The Secret Origins Of Ten Popular Nursery Rhymes You Learnt As A Child

8 Old Mother Hubbard

Old Mother Hubbard wasn’t a mother at all. The poem is believed to represent a mockery of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey who refused to give Henry VIII an annulment of his marriage so he could marry Anne Boleyn. The act led to the Cardinal’s downfall.

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9 Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush

The poem was written in 1840. According to historian R.S.Duncan who was also the former governor of England’s Wakefield Prison, the rhyme originated from the 420 year old institution’s practice of exercising female prisoners around a mulberry tree.

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10 Ladybird, Ladybird, Fly Away Home

Ladybird Ladybird fly away home? your house is on fire and your children are gone,? All except one called Anne? For she has crept under the frying pan.??

The secret origins behind nursery rhymes included even the humble ladybird poem. The lady bird in this case wasn’t a ladybird but a catholic in 16th century Protestant England. Catholics at the time were forbidden to practice their religion both in public and at home. They were also forced to attend Protestant services failing which they were made to pay hefty fines. The fire could be a reference to the catholic priests who were burned at the stake for their beliefs.

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