This tune is believed to date back to at least 1669 in John Playford’s tune collection, Apollo’s Banquet (London, 1669).¹  It is later found in the American publication of Evening Amusement (Philadelphia, 1796) compiled by Benjamin and Joseph Carr.² The white cockade is thought to either refer to the white ribbon rosette associated with the Jacobite rebels in 1715 and 1745 in Scotland and Ireland, or the ‘bouquets of ribbons worn by the young women of Munster at weddings and other such occasions’ in the 17th century.³

The White Cockade can be played as a polka⁴ or as a Scottish Measure⁵ and can be found in the key of G, D, or C depending on the publication.

Eloise Hubbard Linscott includes The White Cockade dance steps in her collection, Folk Songs of Old New England (1939), stating that this dance was being performed in New England in the 1930s.⁶

Dance Name: The White Cockade
Music Used: The White Cockade
Contradance Formation
Six to Eight Couples

First lady down the center, first gentleman down the outside and back | 8 bars
First gentleman down the center, first lady down the outside and back | 8 bars
First couple down the center, back and cast off | 8 bars
Right and left | 8 bars

A similar White Cockade set dance is being performed here by The Saint Andrew Society of Western
Australia:

Vivian and Phil’s Version: