LORD DUNMORE'S QUICK STEP. AKA - "Lord Dunmore's Quick March." English, March (6/8 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCCDD. The tune is attributed to George Muschet in Hamiltons Universal Tune Book (1844). Muschet was a member of of the Musical Society in Edinburgh in the second half of the 18th century[1]. Muschet died in Edinburgh in 1807.
John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore
John Murray [1] (1732-1809), 4th Earl of Dunmore, was the last Royal Governor of Virginia, serving from 1771 to 1776 when he departed as a consequence of the American Revolution. However, he still held his position until peace was signed in 1783, and continued to draw his pay. Although a contentious figure with the colonists as governor, he prosecuted Lord Dunmore's War, a series of campaigns against the Indians (principally the Shawnee) of western Virginia and the Ohio valley. During the Revolution Dunmore issued a proclamation of emancipation for black slaves who would desert their Patriot masters and join the British cause, and eventually he formed an Ethiopian Regiment. Unfortunately, most of the black soldiers died of smallpox on board ship, not having been inoculated against the disease. Later Dunmore became Governor of the Bahamas (1787-1796). Soldiers of the Ethiopian Regiment
Additional notes
Printed sources : - Aird (Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 5), 1797; p. 31. Johnson (A Further Collection of Dances, Marches, Minuetts and Duetts of the Latter 18th Century), 1998; p. 8. James Manson (Hamilton's Universal Tune Book vol. 1), 1844; p. 77.
↑Muschet, along with fellow musicians Joseph Reinagle, Alexander Napier and Alexander Stewart, were all fined half a guinea each by the directord of the Musical Society for 'leaving the Concert in order to attend Corri's Garden', a pleasure garden modeled after Ranelagh Gardens. 581.
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