Annotation:Lord Harrington's Volunteers
X: 1 T: Lord Harrington's Volunteers %R: march, reel B: "Twenty Four Country Dances for the Year 1780", Thomas Skillern, ed. p.10 #1 F: http://www.vwml.org/browse/browse-collections-dance-tune-books/browse-skillerns1780# Z: 2014 John Chambers <jc:trillian.mit.edu> N: The "||:." symbols have the 3 bottom dots in a line, rather than the common triangle. M: 2/4 L: 1/8 F:http://www.john-chambers.us/~jc/music/book/DftY/1780/Skillern/19_Lord_Harringtons_Volunteers.abc K: A |:\ ABcd | efga | gagf | e2z2 |\ ABcd | ecBA | dBAG | A2A,2 :| |:\ EGBG | Acec | EGBG | A2A2 |\ EGBG | Acec | EGBG | A2z2 :| |:\ fdfa | ecea | BdcB | c2A2 |\ fdfa | ecea | BdcB | A2A,2 :| %%begintext align %% The 1st Lady Setts to the 2d Gent: turn to %% the 3d Gent: & retreat back to her place .|. the %% 1st Gent: Sett to the 2d Lady turn the 3d Lady & %% remain at Bottom :|. sett 3 & 3 top & Bottom sett %% 3 & 3 sideways .|: Allmand with the right & left %% hands :|: the Lady half Figure at Bottom at the %% same time the Gent: half Figure at top the Lady half %% figure at top the Gent: at bottom .||:. Lead outsides :||:. %%endtext
LORD HARRINGTON'S VOLUNTEERS. English, March and Country Dance (2/4 time). A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCC. Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Harrington(1753-1829) raised a volunteer regiment in 1780, the Westminster Voluntary Regiment of Foot, appointing himself Colonel. They became the 85th Regiment, but were disbanded in 1783 after the Peace of Amiens. They were an exceedingly unlucky unit, beginning with their embarkation to Jamaica in the West Indies. The Gentleman's Magazine (Oct., 1829, p. 366) recorded:
The great mortality which prevails more or less in the West Indies, particularly in time of war, soon reduced the gallant corps sent out from England to a small number. The 85th, one of the finest ever landed on any of our tropical islands, suffered severely; and his Lordship’s health, from his great military exertions, being injured, he returned to England.
It is assumed that Harrington returned separately from his regiment, for most of the 85th that survived the fevers of West Indies was lost at sea returning from service. Harrington recovered and began training replacements, until in November, 1782, he was gazetted colonel and aide-de-camp to George III.
