Bobby Shaftoe, arranged Ken Maddison

Robert Shafto (sometimes spelt Shaftoe) (c. 1732 – 24 November 1797) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1760 and 1790. He was the likely subject of a famous North East English folk song and nursery rhyme, "Bobby Shafto's Gone to Sea".

The song is said to relate the story of how he broke the heart of Bridget Belasyse of Brancepeth Castle, County Durham, where his brother Thomas was rector, when he married Anne Duncombe of Duncombe Park in Yorkshire. Bridget Belasyse is said to have died two weeks after hearing the news, although other sources claim that she died a fortnight before the wedding of pulmonary tuberculosis.

Listen to a performance here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MLz1dLlrUQ