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Here’s Adieu to All Judges and Juries

[ Roud 300 ; Master title: Here’s Adieu to All Judges and Juries ; Ballad Index FaE034 ; VWML GG/1/6/308 ; GlosTrad Roud 300 ; MusTrad MT222 ; Mudcat 20365 ; trad.]

Alan Helsdon: Vaughan Williams in Norfolk Volume 2 Roy Palmer: The Constant Lovers

Ted Culver sang the transportation ballad Judges and Juries in 1966 on the Critic Group’s Argo anthology of London songs, Sweet Thames Flow Softly.

Martin Carthy sang Here’s Adieu to All Judges and Juries on his 1971 album Landfall. He noted:

The Bold Poachers and Here’s Adieu to All Judges and Juries come from roughly the same time in history, being early 19th century transportation songs from Norfolk and Sussex respectively. They convey, along with O’er the Hills (which hails from the late 17th century), something within the simple factual almost journalistic framework of the writing, more than simple resentment at being forced to leave home, proving for me the truth of the maxim, that it’s not what a song says, necessarily, but what it does that counts. Thousands of songs have very little apparent, but layers and layers underneath.

Derek and Dorothy Elliott sang Adieu to All Judges and Juries in 1972 on their eponymous Trailer album, Derek & Dorothy Elliott. This track was also included in 2006 on the anthology of tracks from Trailer albums, Never the Same.

Shirley Collins recorded Adieu to All Judges and Juries in 1976 for her album Amaranth.

David Littlefield sang Here’s Adieu to All Judges and Juries in 2004 on the anthology 25th Annual Sea Music Festival at Mystic Seaport.

Tim Radford sang Here’s Adieu to All Judges and Juries in 2005 on the Hampshire half of the Forest Tracks album Folk Songs From Hampshire and Dorset, Paul March noted:

Once extremely popular, but now almost forgotten. Collected from George Blake at St. Denys, Southampton, May 1906 [VWML GG/1/6/308] , the verses have been slightly re-arranged by Purslow to agree with the usual order. Tim’s tune is not the same as that published from Blake.

Tim Radford also sang Here’s Adieu to All Judges and Juries in 2009 on his CD of “songs, toasts and recitations of a Hampshire gardener, 1829-1916, collected by Dr. George B. Gardiner”, George Blake’s Legacy, on which he noted:

Gardiner mss. no. 308 from notebook no. 6 page 23 collected on 30 May 1906 at St. Denys.

The Roud index no. is 300, and this is the version found in Purslow’s Constant Lovers page 39, but with a restoration of Blakes’ original sequence of verses. Purslow thought the song may have originated in the early music halls, although it is from an early date.

There are many texts of this on broadsides, and I have previously recorded the song (on the re-issue of Folk Songs From Hampshire), with the same words, but in different sequence, and to a different tune stolen from Martin Carthy, which I think came from Sussex.

This is a song about ‘Transportation”, as is Adieu to Old England, also on this recording. Transportation as a punishment started in the 17th century and was originally to North America, but that ceased in 1776 with the US becoming independent. Transportation to Australia began in 1787, and although it officially ended with the passing of the Penal Servitude Act of 1857, the last convicts were transported as late as 1868.

Therefore George Blake was living during a large part of this period and it must have been a factor in many countrymen’s lives.

Joe Murphy sang Adieu to All Judges and Juries in 2015 on the Shirley Collins tribute album Shirley Inspired….

TRADarrr sang Adieu on their 2015 album Cautionary Tales.

Laura Smyth sang Here’s Adieu to All Judges and Juries on her and Ted Kemp’s 2017 CD The Poacher’s Fate. They noted:

A beautiful and heartfelt song about the loss of a loved one through transportation. During the 18th century, transportation was seen as a solution for a whole range of crimes including petty theft. Although sentences may have been for a fixed term, transportees often never returned. Learned from the singing of Dorothy Elliot on her and Derek’s first album, with an additional verse..

