Annotation:Colonel Cumming of Altyre
X:1 % T:Colonel Cumming of Altyre M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Jig B:Gow & Shepherd - Collection of entirely original strathspey, reels, marches, quicksteps etc. (1797, p. 8) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:F A|F3TG2 F/G/|c2A A2c|F2F Td2c|d3 d2f| F3TG2 F/G/|c2A A2c|D2D E2C|F3 F2:| a|f3 Tg2 f/g/|c'2a a2c'|d2d b2a|g3 g2a| f3 Tg2f/g/|c'2a a2c'|d2d Te2c|f3 f2a| f3 Tg2 f/g/|c'2a a2c'|d2d b2a|g3 g2a| b2g Ta2g|f2c d2f|c2f TA2G|F3 F2||
COLONEL CUMMING OF ALTYRE. Scottish, Jig (6/8 time). F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. The jig was published by the Edinburgh music publishing firm of Nathaniel Gow and William Shepherd in a volume entitled A Collection of Entirely Original Strathspey Reels, Marches, Quick Steps &c. (1797, p. 8), "by Ladies resident in a remote part of the Highlands of Scotland, as corrected by Nath. Gow." Unfortunately, the composers names are not given. The Leeds antiquarian Frank Kidson (1854–1926) penciled a note in his copy of the volume that the composers were, or included, “the Misses Whyte,” and modern researcher Charles Gore thinks “the Misses Whyte” may possibly be a Miss White and a Miss Brocky, of Morayshire, east Highlands.
Alexander Penrose Cumming Gordon’s father was a soldier who was shipwrecked off Penzance when returning from foreign service. He married a local heiress and settled in Cornwall. His son, Alexander (1749-1806), served for six years (1768-74) with the 13th Regiment of Foot, and was at Leghorn (now Livorno, Tuscany, Italy) in 1771. In 1773 married Helen Grant, fifth daughter of Sir Ludovick Grant of Grant, and two years later he succeeded to the family’s estates in Scotland and took up residence there. The couple had seven sons and nine daughters, many of whom married in the 1790's. Alexander became Provost of Forres from 1776-78 and again from 1782-84, and was the Lieutenant-Colonel of the 1st (Strathspey) Fencibles from 1793-1799. The Gordon-Cumming baronetcy was created in May, 1804, for the then Alexander Cumming–Gordon, formerly Member of Parliament for Inverness Burghs.