Annotation:Miss Ross of Rossie's
X:1 T:Miss Ross of Rossie’s M:C| L:1/16 R:Strathspey B:Archibald Duff – Collection of Strathspey Reels &c. (1794, p.21 ) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:D B2|A3Fd3F A3F D2F2|E3DE2F2 DB,3B,2B2|A2F3dF2 A3Bd2B2| A3FE3F D4 D2:|B2|A3Bd3e fd3eB3|d3A (BAGF) EB,3B,d3| A3Bd3e fd3ef3|d3A (BAGF) A4 AB3|A3Bd3e fd3ef3| d3A (BAGF) EB,3B,2B2|A3Bd3e fa3ef3|d3B (AGFE) D4 D2||
MISS ROSS OF ROSSIE'S. Scottish, Strathspey (cut time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. Duff's 'Miss Ross' was perhaps either Eliza Margaret Ross (1793-1821) or Harriet Ross (1786-1822), daughters of Hercules Ross (1744-1816) and his wife Henrietta Parish (a third daughter was not born at the time Duff's collection was published). All three daughters died in their late twenties or early thirties, but a son Horatio lived to eighty-five. Hercules was a merchant and a self-made man of humble beginnings, who through hard work secured great wealth as a planter in Jamaica. Later in life he had a change of heart and became a foe of slavery and its institutions, and advocated the abolition of the practice. He was a friend of Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson, and though his former planter friends excoriated him, Nelson remained steadfast (note that Hecules' son was named for the admiral, who stood godfather to the son). Hercules purchased an estate at Rossie, near Montrose, and built the manor Rossie Castle.