"Widecombe Fair", also called "Tom Pearce" (sometimes spelt "Tam Pierce"), is a Devon folk song about a man called Tom Pearce, whose horse dies after someone borrows it to travel to the fair in Widecombe with his friends.[1] Its chorus ends with a long list of the people travelling to the fair: "Bill Brewer, Jan Stewer, Peter Gurney, Peter Davy, Dan'l Whiddon, Harry Hawke, Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all." Some research suggests that the names originally referred to real people.[2]
As the last name in a long list, "Uncle Tom Cobley and all" has come to be used as a humorous colloquialism meaning "anyone and everyone". The surname is spelt as "Cobleigh" in some references.
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