Monkey hanger facts for kids
"Monkey hanger" is a colloquial nickname by which people from the town of Hartlepool in County Durham, England are sometimes known.
Origin of the name
According to local folklore, the term originates from an apocryphal incident in which a monkey was hanged in the town of Hartlepool, England. During the Napoleonic Wars, a French chasse-marée was wrecked in a storm off the coast of Hartlepool. The only survivor from the ship was a monkey, allegedly dressed in a French Army uniform to provide amusement for the crew. On finding the monkey on the beach, a group of locals decided to hold an impromptu trial. Because the monkey was unable to answer their questions, and because they had seen neither a monkey nor a Frenchman before, they concluded that the monkey must be a French spy. Being found guilty, the animal was duly sentenced to death and summarily hanged on the beach.
An earlier and remarkably similar monkey-hanging legend, with a similar associated song, refers to the inhabitants of Boddam, Aberdeenshire. With comparable lyrics and scansion ("And the Boddamers hung the Monkey, O"), it is plausible that 19th-century Tyneside concert hall songwriter and performer, Ned Corvan, heard and adapted the song while travelling in the Scottish Lowlands with Blind Willie Purvis.
Similar stories have also been told about Mevagissey in Cornwall and Greenock in Scotland.
The Monkey Song
The earliest evidenced mention of the hanging is from the popular song, written and performed by 19th-century comic performer, Ned Corvan, "The Monkey Song". Given that "only after Corvan's appearances in Hartlepool is there any strong evidence for the development of the Monkey story", the song itself seems the most plausible origin for the myth.
See also
- List of British regional nicknames
- Mackem
- Mary (elephant)
- Smoggie
- Animal trial
