Annotation:Mrs. Crawfurd of Armillan
X:1 T:Mrs. Crawford of Armillan'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. 20) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Emin c|B(EE)c {c}B2 T(AG)|T(F>ED)d FDAF|BEEc TB2E(e/f/|g)ef^d e2E:| (e/f/)|gebe gebe|fdAd fdaf|gebe gebe|fdB^d e2 E(e/f/)| gebe gebe|fdAd fdaf|gebg afge|fdB^d e2 E||
MRS. CRAWFURD OF ARMILLAN. AKA - "Miss Crawford (4)," "Mrs. Crawford of Ardmillan's Reel." Scottish, Reel (cut time). E Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. John Glen (1891) finds the earliest appearance of the tune in print in Ayrshire fiddler-composer John Riddell's 1766 collection (p. 20). The reel is also included in his Collection of Scots Reels, Minuets, &c. for the Violin (1782), an expanded version of his earlier publication. While the first volume was published in Edinburgh, the second was issued by musician and music publisher James Aird in Glasgow.
The title Crawfords or Adrmillan had their name spelled variously Crawfurd, Crawfuird, Crawford, while their estate of Ardmillan is also spelled Armillan. In 1766, when Riddell issued his first publication, Mrs. Crawford or Ardmillan was Anne Kennedy, daughter of Robert Kennedy Esq. of Liverpool, who had married Archibald Crawford (d. 1784). Archibald had been involved in Douglas, Heron & Co., also known as the Ayr Bank, along with several prominent Ayrshire landowners. It was considered very secure, but was not a limited liability company and instead was underwritten by the wealth and lands of the partners. The Ayr Bank was linked with a London bank, and when it collapsed in the crisis of 1772 it took the Ayr Bank with it. The partners were left holding the bag, and Archibald's lands, including Ardmillan, were sold in a judicial sale and bought by Archibald's brother Thomas Crawford. Thomas's youngest daughter was named Margaretta, who became betrothed to her cousin...Archibald Crawford, the son and namesake of the man who had become bankrupt in the bank collapse. Thus were the estates returned to the original line. It was Margaretta who was "Mrs. Crawford" at the time Riddell's second volume was published, in 1782. It would seem that Riddell's tune did service for two Mrs. Crawfords of Ardmillan.
A close version of the reel was entered into Book 2 of the large c. 1883 music manuscript collection of County Leitrim piper and fiddler biography:Stephen Grier (c. 1824-1894) under the title "Miss Crawford" [1].