Annotation:Sir John Shaw Stewart's Strathspey
X:1 T:Sir John Shaw Stewart's Strathspey M:C L:1/8 R:Strathspey S:Gow – First Collection of Strathspey Reels (1784) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:G Minor G|DGG>c (B/c/d) c>B|A>Fc>F d>Fc>F|D(GG>)c d>=efd|c<A f>A {A}G2G:|| A|G(gg>)a {ga}b2 ag|f>ca>c f>caf|dgg>a {ga}b2 ag|{g}f>d{d}c>A {A}G2 G>A| Ggg>a {ga}b2 ag|fcf>g {fg}a>gfa|g>af>g d>fc>f|A>Fc>A {A}G2G||
SIR JOHN SHAW STEWART. AKA and see "Mrs. Crawfurd of Donside/Mrs. Crawfurd of Donside's Reel," "Rover (4) (The)." Scottish, Strathspey. G Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. The melody was published by the Gows in First Collection (p. 4), 1784, but was claimed by John Riddell who titled it "Mrs. Crawford of Donside" and published it in 1766. Sir John Shaw Stewart (1739-1812) was the 4th Baronet of Greenock and Blackhall, who married Frances, the widow of Sir James Maxwell of Pollok and daughter of Robert Colhoun or Colquhoun of St Kitts in 1786. They married in 1786 but had no children. Stewart was MP for Renfrewshire twice (from 1780-1783 and 1786-96). He built a large and elegant country manor named Ardgowan House (‘the house of the smith’) between 1798 and 1801. The mansion, which overlooks the Firth of Clyde north of Inverkip, was designed by William Cairncross, once assistant to the famous architect Robert Adams.
A version of the tune in G major was set as a reel and entered into Book 2 of the large c. 1883 music manuscript collection of County Leitrim fiddler and piper biography:Stephen Grier (c. 1824-1894), under the title "Rover (4) (The)."
