I have known the following rhyme for many years:

.............

Wha saw the Forty-Second,
Wha saw them gang awa?
Wha saw the Forty-Second,
Marching doon the Broomielaw

.............

I was speaking to an old whistler last week and we played the tune used
for the rhyme, "Wha Wadna fecht for Charlie?". He then started singing:

.............

Wha saw the tattie howkers,
Wha saw them gang awa?
Wha saw the tattie howkers,
.......... the Berwick Law? 

.............

Some believed it originated as "hawkers", based on Irish potato sellers,
but it's more likely to be about tattie "howkers", or people who
picked potatoes. 

I've since discovered other variants: "Wha saw the cotton-spinners?",
which refers to a strike in 1880s Glasgow. Another goes

.............

Wha saw the Forty-Second,
Wha saw them gang awa?
Wha saw the Forty-Second,
Gaein' tae the wappenshaw.          [wappenshaw = military parade]

Some o' them gat chappit tatties,
Some o' them gat nane ava;
Some o' them gat barley bannocks,
Gaein' tae the wappenshaw.

Wha saw the Forty-Second (etc)

Some o' them had tartan troosers,
Some o' them had nane ava;
Some o' them had green umbrellas,
Marchin' doon the Broomielaw.

.............

Other variants mention the "Zulu war" and "Wha saw the bonnie lassies"
(Some had shoes and stockings on, ithers they had nane at a'" which is
supposed to have referred to a pleasure boat tragedy.

Allan Munro wrote to me in November 2003:

In the vernacular of the north east, to 'howke' is to dig or poke 
around in the soil. It can also mean to 'dig around' as in the back of 
a cupboard..... So, a 'tattie howker' is actually a person involved in 
the annual potato harvest.  Indeed, when I was a lot younger, I was a 
tattie howker over many seasons.  As you see, the word does not come 
from 'hawker'.
The song was sung around my home town, Elgin, Moray, with the closing 
line, 'Comin' roon by Bulboha...'  This is a reference to the local 
mental hospital!


Thanks for that information, Allan. Any other comments or versions of 
this song are welcome (email me).

Nigel Gatherer, Crieff, Scotland