William Hargreaves (1880–1941) was a British composer, mainly of songs for the music hall. His most famous composition was '"

Burlington Bertie from Bow "Burlington Bertie" is a music hall song composed by Harry B. Norris in 1900 and notably sung by Vesta Tilley. It concerns an aristocratic young idler who pursues a life of leisure in the West End of London. Burlington is an upmarket London sho ...

" in 1916 but he also wrote "Delaney's Donkey", "I Know Where the Flies Go", "PC 49", "We All Went Marching Home Again", "They Built Piccadilly For Me" and "Give My Regards to Leicester Square". Hargreaves is also sometimes credited with several songs for

Billy Williams Billy Leo Williams (born June 15, 1938) is a former left fielder and coach in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played from 1959 to 1976, almost entirely for the Chicago Cubs. A six-time All-Star, Williams was named the 1961 National League (NL) ...

, including "Postcards" (1908); and "I Must Go Home Tonight" (1909). His "It's The Old Army Game" was added to the originally American musical ''

Poppy A poppy is a flowering plant in the subfamily Papaveroideae of the family Papaveraceae. Poppies are herbaceous plants, often grown for their colourful flowers. One species of poppy, ''Papaver somniferum'', is the source of the narcotic drug o ...

'' when it was performed in London stage in 1924. He was married to the American singer and male impersonator

Ella Shields Ella Shields (27 September 1879 – 5 August 1952) was a music hall singer and male-impersonator. Her famous signature song, " Burlington Bertie from Bow", a parody of Vesta Tilley's "Burlington Bertie", written by her manager and first husban ...

from 1906 to 1923, when she was granted a divorce. Hargreaves wrote "Burlington Bertie from Bow" for Shields;''The Times'' (London, England), 8 May 1923, p. 5 an earlier song with a similar title had been sung by

Vesta Tilley Matilda Alice Powles, Lady de Frece (13May 186416September 1952) was an English music hall performer. She adopted the stage name Vesta Tilley and became one of the best-known male impersonators of her era. Her career lasted from 1869 until 192 ...

References

1880 births 1941 deaths English songwriters {{UK-composer-stub