Publication: Councillors In their Cups or The Reformed Transformed

Publisher: Caldwell and Son

Published: 1842

Place of publication: Paisley, Scotland

Publication type: Chapbook

Featured individuals:
Queen Victoria (1819-1901)

No full copy of this poem is available.

This poem has a set tune, and its title is:
In the days when we went gipsying.

Archive/Library: Paisley Central Library
Classmark(s): PC6263(1)
Pages(s): 8-9

This song of four verses and a refrain attacks local councillors who, having supported reform in 1832 as radicals had turned Whig after a time in local office in the reformed local council. The poem appears in a Chartist drama and is sung by the character, 'Provost John'. Radicalism is only espoused by these councillors now to attract the votes of local radicals at election time. The poem highlights the discontent of many after the reforms of the 1830s.