Broadside ballads entitled 'Death of Abercrombie' and 'Workhouse Boy'

Commentary

The first ballad begins: 'RECITATIVE. / Twas on the spot, in ancient lore oft nam'd, / Where Isis and Osiris once held sway / O'er kings who sleep in pyramidic pride'.

The second ballad begins: 'The cloth was laid in the Vorkhouse hall, / The great coats hung 'gainst the white washed wall'. The sheet was published by J. Sharp of 30 Kent Street, Borough, London. A decorative woodcut had been included down the left side of the sheet.

The first ballad is a memorial to the Right Honourable James Abercrombie, Lord Dunfermline and Speaker of the House of Commons 1835-9. The second details the lot of a young worker in the local work- or poor- house. The two seem unrelated topics, but Abercrombie was an acquaintance of Francis Hurst through their mutual friend the Duke of Devon. Hurst, the son of a draper, became the Chairman of the Board of Guardians for his local workhouse.

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