Annotation:Miss General Brownrigg’s Reel

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MISS GENERAL BROWNRIGG’S REEL. Scottish, Reel. F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBC. Composed byBiography:Duncan MacIntyre, a Scottish dancing master who practiced in Edinburgh, then, at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th, in London. It is supposed he then went to India, where his trail is lost. General Robert Brownrigg (1759-1833) was the second son of a poor County Wicklow, Ireland, squire, and a career army officer who first saw service during the American Revolution. He is responsible for conquering Ceylon, and was the island’s governor from 1811-1820, during which he consolidated British rule. In 1816 he was bestowed a baronetcy for his efforts. He had the reputation of being a competent, unimaginative, tedious soldier. His 2nd wife, Sophia Bisset, daughter of an Isle of Wight clergyman, often accompanied him in his stations and is remembered as a woman of courage and good sense. She was kind and considerate, and took an interest in the native populations. She also entertained lavishly, including balls and dancing. Brownrigg married first in 1783 in Jamaica to Elizabeth-Catherine Lewis of Cornwall, and they had four sons and one daughter. The latter was Catherine (d. 1834), who married Major-General Sir John Ross in 1811. It is perhaps for her that MacIntyre named his tune.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Gow (Sixth Collection of Strathspey Reels), 1822; p. 30.

Recorded sources:

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