As a child I remember learning the words of the song 'Bobby Shafto', with the verses which start:

"Bobby Shafto's gone to sea,
Silver buckles on his knee,
He'll come back and marry me,
Bonny Bobby Shafto.

Bobby Shafto's bright and fair,
Combing down his yellow hair;
He's my ain for evermair
Bonny Bobby Shafto".  

A pair of silver buckles, actually belonging to George III, courtesy of Parbold Antiques

So who was Robert Shafto, what did he do, and why does the song commemorate him? The answer is not entirely straight-forward for there are many myths and contradictions, not helped by the fact that successive generations have added verses of their own.

What appears to be the case is that there was originally a North country ballad sung to a Scottish folk tune which was previously given the title ‘Brave Willy Foster’. Some suggest that the original Robert Shafto was a resident of County Wicklow in Ireland in the eighteenth century. I can find no record of this apart from hear-say.

 What is clear is that even if the words were not initially written about the Robert Shafto who was a resident of Whitworth, near Spennymoor in the north east of the country, he chose to adopt it as an election song. He went on to become an MP, first for Durham City (1760 to 1768) and later for Downton in Wiltshire.

If he is the Bobby Shafto then he was born around 1730, the son of John Shafto who died in 1742. He is believed to have been educated at Westminster School in London before going up to Balliol College Oxford in 1749. Both his father and uncle had served as the local Tory MP in Durham  and they lived at Whitworth Hall, a fine country house which  burned down in 1876. In 1891 the ruined pile was replaced with a Victorian building, now the Whitworth Hall Country Park Hotel.

Our Robert was indeed flaxen haired and a dedicated follower of fashion. He had his portrait painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds. The portrait shows him as tall, slim and youthful. What is clear is that when he too stood for parliament he was happy to adopt the moniker of ‘Bonny Bobby Shafto’ and to use this ditty when electioneering.

                 Shafto by Sir Joshua Reynolds

The story, quite possibly totally fictitious, is that Robert was at one stage betrothed to a local heiress, one Bridget Belasyse from Brancepeth  (not far from his home at Whitmore).The story goes that Bobby upped and left her, leaving her devastated. In the story she dies of a broken heart, just a fortnight after her beloved went and married Anne Duncombe in 1774. Or maybe it was a fortnight before the wedding. Or perhaps it wasn’t a broken heart after all, but pulmonary bronchitis. (You makes your choice and takes your pick).

The records show "Anne Duncombe married Mr Robert Shafto on 18th April 1774 in the private dwelling house of her Uncle, Thomas Duncombe, in Grosvenor Square, London. The ceremony was conducted by Thomas Shafto of Brancepeth, the witnesses were Lisburn and T Duncombe esq."   

So, clearly there was a Brancepeth connection, since Bobby’s brother was rector there. But whether Bobby had ever run off to sea, is not recorded.

Anne was a wealthy woman who inherited a house at Downton in Wiltshire when Thomas Duncombe died. Consequently Bobby and his wife moved South to Downton where they are known to have had three children, John, Robert, and Thomas. It is not known exactly when Anne died, but probably around 1783/4. She was buried at Downton. (And no, they didn't live at the Abbey!) 

Robert  remained a widower. He died in November 1797, and is buried in the Shafto family crypt beneath the floor of Whitworth Church.   

He was succeeded by eldest son, John Shafto. John’s son Robert Duncombe Shafto also stood for Parliament and it was for probably for his election campaign in 1861  that an additional verse was added:

 Bobby Shafto’s looking out

All his ribbons flew about

All the ladies gave a shout

Hey for Bobby Shafto!

Once in a while I think it entirely appropriate that a different century should be offered a guest spot on this blog, and today it is the turn of the Twelfth century, for the simple reason that today is the anniversary of the death of Ranulf Flambard, He died 5 September 1128 and is best remembered as the first person to be imprisoned in the White Tower – and indeed the first person to escape from it.

He had been a tax collector for William Rufus, and as such pursued his duties vigorously. But when the King died and was succeeded by Henry Ist, Ranulf was out of favour and was sent to the Tower accused of embezzlement and extortion.

One night, on the Feast of Candlemas i.e. 2 February, he got all his guards drunk and fashioned a rope. Some reports state that this was uncoiled from around the flagons of wine, others that he had an accomplice send in a barrel filled with rope. Whatever, he shimmied down the side of the White Tower. According to one story the rope wasn't long enough, but luckily he broke his fall in the cesspool. There he was rescued by his supporters and galloped off into the night leaving his captors snoring through a drunken stupor.

Ranulf had originally come over from Normandy with William the Conqueror and was closely involved with the preparation of the Domesday Book (indeed it may well have been his project).

He had been rewarded with a number of bishoprics ending up as the Bishop of Durham. He was chief financial administrator under William Rufus and he helped supervise the project for the construction of the first stone bridge across the Thames as well as the construction of Westminster Hall. In all his dealings he showed a diligence matched only by his own love of the good things in life. He rewarded himself well for his efforts, and was famed for his excesses. 

When Henry Ist came to the throne he lost little time in imprisoning Ranulf (15^tAugust 1100).  In the early hours of 3 February (i.e. after the celebration of Candlemas the previous evening)  he escaped and travelled to France, where he sided with Henry’s  brother Robert Curthose and persuaded him to invade England and claim the throne from his brother. In the event the brothers made a peace, at Alton, and Ranulf got back his lands and the bishopric of Durham (previously confiscated). He spent much of his remaining time on his ecclesiastical duties, working to finish off construction of Durham Cathedral, It was there that he was buried, in the Chapter House, today in 1128.

One of his contemporaries described his career as   "addicted to feasts and carousals and lusts; cruel and ambitious, prodigal to his own adherents, but rapacious in seizing the goods of other men.” Quite an obituary really. Meanwhile the historian William of Malmesbury referred to him as a “plunderer of the rich, destroyer of the poor.” Presumably nowadays they would simply have made him head of the Inland Revenue…

His success in escaping from the Tower of London is captured in a modern-day paper cut out made by Cindy Ferguson. I came across it because my ancestor Richard Hall made paper cut outs to illustrate aspects of his life in the eighteenth century and I think it appropriate that the same technique is used on this blog about an earlier period of history.

  See Cindy's website at http://www.cindyferguson.com/