{"id":4496,"date":"2020-08-03T16:43:58","date_gmt":"2020-08-03T16:43:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=4496"},"modified":"2022-12-01T10:39:51","modified_gmt":"2022-12-01T10:39:51","slug":"my-pretty-yorkshire-lass","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/my-pretty-yorkshire-lass\/","title":{"rendered":"My pretty Yorkshire Lass"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>My Bonnie Yorkshire Lass
Bonnie Emily
Bonny Banffshire Lass
Yorkshire Lass<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td> 1866?<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Lyrics<\/strong><\/td>FW Egerton<\/td>Music<\/strong><\/td>FW Egerton<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN12514<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>George Leybourne<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Source Singers<\/strong>
Atkinson, Alfred 1905 England: Lincolnshire
Unknown, 1930, England: Cumberland
Hay, George; 1952; Scotland: Banffshire
MacBeath, Jimmy; 1952; Scotland: Banffshire
Berry, Rachel; 1967; England: Yorkshire
Sykes, Annie; 1971; England: Yorkshire
Brader, Robert S.; 1950-69; England : Lincolnshire
Kimber, William;1958; England: Oxfordshire
Johnson, John; no date; England : Sussex
Modern performances<\/strong>
<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Dear friends, I come before you now,\nMy happy lot to tell,\nAnd sing about a pretty girl,\nWith whom in love I fell.\nShe comes from out of Yorkshire, \nHer name is Emily Lee\nAbout as nice a Yorkshire lass,\nAs one would wish to see.\n\nHer eyes are like the little stars \nThat shine so bright above,\nHer cheeks are like the red rose bush, \nAnd her I fondly love;\nShe has pearly teeth and golden hair, \nA fairy she'd surpass,\nThe pride of all the country is \nMy bonny Yorkshire lass.<\/em>\n\nHer father keeps a little farm,\nNot many miles from here,\nAmongst the flowers and in the dells\nI roam with Emily dear.\nHer sister, father, brother, \nAre happy as can be,\nBut the pride of all the country \nIs my own dear Emily.\n\nTo see her in the dairy \nTo me seems quite a treat,\nHer milking pails, her pots and pans, \nThey look so trim and neat;\nBut the best of all amongst them \nAnd dearer far to me,\nIs that pretty little Yorkshire lass, \nMy own dear Emily.<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
George Leybourne<\/a> (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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My Pretty Yorkshire Lass <\/em> has indisputably passed into the folk music tradition, where it is often simply known as Yorkshire Lass :<\/em> 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<\/em> or Little Emily<\/em> RN20466 may well be same song.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank Egerton (c1847 – 1905) <\/strong>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<\/em> in 1896: A Chat With Frank Egerton<\/em>. 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”. <\/em>His best known song was perhaps more of a parlour ballad than a Music Hall song: We never speak as we pass by<\/em> (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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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fwegerton-2<\/a>Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n