X:1
T:Mr. John Campbell Ardmore's Strathspey
C:Alexander Mackay
M:C|
L:1/16
R:Strathspey
B:Alexander Mackay – A Collection of Reels, Strathspeys and Slow Tunes…
B:Chiefly composed by Alexander Mackay, Musician Islay (c. 1822, p. 13)
B: https://digital.nls.uk/special-collections-of-printed-music/archive/104487947
N:Dedicated to the Right Hon. Lady Elinor Campbell of Islay and Shawfield.
N:Mackay was born c. 1775 and was a fiddler-composer from Islay. Many of his
N:tune titles are reflect Islay settings.
N:Printed in Glasgow by J. MacFadyen, 30 Wilson St.
Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion
K:Bb
c|B3cB3F D3B,B,3d|e2d2c2B2 A3cc3f|d2B2B2F2 G2E2D2B,2|D3g c3d B4B2:|
e2|d3fB3d e2g2c2g2|d3fG3B A3cc3e|d3fB3d e3gc3e|d3f F2G2 B4 B2e2|
d3fB3d e2g2c2e2|d3fG3B A2c2c2e2|d3BB3F G2E2D2B,2|D3g c3d B4B2||
John Campbell, Factor Mór to the 8th Duke of Argyll.MR. JOHN CAMPBELL ARDMORE'S STRATHSPEY. Scottish, Strathspey (cut time). B Flat Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. "Mr. John Campbell Ardmore's Strathspey" was composed by Islay fiddler-composer biography:Alexander Mackay (born 1775) for John Campbell (1801-1872), the eldest boy of Archbald and Helen Campbell of Ardmore, Islay. In 1845, he married Flora McNeill of Ellister, Islay. They had no children. The same year John married, he was appointed Chamberlain to the 8th Duke of Argyll, and he and his wife took up residence at Ardfenaig, Mull, previously home to the Macleans of Killean. It was a substantial property as evidenced by the 1851 census, in which John is recorded as residing at Ardfenaig, aged 50, described as “Factor & Farmer of 1380 Acres 200 Acres Arable with 9 Servants”. His work for the Duke was to have consequences over his twenty-five year tenure in the position. In implementing the Duke's plan and policies in the Ross of Mull and Tiree, John became known and feared as Am Bàillidh Mòr and Am Bàillidh Dubh, or Factor Mór, the Big Factor, bitterly remembered by the many emigrants from Tiree to Canada or Australia in the 1840s and 1850s. He was not alone, for factors on several estates came to resemble petty tyrants who ruled the populace with an iron hand, bending them to their will with the threat of the dread summons of removal.
When [John] died in 1872, emigrant communities across the Atlantic celebrated in uninhibited style, as reported in the satirical poem, "Lament for the Factor Mór":
When they heard in Canada that the beast had expired Bonfires were lit and banners attached to branches, The people were cock-a-hoop with joy As they remember one another, And they all got down on their knees and praised God that you had died.[1]
