Broadside entitled 'The White Regiment's Lament for the Death of Captain Sarah'

Commentary

This lamentation begins: 'As dandering on the shoar of Leith, / Twa Wives wi Greeting shaw'd their Teeth, / Oh one says ane o're gane wi' Grief, / we've oft our Head, / Where shall we gang now for Relief, / Sin Sarah's Dead.'

Tha National Library of Scotland's broadside collection also includes an elegy lamenting the death of 'Colonel Sara', who died in Leith on the 28th August, 1718. It seems very likely that Captain Sarah and Colonel Sara are the same person. Whilst little or nothing is known about this rather colourful and courageous character today, Captain Sarah must have been a popular and well-respected figure to warrant two lamentations.

Broadsides are single sheets of paper, printed on one side, to be read unfolded. They carried public information often for entertainment, such as memorials and eulogies. Cheaply available, they were sold on the streets by pedlars and chapmen. Although many of the people are now lost to researchers, their stories offer a valuable insight into many aspects of the society they were published in.

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