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Sea Green Singers - Bonny Besses - Lyrics and score
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Bonny Besses - Rev Hammer
1. So at five in the morning with William Walwyn,
They dragged Honest John to the Tower.
Once more high treason was the given reason,
When they dragged Honest John to the Tower.
With Thomas Prince and Richard Overton
They dragged Honest John to the Tower.
And the Women of the city rose up in disgust and pity.
When they dragged Honest John to the Tower.

And the streets threw up this bloody cry…….

Chorus
We are the Bonny Besses in the sea-green dresses,
And we spit on your abuse of this power.
And we say “Free Honest John from the Tower”.


And Parliament said, “Women go tidy your beds!”
When they dragged Honest John to the Tower.
And Parliament said, “Some things are above Women’s heads!”
When they dragged Honest John to the Tower.
And the streets threw up this bloody cry…….

Chorus

Forty Thousand names wanted to break those chains,
Of our four friends there in the Tower
Forty Thousand names wanted to break those chains,
When they dragged Honest John to the Tower.
And the streets threw up this bloody cry…….

Chorus

Women’s Demonstration March 1649
“Bonnie Besses” celebrates a march by 800 women. They were protesting at the arrest of the Leveller leaders, including ‘Free born John’ (John Lilburn) arrested by Cromwell and taken to the Tower of London at the beginning of the counter-revolution. The Leveller colours were sea green (as represented in our tricolour) and hence the reference to ‘sea green’ dresses.

Bess gallops to Oxford Castle
Whilst being held prisoner in Oxford Castle, John Lilburne was charged with treason, along with three other officers. He was due to be tried and executed on Tuesday, 20 December. He managed to smuggle out a letter addressed to the House of Commons, care of his wife Elizabeth, proposing that the House threaten to execute four Royalist officers in retaliation, if the sentence was carried out.

Bess delivered the letter personally to the House of Commons on Friday 16 December. The requested reply was published on the following day and permission was granted for Elizabeth to deliver the document herself. This left two clear days before the trial for the reply to be delivered. It was mid winter and Bess was three months pregnant when she undertook the difficult and dangerous journey on horseback to Oxford. She galloped overnight, as fast as she could and made it just in time; the trial was called off and her husband’s life was saved.

It took another five months before a prisoner exchange was arranged and then John returned to London a hero.