Guy Fawkes Night

One notable aspect of the Victorians' commemoration of Guy Fawkes Night was its move away from the centres of communities, to their margins. Gathering wood for the bonfire increasingly became the province of working-class children, who solicited combustible materials, money, food and drink from wealthier neighbours, often with the aid of songs. Most opened with the familiar "Remember, remember, the fifth of November, Gunpowder Treason and Plot".The earliest recorded rhyme, from 1742, is reproduced below alongside one bearing similarities to most Guy Fawkes Night ditties, recorded in 1903 at Charlton on Otmoor:

Don't you Remember,

The Fifth of November,

'Twas Gunpowder Treason Day,

I let off my gun,

And made'em all run.

And Stole all their Bonfire away. (1742)

The fifth of November, since I can remember,

Was Guy Faux, Poke him in the eye,

Shove him up the chimney-pot, and there let him die.

A stick and a stake, for King George's sake,

If you don't give me one, I'll take two,

The better for me, and the worse for you,

Ricket-a-racket your hedges shall go. (1903)