The song had been suggested to Elgar by the English tenorGervase Elwes and was dedicated to Members of theFight for Right Movement. Its premiere performance was as one of the musical items at a mass meeting of Fight for Right on 21 March 1916 at Queens Hall, London, when the soloist was Gervase Elwes. It was published by Elkin in 1916.
There are nine introductory bars of music, followed by the first four lines of the poem sungQuasi recit. ad lib. The next two lines are accompanieda tempo, then repeated as a chorus.