Barbara Allen- (Ghent) c.1850 Kidson
Source: Kidson F, 1891, Traditional Tunes, A Collection of Ballad Airs, Oxford, Taphouse and Son
Frank Kidson notes:
The first version here following, noted down from Mr Holgate, is from the singing of an English girl in Ghent, some forty years ago, and this version, with a different termination, is heard in the the West Riding of Yorkshire.
According to Kidson this was one of three tunes current in the UK at that time (1891). Only one verse is given.
In Reading town, where I was born,
There was a fair maid dwelling,
Made every youth cry, "Well-a-day!"
Her name was Barbara Allen.