The Fishermen Hung The Monkey O

I taught History in Hartlepool for more than thirty years so frequently came across the legend of the Hartlepool Monkey. In the 1980s I published a collection of the songs composed by North Eastern Victorian entertainer Ned Corvan who composed ’The Fishermen Hung The Monkey O’. The version I sing came from a Newcastle based mid -Victorian publication although it first appeared around 1851 as a single sheet street ballad. There used to be a faint copy of the original in Hartlepool Study Library many years ago and it is clear that the original was slightly cruder than the later published version. In the original it is suggested that they cut off his ’jimmy’ and another line inquires ’What kind of woman with him would lie?’ Ned Corvan is certainly responsible for spreading the legend and may in fact have had a hand in creating it. After him Hartlepool Rovers Rugby Football Club - one of the oldest and most successful clubs in the north - adopted the ’hanging monkey’ as a mascot. The tune ’The Tinker’s Wedding’ was a popular one with ballad writers and was used in Scotland for the popular ’Day We Went To Rothesay O’. In the 20th century another ’Hartlepool Monkey Song’ gained popularity in the local folk clubs - set to the tune of an early concert hall/spiritual song. I have written about the origins of the myth across the years and the following may help in an understanding of the song.