Britons Strike Home as sung by Tyneside Maritime Chorus is not to be confused with the British patriotic song of the same name which originally was an air written for a theatrical production by Henry Purcell in 1695. The confusion arises easily because Purcell's air was very popular during the various wars of the 18th and early 19th centuries. It was played, for example, at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805, by the band aboard HMS Tonnant ! as she sailed into action, only ceasing to play when a round shot killed two bandsmen.
The version I sing appears in William Chappell's Popular Music of the Olden Time (1859), It has a rousing chorus and tells the romantic tale of a brave lass on falling in love with a sailor, dresses herself in boy's cloths and serves with him at sea. During a furious battle, five hundred slain, both become wounded and were subsequently discharged. They married and as the song goes so all things came right. How ineffably sweet!. This song may be found in the Tyneside Maritime Chorus songbook

Lyrics