Annotation:Mr. William Ferguson of Reath's Reel
X:1 T:Mr. William Ferguson of Reath's Reel C:James Walker (1771-1840), Dysart M:C L:1/8 R:Reel B:James Walker - A Second Collection of Reels, Strathspeys, Jigs, &c. (c. 1798, p. 4) N:Dedicated to Lady St Clair Erskine of Sinclair (Fife) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:A E|ABAE FABc|d2 dB c2 ce|fgaf ecbf|edcB A2A:| G|abag gage|fgaf e2 dc|defg abaf|ecdB A2Ag| abag gage|fgaf e2 dc|dcde fagb|ecdB A2A||
The estate of Raith is near Kinkcaldy, Fife, and Raith House stands on a five-hundred-foot-high hilltop (reputed to have been the site of one of Macduff’s castles), with a commanding view of the Firth of Forth to the south. The Fergusons came into possession of the estate after the death of the first earl of Melville, to whom it belonged, in 1797 (which helps date Walker's volume). Mrs. Ferguson was Jane, daughter of Ronald Craufurd, of Restalrig (and sister of Margaret, Countess of Dumfries), who married William Ferguson of Raith (d. 1812). The family was one of painter Sir Henry Raeburn’s early patrons, and he produced several portraits for them (see Raeburn's protrait "William Ferguson and his son").
