See Saw Marjorie Daw?

[smudge]

See Saw Marjorie Daw, Johnny shall have a new Master..........Who was Marjorie Daw?

[commoner]

...No one can identify such a person...widely thought to be just a made up name to rhyme with see saw....or maybe some body knows different........

[smudge]

Thanks commoner - that's what my husband said - so I s'pose I'll never know......!

[jno]

according to the Opies' book on nursery rhymes, daw was an old term for a slatternly or lazy woman and Margery a common peasant name for girls. So probably a peasant rhyme about lazy people (Johnny sounds like one too.) The rhyme may originally have related to sawing - two men on each end of a long saw, chanting in rhythm - rather than a plaything.

[Jane Grove]

"Seesaw Margery Daw
Johnny shall have a new master
He shall earn but a penny a day
Because he can't work any faster"

The seesaw is the oldest toy for children, being easily constructed from logs of different sizes. The words of "Seesaw Marjorie Daw" reflect children playing on a see-saw and singing this rhyme to accompany their game. There was no such person that I can identify who had the name Marjorie Daw and therefore assume that this was purely used to rhyme with the words 'seesaw' i.e "Seesaw Marjory Daw". The last three lines of "Seesaw Margery Daw"  reflect the use of child labour in work houses where those with nowhere else to live would be forced to work for a pittance (a penny a day) on piece work (because he can't work any faster). The words of "Seesaw Margery Daw" might also have been used by a spiteful child to taunt another implying his family were destined for the workhouse.