gloss - stunner a person of outstanding ability in

the turf horse racing and its associated activites [CPB]

[Note 036.1] "But left home with the Dart":- the Dart was a stagecoach that ran from the Swan in Sutton Coldfield [Dr Laura Wright, Word of Mouth, BBC Radio 4, 24Oct2107]

[Note 036.2] "To live with young Lord Chesterfield":- Probably George Stanhope 6th Earl of Chesterfield 1805-1866 [Ref https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Stanhope,_6th_Earl_of_Chesterfield], The Stanhope family owned Bretby Hall near Burton-on-Trent [ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bretby_Hall] so Bob may have taken the Dart from London to Sutton Coldfield and then travelled the 25 miles or so to Bretby (probably just a day's walk for a fit young man of the time)

gloss tiger A person of very great activity, strength, or courage. [OED]

gloss knowing

gloss Knave: A male attendant, page, or other servant; (also more generally) a man of low rank or status [OED] An unprincipled or dishonest person; a rogue, a scoundrel

gloss wide awake":- aware of events, vigilant, watchful, on the alert; understanding

gloss tip - Insider knowledge [OED] A small present of money given to an inferior, esp. to a servant or employee of another for a service rendered or expected;

[Note 036.3] "But though they often took me out, I often took them in":- To "take someone in" is to play some sort of confidence trick upon them; maybe Bob is taking a bribe (the tip) but not honouring the bargain. "they often took me out" may mean they often engaged him to ride their horses.

gloss rummy Inventive unconventional ruses with a suggestion of illegality [CPB]

[Note 036.4] nailed the beans, the hay and corn":- "nailed" seems to imply some sort of swindle but no defintion of it has been found.

[Note 036.5] "Next was seen in Smithfield run,":- Below; A View of the Horse Fair at Smithfiled Market by Charles Pye

gloss "I ginger'd 'em". To introduce ginger into a horse's anus to make it move in a lively manner, with the tail held high, and thus appear youthful and spirited [OED]

[Note 036.6] "Then I returned to Regent Street, And with Newmans got employ":- A. Newman and Co., job and postmaster, 121 Regent Street. [Ref: The Post Office London Directory 1843 p307] The OED gives defines jobmaster as "a man who lets out horses and carriages by the job or for a limited time". It gives one meaning of postmaster as "The person in charge of a posting station, who provides horses for posting; the proprietor or manager of a posting establishment". It also gives one meaning of job as "A cartload; the amount that a horse and cart can bring at one time".

gloss - post boy". A post rider. One of a relay of riders delivering the Royal Mail;

[Note 036.7] "the rail, it cooked my goose":- The railway has ruined me. Post riders were superceded by the railway. The railway from London to Dover opened in 1844 and mail was soon being sent by train.

[Note 036.8] "So I got a ticket and a place To water a coach stand":- to provide water for the horses at a place where horse drawn coaches wait for hire [OED]. The phrase "I got a ticket" suggests that some sort of licence was required.

[Note 036.9] "I drove a 'bus for seven days":- Below Omnibus passing the Compasses Inn Clapton, London 1850 by Charles Pye

[Note 036.10] "And I drove the parcel mail":- The parcel mail Bob drove would be much the same as this one from the end of the century

[Note 036.11] "But now I hold the horses":- Look after the horses for their owners. Below a detail from a broadside of Bob the Groom printed in London [Bodleian Harding B 11(361)]

gloss - Pall Mall is a street in central London where several clubs for rich, mainly aristocratic, men were established in the early 19th century. [Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pall_Mall,_London]

gloss "So while you post the road of life":- Post : To travel in the manner of a post-rider, i.e with relays of horses [OED]

The British Library record suggests that this was one of a collection of songs called "Bonny Boys" printed around 1850.
The Roud Broadside Index includes 23 entries for Bob the Groom which suggests it was a popular song; an idea supported by the existence of the broadside John the Coachman, A sequel to Bob the Groom (Roud V10197)

Updated 25th October 2017

gloss flash Dashing, ostentatious, swaggering, 'swell'

Hack A horse used for hire. Also: an inferior or worn out horse, a nag

[Note 292.1] "To Hibbert and Platts shop then I went" :- iron founders and maunfacurers of textile machinery est 1820.

[Note 292.2] "But then owd Neddy engine" :- donkey-engine, a small steam-engine.

[Note 292.3] "To make a scoldin' woman a new cast iron tongue":- This is the subject of bar417~Steam Tongue. Steam Tongue is a derivative of the Cork Leg and probably dates from 1835 or soon after. See derivative set ds001

[Note 292.4] I went to Barnes's next" :- Possibly Barnes of Farnworth established 1827 [Ref: Holden, Roger; Manufacturing the Cloth of the World. p55]

[Note 292.5] "For instead of hallelujah they blowed out gee wo dobbin" :- They might have been singing "Young Ralph the Waggoner" the chorus of which concludes "With a gee wo dobbin, heigh ge wo, gee wo dobbing gee wo" [National Library of Scotland shelfmark Crawford.EB.3802]

[Note 292.6]  Maybe the the Swan in Lees High Street or Black Swan in Bottom o'th Moor, Mumps

Glossary
fuddling(1) fuddle; To have a drinking bout; to tipple, booze. [OED]
templets(1), Templet = contrivance for keeping cloth stretched to its proper width in the loom during the process of weaving
Cops(1) = small oval bundles of cotton thread which fitted into the shuttle
Slop(2) = slap, blow
Chops(1) = jaws, the side of the face [OED]
gobbin(1) = An unintelligent or uneducated person; a fool, an idiot [OED]
turned out(1) turnout/turnouts(1) = strike/strikers

A pair of tapering movable rails forming a junction at which railway vehicles are directed from one set of rails to another; the junction as a whole.

in court, in open court or before a tribunal [OED]

[Note 102.1] Bar571~Humble Heroes was published under the pen-name of 'Fun'

[Note 102.2] "And then we 'spose we'll have some trembling pointsman 'at the bar'" :- The poet is cynically assuming that the pointsman will be blamed for any accident resulting from poorly illuminated locomotives.

[Note 571.1] The Watts Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice by George Frederick Watts built in 1900 contains a plaque marking the bravery of  Peart and Dean. It also includes plaques to two other railwaymen; Signalman Willaim Goodrum and Inspector Frederick Croft.

[Note 571.2] "Full well we know in heroic deeds Our soldier lads excel" :- The second Boer War 1899-1902 was being fought when the poem was written].

[Note 571.3] This verse refers to the accident which forms the subject of bar581~The Gallant Twain]