In our childhood, we all enjoyed hearing ancient nursery rhymes recited to us, and those of you of a similar age to me have probably continued the tradition and sung them to your children and grandchildren, but have you ever wondered how they originated? I thought I would review a few and share my findings here on my blog.

Let’s start with Humpty Dumpty:

Humpty Dumpty

In the 17^th century, Humpty Dumpty was a beverage of brandy boiled with ale, and later, a slang term for a short, overweight person. The term has also been unkindly linked to Richard III, who was known to have a humped back. However, it is generally thought that the Humpty Dumpty referred to in the nursery rhyme was a large Royalist cannon used in the Siege of Colchester in 1648, during the English Civil War. The cannon was mounted on the city wall, and when Parliamentary soldiers struck the wall, the cannon fell and could not be lifted back into place. Therefore, “all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again.”

The earliest publication of the rhyme appeared in 1797 in Samuel Arnold’s book, Juvenile Amusements. The depiction of Humpty Dumpty as an egg arose from Lewis Carroll’s book Through the Looking Glass, written in 1871. John Tenniel, the illustrator, depicted Humpty Dumpty as an egg perched on a wall, and this image has lasted until the present day.

Sing a song of sixpence

Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye
Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie
When the pie was opened, the birds began to sing
Oh, wasn’t that a dainty dish to set before the king!

The king was in his counting house, counting out his money
The queen was in the parlour, eating bread and honey
The maid was in the garden hanging out the clothes
When down came a blackbird and pecked off her nose!

This nursery rhyme appeared in print as early as 1744 in Tommy Thumb’s Pretty Song Book, though it is thought to date from earlier than this, with all versions featuring four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie, a king, a queen and a maid.

It is certainly true that blackbird pies were eaten, and at medieval and Renaissance banquets, cooks often hid live birds in their pies. When the crust was opened, the birds flew out to the amazement and consternation of the diners. Presumably, a cooked pastry top was added, or the birds would surely have perished in the oven! It is thought this custom inspired the words in the rhyme. Generally, it is agreed that this verse was a nonsense song used in children’s games.

When this nursery rhyme was read to me as a child, the adult, when reading the last line, would swoop down with their finger and thumb and peck off my nose – and, of course, I continued this with my children.

Baa Baa Black Sheep

This is one of the oldest and most popular English nursery rhymes, reflecting everyday life in medieval times. It first appeared in print in 1731 in Tommy Thumb’s Pretty Song Book, but like most nursery rhymes almost certainly existed much earlier and was passed down by word of mouth.

In olden days, wool was the backbone of the economy and sheep farming involved everyone from rich landowners to villagers, and children were familiar with sheep and the wool trade. Black sheep were less valuable than white ones as their wool couldn’t be dyed easily. The phrase “black sheep” is not about race, but refers to an odd or disfavoured person, and dates back to the 17^th century. The way the wool is divided refers to the master – the landowner, the dame – the wife, and the little boy down the lane – the labourer, shepherd, or poor child.

Little Bo Peep

Most nursery rhymes were passed down by word of mouth for centuries before being written down, and Bo Peep is no exception. The rhyme first appeared in print in a children’s book called Songs for the Nursery in 1805.

I think most of us will be familiar with the first verse, but perhaps not the others, and though I remember hearing them, I certainly could not recite them.

Little Jack Horner

The rhyme first appeared in print in Mother Goose’s Melody or Sonnets from the Cradle, dating from 1765, but is most likely to have been passed down by word of mouth much earlier.

During the dissolution of the monasteries (1536 – 1541), the story goes that Richard Whiting sent Horner to London with a Christmas Pie. Inside the pie were the title deeds to the abbey lands, intended as a bribe for King Henry VIII to persuade him to allow Whiting to keep Glastonbury Abbey under his control. However, Horner stole one deed relating to Mells Manor in Somerset from the pie (the plum). The last line, “What a good boy am I,” is interpreted as Horner feeling very pleased with himself for having succeeded in his plan, which saved the land for his family. The Horner family certainly benefitted from the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and their takeover of Mells Manor inspired the rhyming couplet: “Horner, Popham, Wyndham and Thynne, when the abbot came out, then they went in.”

I hope you have enjoyed my research into the origin of some of my favourite nursery rhymes, and I hope they will continue to be sung to children for many years to come.