Annotation:Mr. Hamilton of Wishaw

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MR. HAMILTON OF WISHAW. Scottish, Reel. B Flat Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. Attributed to William Gow (1751-1791) in the Gow publications. William was the eldest son of Perthshire fiddler-composer Niel Gow, and, like his father was a fiddler and composer of several melodies printed by the Gows. He was leader of the Edinburgh Assembly Orchestra until his death, upon which his brother Nathaniel took over. “Mr. Hamilton of Wishaw” appears in Malcolm MacDonald’s second collection without attribution. The title probably honors William Hamilton of Wishaw (1765-1814), who married Penelope Macdonald in 1789 at Edinburgh. They resided at Wishaw House, north Lanarkshire, situated near the left bank of the South Clader Water north of the town of Wishaw. Hamilton was a military man, at least for a time, serving as an officer in the 3rd Dragoons (King’s Own), and achieving the rank of Colonel in the service of the Lanarkshire and Dunbartonshire Fencible Cavalry. He was entitled to the title 7th Lord Belhaven and Stenton in 1784, although not confirmed in his favour by the House of Lords until 1799. See also the Gow’s “Mrs. Hamilton of Wishaw’s Strathspey.” (Gow also later composed “Lament for Mr. Ramsay of Barnton,” husband of William Hamilton’s sister, Jean).

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 296. Gow (Third Collection of Niel Gow’s Reels), 1792; p. 18 (3rd ed.). Köhlers’ Violin Repository Part 3, 1885; p. 260. MacDonald (A Second Collection of Strathspey Reels), 1789; p. 1.

Recorded sources:

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