Annotation:Miss Charlotte Stirling's Jigg
X:1 T:Miss Charlote Stirling's Jigg M:C L:1/8 R:Jig B:John Bowie – “Collection of strathspey reels & country dances &c.” B:(Edinburgh, c. 1789, p. 15) F: https://digital.nls.uk/special-collections-of-printed-music/archive/104982582 Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:D V:1 B|AFD DFD|AFD d2B|AFD DFD|ECA, A,2B| AFD DFD|AFA d2A|BdB cec|d2d d2:| |:g|faf d2f|gbg e2g|faf d2f|ecA A2g| |1 faf d2f|gbg e2g|fdf ece| d2d d2:| |2 faf def|gbg efg|faf gec|d2d d2|] V:2 clef = bass z|D,2F, D,2D,|F,2D, B,2G,|F,DA, F,D,F,|A,A,,A,, A,,2z| DA,F, D,F,D,|A,F,A, D2F,|G,2G, A,2A,,|D,2D, D,2:| |:z|D,2D A,F,D,|A,,2A, G,E,C,|D,2D A,F,D,|A,,C,E, A,2C| |1D2D, F,E,D,|E,2A, CB,A,|D2D, A,2A,,|D,F,A, D2:| |2 D,2D, F,E,D,|A,,2A, CB,A,|D2D, A,2A,,|D,2D, D,2|]
MISS CHARLOTTE STIRLING’S JIGG. Scottish, Jig (6/8 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB’. The melody first appears in Perthshire fiddler-composer Biography:John Bowie’s A Collection of Strathspey Reels & Country Dances (Edinburgh, 1789, p. 15). See also Bowie's "Miss Charlotte Stirling (Country Dance)." We do not know who Bowie's 'Charlotte Stirling' was--the name is common enough--although she was not one of the Stirling sisters of William Stirling 4th of Ardoch, one of whom (Mary) the composer wed[1]. Speculatively, Bowie's tune might refer to Charlotte Stirling, the daughter of a Jamaican planter, Robert Stirling. She had been sent to England by her father for education and finishing, 'so that she might in all the rights and privileges of a white person. Her father Robert died in 1764, but in 1784 a new grant gave the right to dispose of her property to a free quadroon, Sarah Morris of Kingston. She left her estate to their natural daughter Charlotte Stirling, who was also granted the rights of a white person. During that period she was the only woman to obtain such a right[2]. This Charlotte may have been the Charlotte Stirling who later in life married Peter Patrick Sherriff , a merchant, in Edinburgh in 1801.
