John Collins, also known as Brush Collins was born in Bath to a tailoring family. As a young adult, he was apprenticed as to a stay-maker before launching his career as an actor and poet. His alias refers to his successful entertainment act, The Brush, or The Evening Brush, named (according to a 1793 advertisement) for its effect of ‘rubbing off the rust of care’ accumulated through daily urban life. Mr. Dignum refers to Charles Dignum, a highly successful tenor and composer on the London scene. The ‘Je ne sais quoi’ club was a catch club that met at Pall Mall in London (of which Dignum and Collins were regulars). In his recollections of London musical life between 1791 and 1795, the organist Richard J Stevens described the club being attended by actors - including Mr. Dignum - who sang ‘songs of every description (many of which were very disgusting, disgraceful, and horrible to hear)’.

The song acts as a sort of mnemonic device for remembering the monarchs of England, with a comical style similar to our modern-day Horrible Histories songs.