"The Croppy Boy" is an Irish ballad set in 1798 rising

Irish Rebellion of 1798

The Irish Rebellion of 1798 , also known as the United Irishmen Rebellion , was an uprising in 1798, lasting several months, against British rule in Ireland...

 and is one of the saddest ballads of the rebellion, relating the despair of a doomed young "croppy

Croppy

Croppy was a nickname given to Irish rebels during the period of the 1798 rebellion.- Origin :The name "croppy" derives from Ireland in the 1790s as a reference to people with closely cropped hair, a fashion which was associated with the anti-wig French revolutionaries of the period...

" or rebel.

Broadside versions

Versions of the ballad first appeared shortly after the rising sung by street peddlars and there are several broadside

Broadside (music)

A broadside is a single sheet of cheap paper printed on one side, often with a ballad, rhyme, news and sometimes with woodcut illustrations...

 songs printed. These typically include the phrase "500 Guineas" or "one thousand pounds", and are also sung to the tune of the old Irish

Irish language

Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...

 air Cailín Óg a Stór

Cailín Óg a Stór

Cailín Óg a Stór is a traditional Irish melody, originally accepted for publication in March of 1582. It may be the source of Pistol's cryptic line in Henry V, "Calen O custure". It is part of a broadside collection from 1584...

. They may be the basis for the later ballad, Lady Franklin's Lament

Lady Franklin's Lament

"Lady Franklin's Lament" is a broadside ballad indexed by George Malcolm Laws commemorating the loss of Sir John Franklin's British Arctic Expedition of 1845...

.

Malone version

A version by Carroll Malone first appeared in the Irish newspaper The Nation in 1845 and tells of a young man who stops in a church on his way to fight. He sees a cloaked figure in a confessional and kneels for the penitential rite. The figure is actually a British soldier who sought refuge from rebels by hiding in the confessional. After the youth completes his confession, the soldier reveals himself and proceeds to arrest the youth and take him to prison and execution. The legend is the subject of Canadian artist Charlotte Schreiber

Charlotte Schreiber

Charlotte Mount Brock Schreiber was an English-Canadian painter and illustrator, considered among the first and finest of Canada's female painters.Schreiber, née Morrell, was born in Essex, England...

's painting The Croppy Boy (The Confession of an Irish Patriot), now in the National Gallery of Canada

National Gallery of Canada

The National Gallery of Canada , located in the capital city Ottawa, Ontario, is one of Canada's premier art galleries.The Gallery is now housed in a glass and granite building on Sussex Drive with a notable view of the Canadian Parliament buildings on Parliament Hill. The acclaimed structure was...

.