British Press (The)

 BRITISH PRESS, THE. Scottish, Slow Air (2/4 time). G Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. Composed by Alexander Walker, born in Rhynie, Strathbogie, Aberdeenshire in 1819. He died around the end of the century in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he had emigrated at the age of 50 and where he established a prosperous farm--and continued to compose, although his American output appears to be lost. Prior to emigrating he was the gardener for Sir Charles Forbes of Castle Newe, Aberdeenshire, who also became his patron. According to Paul Stewart Cranford (1991) the tune still has currency among Cape Breton fiddlers (as a march or slow air), and deservedly so, for it is a fine air. The title may refer to the '4th Estate' or to the practice of Naval impressment, discontinued after the defeat of Napoleon in 1814. Printed source: Walker (A Collection of Strathspeys, Reels, Marches, &c.), 1866; No. 194, p. 67.

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