ABSTRACT
This is the only extant copy of this ballad in the Bodleian Collection, but it found its way into several mid-century songbooks. The wife’s eagerness to accompany her army spouse resonated with countless observations of troop embarkations from decades past. Wives’ desperation to avoid parting from their husbands was in part because of the difficulties they would have surviving at home without their husband’s economic and emotional contributions. The lyrics suggested that this particular wife was discouraged from coming by her husband, not by the army, which was a situation more likely faced by commissioned officers’ wives. However, the description of the struggles a wounded or ill warrior would face without his wife to act as nurse was more indicative of the situation for enlisted men. Officers helped one another and had funds to procure the best available medical assistance during campaigns. However, it was unlikely that a man of the rank-and-file would have been the main barrier to her coming on campaign. The prohibitions facing these wives tended to emerge from the army regulation prohibiting the number of women allowed to travel “on the strength” of the regiment, receiving free passage and a share of rations.
