Annotation:Captain Lockhart of the Tartar
CAPTAIN LOCKHART OF THE TARTAR. AKA and see "Captain Locker." Scottish, Reel (whole time). C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. John Glen (1891) finds the earliest printing of the tune in Robert Bremner's 1757 collection. Captain John Lockhart (later Lockhart-Ross, 1721-1790), was the first commander of the 28-gun frigate HMS Tartar, built in 1756 at Rotherhithe (wrecked in 1797). A recently discovered copy of a newspaper, The Exeter journal and advertiser, printed by Thomas Brice near Eastgate, Devon (issue number 162, dated 18 March 1757), has surfaced that briefly mentions Lockhart:
Plymouth, March 15. We have no news here, only last Night, I hear, there was a terrible Fray at the Dock between the Sailors and Soldiers; and it is said, the brave Captain Lockhart, of the Tartar and a Lieutenant is killed. But I hope it is not true.
During his two-years command during the Seven Years War, Lockhart gained a reputation for capturing some seven French privateers of similar size in the Channel and the Baltic, and he was wounded during the action with the 20-gun Mont Ozier. Lochart of the Tartar is probably the same man as Sir John Lockhart-Ross, who rose to the rank of Vice-Admiral and became a member of Parliament. Unfortunately, this Lockhart-Ross is the infamous landlord who introduced Cheviot sheep to the highlands, and who began the first wave of the great Highland clearances in 1782. Many say the Highlands have not recovered from the clearances to this day. See also "Sir John Lockhart Ross."
In Ireland, versions of the tune were entered into the music manuscript collections of John Gunn (c. 1865, County Fermanagh) and Stephen Grier (c. 1883, County Leitrim). See "Captain Locker
" for more information on those variants.
