Annotation:Lieutenant Colonel Maxwell's (7th Dr. Guards) Fancy

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LIEUTENANT COLONEL MAXWELL'S FANCY. Scottish, Quickstep. F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. One possibility: "This able and high-spirited officer died at Cuddalore [India] in 1794. He was son of Sir William Maxwell of Monreith, and brother of the Duchess of Gordon. At an early age he was appointed to a company of Fraser's Highlanders, in which regiment he served during the whole of the American war, with a degree of approbation which his later conduct proved he so well merited, and which showed that he was one of those whose premature death their country has reason to deplore" (Military Annals of the Highland Regiments). Prior to his death, Maxwell served with distinction in India as Colonel of the 74th Highlanders, and commanded the grenedier companies for Lord Cornwallis in numerous engagements in the conflict with the Sultan, Tippoo. The 7th Dragoon Guards [1], referred to in Gow's title in the Fifth Collection, were raised in 1688 as The Earl of Devonshire's Horse, but acquired the name 7th Dragoon (Princess Royals) Guards in 1788, which helps date the composition. However, there is no record of Maxwell of Monreith's service in the unit.

Second: A Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick Maxwell served with a dragoon regiment, the 19th Light Dragoons, and commanded the cavalry with Wellesley in India. Patrick Maxwell was a well-liked and valiant officer but died in the last charge at the Battle of Assaye (1803). A record of a marriage of Jane Anne Charlotte Maxwell, at Dumfries in 1845, indicates she was the daughter of "the late Colonel Patrick Maxwell of the 7th Dragoon Guards" (Wigtownshire Free Press). Patrick's portrait, depicted in the uniform of the 19th, was painted by John Downman in 1795.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 572. Gow (Fifth Collection of Strathspey Reels), 1809; p. 5.

Recorded sources:

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