many years wrote the annual pantomime for the Drury Lane Theatre. If this is true, the music was probably written by James Howe, or arranged by him on the basis of an earlier melody. Supporters of Blanchard believe it was written and performed as early as 1839, but the one undisputed aspect of the songs history is that it achieved great success in 1853 when it was sung by Frederick Robson in a revival of Henry Mayhew’s short play The Wandering Minstrel. Robson played a wandering ballad singer Jem Baggs.

A long and rather torturous history of the song was published anonymously in The Era in 1896, more than 40 years after the events. I have abridged it, hopefully to make it easier to follow:

Speculations as to the authorship were long rife, for on neither of the half dozen or so editions published does the name of the writer or the composer appear. Although the song was sung in London as early as 1839 and subsequently in the provinces, it was not till 1853 that the “Great Little Robson” sang it himself in the metropolis, when he introduced it into Henry Mayhew’s very weak burletta called The Wandering Minstrel*, in the character of Jem Bagg, at the Olympic Theatre.

It became the popular song of the day, and many versions and imitations were brought out in consequence. Davidson, of the “Musical Treasury” series of songs.. [was the] original and legitimate publisher, [in the 1854] published edition the title-page has a drawing of Robson as Jem Baggs ... [stating:] Sung by Mr F. Robson at the Royal Olympic Theatre. Many ascribed the authorship to Robson himself, so identified at the metropolitan theatres did he become with the ditty – but this was an error.

[T]he fact is that the author of the Drury Lane pantomimes for nearly forty consecutive years was the real writer of Villikins and his Dinah. He wrote the words in 1839, when just about twenty years of age, for some private theatricals which were performed by himself and friends at Rodney House, Old Kent Road [these included] Mayhew’s The Wandering Minstrel .. In this amateur performance was sung the first time on any stage Villikins and his Dinah by Mr James Howe, an accomplished musician. Howe was Blanchard’s right hand in the music department [and Blanchard] says in his reminiscences that Sir Howe composed all the original music for these entertainments, [so] in all probability he wrote the music of this quaint and extraordinary song, and, though no absolute evidence is forthcoming, the conjecture seems natural and feasible.

*The Wandering Minstrel…was first performed at the Royal Fitzroy Theatre, Jan. 16th 1834.

  Feb. 8, 1896;  The Era 

I suspect this is a reasonably accurate account and it was story fits with the earliest published references I can find:

May 24, 1853,  Morning Post (London, England)
Report of performance at Olympic Theatre; July 10, 1853;  The Era 

An alternative narrative concerning the authorship centres around Henry Mayhew, who wrote The Wandering Minstrel play. Many years later, in 1883, he wrote to the antiquarian journal Notes and Queries, asking if anybody knew the origins of the “country version” of the song. Mayhew suggested he first heard it sung by Mr Mitchell, the “first low comedian who appeared in the part, AD 1831. He bought the country version to me , and I had to condense and interpolate it , so as to make it “go” with a London audience .” Evidence from contemporary sources suggest he was misremembering some aspects of the story. I have found no evidence the song was sung in the original production of the play, which debuted in 1834 (not 1831 ) only in its 1853 revival. In referring to the “country version” was he referring to the original William and Dinah, or Blanchard’s parody? It’s possible that he was remembering making adjustments to Blanchard’s parody for the 1853 production of the play, as brought to him by the new leading man Frederick Robson…. (As far as I can ascertain, Villikins does not appear in the earliest published versions of the play, but is included in the 2nd edition published by John Miller in 1865, and some subsequent editions). Messy stuff ..

Whether Villikins was written by Mayhew or Blanchard, almost all sources agree that the song rapidly became popular all over the English-speaking world as a result of Frederick Robson’s performance in The Wandering Minstrel play.

Frederick Robson (1821-64) wanted to be an actor from a very young age, but was initially apprenticed in the printing trade and only began acting professionally at the age of 21. He may have had some kind of disability, he was particularly short and apparently had a very large head – hence the common nickname “the Great Little Robson”. He was a successful actor and comic singer in the 1840s and 50s – in the 1840s he would supplement his earnings from the theatre by performing comic songs in the tavern free-and-easies for a guinea a night plus refreshments (about £130 today). In his later years he tended to focus on the acting. The lifestyle took its toll, and he died at the age of 43 of heart and liver failure.

Apparently “Villikins” is a mock Cockney spelling for Wilkins – I’d never spotted that before – doh!

Derek Lamb sings it:

Sources:

Last Updated on June 13, 2021 by John Baxter | Published: December 13, 2019

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