WALTZING MATILDA or A BOLD FUSILIER?
The famous Australian song "Waltzing Matilda" reputedly has its origins much closer to home - in Rochester, Kent as it happens,...the time of The War of the Spanish Succcession 1701.
The Royal East Kent Regt. (aka The Buffs") performed duty as escorts to Botany Bay. Read on...and you'll
see how these old words fit the tune. The Duke of Marlborough was John Churchill - WSC's ancestor.
Posted with acknowledgements to whomever researched this interesting historical information.
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A bold fusilier was marching down through Rochester,
Bound for the war in the Low Countree..
And he cried as he tramped through the cobbled streets of Rochester,
"Who'll be a soldier for Marlborough with me?
Who'll be a soldier...who'll be a soldier...
Who'll be a soldier for Marlborough with me?"
And he sang as he marched through the cobbled streets of Rochester,
"Who'll be a soldier for Marlborough with me?"
(Matilda may have had its origins in "Mathilde" - <Prussian?>)
John Coopey
Sun 14th Oct 2012 22:28
Interesting, MC.
Marlborough, of course, defeated the French/ Bavarians at Blindheim (Blenheim) a few years later halting French expensionist designs on Vienna.
As every one knows a Marlborough Man is a Real Man.