Annotation:Captain Carswell
X: 1 T: Captain Carswell M: 4/4 L: 1/16 R: Pipe March K: Ador G2 | A4 A3B A4 B3d | e3d Bd3 e3d B3A | G3A B3A B4 G3B | d3e dB3 e4 d2 || B2 | A4 A3B A4 B3d | e3d Bd3 e3d B3A | G4 A3B e4 d3B | e4 d3B A4 A2 |] d2 | e3f ed3 e4 a4 | g3e fd3 e4 d3B | d3B G3B d4 B3d | e3d B3d d4 B2 || d2 | e3f ed3 e4 a4 | g3e fd3 e4 d3B | G4 A3B e4 d3B | e4 d3B A4 A2 |]
CAPTAIN CARSWELL. Scottish, Retreat March (2/4 time). A Dorian. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABCD. Composed by Pipe Major William Lawrie [1] (1881-1916), of the 8th Argyllshire Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, composer of a number of excellent tunes (many of which are part of the core piping repertoire). He became ill while fighting with his unit in France in World War I and was invalided back to England, but did not recover. A "Captain Carswell" is listed as an alternate title for the Irish air "Ned of the Hill (1)" on the Tannahill Weavers album "Capernaum" (1979), but "Ned" is obviously a different tune than Lawrie's air, and the Weaver's source for the connection is not known.
Paul Stewart Cranford (2015) notes that "Captain Carswell" is one of the most popular pipe marches amongst Cape Breton fiddlers.