Annotation:Peterhead Volunteers March (The)
X:1 T:Peterhead Volunteers March M:C L:1/8 R:March B: John Morison - A Collection of New Strathspey Reels, with a few favourite Marches (Edinburgh, c. 1797, No. 33) N:Organist and fiddler Morison (1772-1848) was from Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, the easternmost point in Scotland, on the North Sea. Alburger notes that failing fortunes forced him to diversify: he also organized balls and ran a ship's chandlery. F:https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Collection_of_New_Strathspey_Reels_wit/Vo-EymUbJkYC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22john+morison%22+%22new+strathspey+reels%22%C2%A0&pg=PP1&printsec=frontcover K:D A/B/c|d2 d>d defd|e>fge (dc)(BA)|e2 e>e egfe|f>efg Tf2 f/e/f/g/| a3 b/a/ g>fe>d|e>dc>B A2 (B/A/B/d/)|d>cde f>g (a/g/f/e/)|d2 d>d d2:| |:de|f2 f>f f>agf|gbag gfed|e2 ee egfe|defe dcBA| f2 f>f fagf|e2 e>e egfe|d2 d>d dfed|edcB AGFE| d2 d>d defd|efge dcBA|e2 ee egfe|f>efg Tf2 f/e/f/g/| a3 b/a/ gfed|edcB A2 B/A/B/c/|Td>cde f>g (a/g/).f/.e/|d2 d>d d2:|
PETERHEAD VOLUNTEERS MARCH, THE. Scottish, March (whole time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. "The Peterhead Volunteers March" was composed by John Morison (1772-1848), a fiddler and, for a time, organist at St. Peter's Chapel, Peterhead. Morison was from Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, the easternmost point of Scotland and a port town on the North Sea. He had a small fiddle band for playing dances, but he supported himself, as many musicians did, with diversification. Alburger notes he also organized balls and ran a ship's chandlery; he also tuned pianos and organs and copied out music, but eventually he went bankrupt (at least once). Morison published two collections; the first around 1797 and the second in 1815.
The Peterhead Volunteers existed from 1795-1802 and were typical of the local militias raised for home defense in response to the perceived threat of invasion from France, with whom Britain was at war. According to records, the rolls of an infantry company and and artillery battery company were filled within a day (for the former) and two hours (for the latter). Officers were appointed from the area landed class:
These companies, in March, 1797, were placed under the command of a major commandant, this officer being Mr. John Ramsay, and in the same month had the honour of being reviewed by the Duke of Gordon and the Marquis of Huntly, who expressed their approbation of the efficiency of the corps, both in field exercises and in the exercise of firing the great guns. Immediately before said review, the corps was presented with colours by Mr. Arbuthnot, deputy-lieutenant of the county, on behalf of the ladies of Peterhead, which were consecrated by the Rev. Dr. George Moir, minister of the Established Church. Upon this occasion, while the officers of both fencible and volunteer corps were dining with the Marquis, the volunteers accompanied the drinking of each toast with a discharge of field-pieces, which they had placed before the inn.[1]
The Peterhead Volunteers martial high-point (other than the aforementioned review) was the manning of the battery and beating of a French privateer, "the guns being laid by Captain William Ferguson, who had formerly been a naval officer."
See also Morison's companion "Quickstep (Peterhead Volunteers)."
- ↑ Donald Sinclair, The History of the Aberdeen Volunteers , Aberdeen, 1907, p. 117.