Annotation:James Alexander Roberston Junr. Esqr. of Ludes Strathspey
X:1 T:James Alexander Roberston Junr. Esqr. of Ludes Strathspey 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. 1) 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:G G2 Gc BgBG|cBAG FAFD|G2 Gc BdBG|cAGF G2G2:| Bdd(e/f/) gdBG|cBAG FAFD|Bdd(e/f/) gdBG|cAGF G2 Gc| Bdd(e/f/) gdBG|cBAG FGAc|BGBd egfa|bagf g2g2||
JAMES ALEXANDER ROBERTSON JUNR. ESQR. OF LUDES STRATHSPEY. Scottish, Strathspey (cut time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. The strathspey was composed by fiddler-composer John Carr of Pitnacree, Lude, parish of Blair Atholl, in Highland Perthshire. The title honors the local laird, James Alexander Robertson, 14th of Lude (1804-1874), first son of General William Robertson, 13th of Lude, and his wife, Margaret Haldane. After his father’s death he sold the Lude estate (1821) and entered the British Army 82nd Regiment (1823), where he was Lieutenant (1825), Captain (1832), Major (1848), Lieutenant-Colonel (1854) and Brevet-Colonel (1857). He commanded the 82nd Regiment at Sebastopol (1855-1856), for which he received the Crimea Medal. During the Indian Rebellion# of 1857, an incident happened: he was “ordered to take ground to his right and maintain the position, but after marching to the spot indicated, the Lieut.-Colonel took upon himself to entrust this duty to his Adjutant, Gore Browne, who held the ground all day.” After this he lost the command of the regiment. He “retired by sale” in 1858.
Robertson was a skilled chess player, and around 1850 was President of the Ryde Chess Club in Isle of Wight. He played tournaments in London and at various locations where his regiment was located. After he retired to Edinburgh he was a regular at the nearby Edinburgh Chess Club, where several of his games were recorded and preserved. He left behind “diaries tightly written in a very small hand, very difficult to read and which over his final days lodging at 118 Princes Street in Edinburgh suggest a rather sad end”. He never married and had no children.
James was never married, and had no children. After retirement he went back to Scotland, where he authored the books Comitatus de Atholia (the Earldom of Atholl, 1860), Concise Historical Proofs respecting the Gael of Alban (1865) and The Gaelic Topography of Scotland (1869).
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.
