Annotation:Miss Betty Cathcart's Reel
X:1 T:Miss Betty Cathcart's Reel M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel B:John Riddell of Ayr – Collection of Scots Reels, Minuets &c. B:for the Violin (1782, p. 49) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:D A|F2 (DF) (AB/c/d)(A|TBA)Bd Tedef|TF2 (DF) (AB/c/d)A|BATfe f(dd):| g|fbag {g}f2 Ted|BABd Tedeg|fbag {g}f2 Ted|Bfge f(dd).g| fbag fadf|Adfa gfef|dfBd AdFA|Bgfe fd d||
MISS BETTY CATHCART'S REEL. Scottish, Reel (cut time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. The tune was composed by Ayrshire fiddler-composer biography:John Riddell and was printed in his second collection of 1782, issued in Glasgow by James Aird. It seems likely the tune was also printed in Riddell's first collection of c. 1766 (the second collection was an expansion of the first).
Miss Betty Cathcart was possibly Elizabeth Anne, daughter of Sir John Cathcart, Bart. of Carleton, and his wife Elizabeth Kennedy, daughter of Sir John Kennedy, Barty. of Culzean, who were married in 1729. Riddell composed a few tunes for the family, including "Sir John Cathcart's Reel" and "Lady Cathcart of Earlston." Carleton Castle is the ancient seat of the Cathcart's, located on a knoll halfway between Girvan and Ballantrae. In the fifteenth century it was held by another Sir John Cathcart, who is 'remembered' in the ballad "May Collean." It describes how the laird of Carleton was wont to marry fair ladies for their money, then drowning them in the sea from a high precipitous crag called Gamesloup.