Isaiah Thomas Broadside Ballads Project

Verses in Vogue with the Vulgar

Polly Wand, together with the Beggar girl, and Tom Starboard

There are at least twenty-three folk versions of this sad tale of an innocent hunting accident, “Polly Wand,” and nearly as many titles and tunes, with name variants including Polly and Molly, and Wand, Bond, Bonn, Brown, Bander, Vann, and Vander among them (Roud #166). The lover is tried for murder and the girl’s ghost vindicates him “at the height of the trial.” Albert Friedman states that the story goes back to the dawn of European culture, describing the swan-maiden, a woman under enchantment who assumes the form of a swan (Viking Book 26; Laws O36; Belden and Hudson #76). The ballad text in its present form appeared in 1797. In this version the woman is Molly Bawn Lowry, the “beauty of Ulster,” who was born in Lurgan, Ireland.[1]

“The Beggar Girl” is described in another broadside, Truxton’s Victory.  

“Tom Starboard” is described in another broadside, Tom Starboard.


[1] According to Steve Gardham, writing to an Indiana University ballad listserv on March 3, 2007, there is a copy of this ballad, “Youth’s Grievance; or, The Downfall of Molly Bawn” in a garland titled My Friend and Pitcher (1797) at the Linenhall Library in Belfast (pamphlet book 1031). See also J. O’Connor.

Additional Metadata

Date

1810-1814

Place of Publication

Boston.

Subjects

Love
Hunting accidents
Beggars in literature
Sailors
Ghosts in literature

First Line

Come all you brave shooters that follow the gun.
Over the mountains, and over the moore [sic].
Tom Starboard was a lover true.

Identifiers

BIB ID: 284426
OCLC Control No.: (OCoLC)ocm82686316
OCLC Control No.: (OCoLC)ocn191465908
Ford, W.C. Thomas ballads, 211
AAS General Catalog URL: http://catalog.mwa.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=284426
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Physical Dimensions

29 x 24 cm.

Transcriptions

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Citation

“Polly Wand, together with the Beggar girl, and Tom Starboard,” Isaiah Thomas Broadside Ballads Project, accessed October 22, 2026, https://collections.americanantiquarian.org/thomasballads/items/show/198.