Kate Rusby sang Judges and Juries on her 2025 album When They All Looked Up. She noted:

I’ve always been fascinated with songs of the transported. The stories of people sent away to Australia and other far away lands as punishment for sometimes such petty crimes. Ripped away from all they knew and loved. This also came from the Roxburghe Ballad Collection.

Lyrics

Martin Carthy sings Here’s Adieu to All Judges and Juries

Here’s adieu to all judges and juries!
Justice and Old Bailey, too.
Seven years you’ve transported my true love,
Seven years he’s transported, you know.

O hard is the place of confinement
That leads me from my heart’s delight.
Cold irons and chains all bound round me
And a plank for my pillow at night.

O if I had the wings of an eagle
High up on these pinions I’d fly.
I’d fly to the arms of my true love
And in her soft bosom I’d lie.

O my love she is dark and she’s proper,
My love’s like the linnet in spring.
O the nightingale sleeps in her bosom
And love do fly high on her wing.

O if e’er I return from the ocean,
Stores of riches I’ll bring for my dear.
And it’s all for the sake of my true love,
I will cross the salt seas without fear.

Here’s adieu to all judges and juries!
Justice and Old Bailey, too.
Seven years you’ve transported my true love,
Seven years he’s transported, you know.

Shirley Collins sings Adieu to All Judges and Juries

Here’s adieu to all judges and juries,
Justice and Old Bailey too.
Seven years you have transported my true love,
Seven years he’s transported, you know.

O hard is the place of confinement
That keeps me from my heart’s delight.
Cold irons and chains all bound round me
And a plank for my pillow at night.

If I had the wings of an eagle
I would lend you my wings for to fly.
I would fly to the arms of my Polly
And it’s in her soft bosom I’d lie.

And if e’er I return from the ocean,
Stores of riches I’ll bring to my dear.
And it’s all for the sake of my Polly,
I will cross the salt seas without fear.

So adieu to all judges and juries!
Justice and Old Bailey, too.
Seven years you have transported my true love,
Seven years he’s transported, you know.

Tim Radford sings Here’s Adieu to All Judges and Juries

Here’s adieu to all judges and juries,
Here’s adieu to you bailiffs also.
Seven years you’ve parted me from my true love,
Seven years I’m transported you know.

O Polly I’m going for to leave you
For seven long years or more,
But the time it will seem but one moment
When I think on the girl I adore.

Going to some strange country don’t grieve me
Nor leaving old England behind,
But it’s all for the sake of my Polly
And my comrades I’m leaving behind.

How hard is my place of confinement
That keeps me from my heart’s delight
Cold chains and cold irons around me
And a plank for my pillow at night.

Often times I have wished that some eagle
Would lend me her wings for to fly,
I would fly to the arms of my Polly
And on her sweet bosom I’ll lie.

And if ever I return for the ocean
Store of riches I’ll bring you my dear,
It’s all for the sake of my Polly
I’ll cross the salt sea without fear.

Here’s adieu to all judges and juries,
Here’s adieu to you bailiffs also,
Seven years you’ve parted me from my true love
Seven years I’m transported you know

Laura Smyth sings Here’s Adieu to All Judges and Juries

Here’s adieu to all judges and juries,
Justice and Old Bailey too.
Seven years I’m parted from my true love,
Seven years I’m transported, you know.

O Polly, I’m going for to leave you
For seven long years, love, or more.
But the time it won’t seem but one moment
When I think on the girl I adore.

How hard is a place of confinement
That keeps me from my heart’s delight.
Cold irons and cold chains bound around me,
And a plank for my pillow at night.

If I had the wings of an eagle
Over the seas I would fly,
I’d fly to the arms of my true love
And forever contented we’d lie.

And if ever I return from the ocean,
Stores of riches I’ll bring for my dear.
And it’s all for the sake of my true love,
I’ll cross the salt seas without fear.

Acknowledgements

Transcribed from the singing of Martin Carthy by Garry Gillard.