Annotation:General Robertson of Lude
X:1 T:General Robertson of Lude C:John Carr (Pitnacree) N:Pitnacree is in Lude, parish of Blair-Atholl, Perthshire M:C| L:1/8 R:Strathspey B:Seven Reels and Strathspeys (c. 1837, p. 2) N:”Printed and sold at Anderson’s Music Shop, Edinburgh” B: https://digital.nls.uk/special-collections-of-printed-music/archive/118867572 N:”Humbly inscribed to the Laird and Lady of Lude” Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:A (A/B/c/d/) ec fdec|(A/B/c/d/) ec fBBc|(A/B/c/d/) ec fdec|dfed cA A2:| (f/g/)|a2 (ec) eaec|a2 (ec) fBB(f/g/)|a2 (ec) eaec|dfed cAA(f/g/)| A2 ec eaec|a2 ec fBB(f/g/)|afge fdec|dfed cA A2||
GENERAL ROBERTSON OF LUDE. Scottish, Strathspey (cut time). A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. Carr's single-sheet issue contained tunes names that all seem to relate to the Robertsons of Ludes, and make reference to the "Young Laird of Ludes (The)", "Lady Ludes" and "General Robertson of Lude" as well as two of the Haldane women. The 'young laird' is probably James Alexander Robertson of Lude, an army officer who never married and never had children; he sold the estate in 1823 after his father died. "General Robertson of Lude" would seem to have been his father, General William Robertson, 13th of Lude, who served in the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, and raised a regiment in 1794 called the Perthshire Fencibles. He married, in 1802, Margaret, eldest daughter of George Haldane, 18th of Gleneagles, Perthshire, who is Carr's "Lady Ludes." This puts the tentative dating of c. 1837 (by John Glen?) of the issue of Carr's single-sheet in question. It was likely either issued earlier than 1820, when the laird and lady were still living at Lude, or, it was issued around 1837 but of older tunes by Carr.
