The Old House at Home is a sentimental 19th century ballad

Ballad

A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...

 written by Thomas Haynes Bayly

Thomas Haynes Bayly

Thomas Haynes Bayly was an English poet, songwriter, dramatist, and miscellaneous writer.The son of a wealthy lawyer in Bath, Bayly intended to become an attorney like his father, but he changed his mind and thought of entering the church, but he abandoned this idea also and gave himself to...

 (1797–1839).

The lyrics are a two stanza

Stanza

In poetry, a stanza is a unit within a larger poem. In modern poetry, the term is often equivalent with strophe; in popular vocal music, a stanza is typically referred to as a "verse"...

 poem about childhood and yearning for home:

"Oh! the old house at home where my forefathers dwelt,

Where a child at the feet of my mother I knelt,

Where she taught me the pray'r, where she read me the page,

Which, if infancy lisps, is the solace of age;

My heart, 'mid all changes, wherever I roam,

Ne'er loses its love for the old house at home!"

The song came to the public attention after being set to music by Edward Loder

Edward Loder

Edward James Loder was an English composer and conductor. His best remembered work is the 1855 opera Raymond and Agnes.-Biography:...

. It first appeared in Loder's 1838 opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 "Francis the First". This was one of Loder's lesser operas, which were merely vehicles for his lucrative popular songs. A review of the opening night was less than complimentary; "The few of the public who were present thought it the most stupid piece of trash that ever disgraced the stage; in which opinion we entirely agree with them...". Nevertheless, the song was soon very popular on both sides of the Atlantic.

Other Uses

The title of the song was re-used by Edward Loder's cousin, the composer and conductor George Loder (1816–1868), for a musical entertainment that he co-wrote in 1862, which did not include the song itself.

There are currently 25 public houses in England with the name "Old House at Home", probably named after the original song.