Annotation:Mrs. Fraser of Belladrum's Reel
X:1 T:Mrs. Fraser of Belladrum's Reel M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel B:Donald Grant – Collection of Strathspeys, Reels, Jigs &c. (1820-21, p. 12) B:The volume was perhaps first issued c. 1790, from a penciled note in a copy. N:The collection was dedicated to Mrs. Col. Grant of Grant (“Sir James and N:Lady Grant of Grant”). S: https://digital.nls.uk/special-collections-of-printed-music/archive/105813958 Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:D D|GABG (=cAA)^c|dABG FD-DF|GABG =cAA^c|dfeg fdd:| |:A|defd cdec|defg aA-Ac|defd cdec|dBAG FDD:|]
MRS. FRASER OF BELLADRUM'S REEL. Scottish, Reel (cut time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. "Mrs. Fraser of Belladrum's Reel" was published in Donald Grant's Collection of Strathspeys, Reels, Jigs &c. (1820-21[1]). The Frasers of Belladrum (both father and son were named James) were heavily involved in West Indies cotton plantations (in Demerara and Berbice), including owning and managing the large number of slaves that powered them. James the younger, 8th and last of Belladrum, was active in managing the estates from at least the early 1790's, and moved back and forth between London, Scotland and Guyana. In 1799 he married Mary Fraser (c.1782-1854) of Achnagairn. On his subsequent journeys Mary accompanied him, but she appears not to have been comfortable at the plantations. A visitor, Edward Fraser of Reelig, spent Christmas with the them around 1807 and reported to his mother that Mary 'hated the country' and that hers was 'not a very cheerful house'. He added that she 'sees nobody but a parcel of the neighbouring gentlemen who are not all of the first water – and no ladies at all except old Mrs Burnet'. There is some suggestion that an expected pregnancy did not go well, and the couple remained childless. James did not return to Scotland until 1821, around the time Donald Grant published his volume. Although James reportedly made huge sums (probably in plantation land deals), he seems to have spent lavishly as well, at least on the Scottish estate of Belladrum where he made £20,000 worth of improvements. He sold Belladrum in 1828 and was bankrupt by 1831[2]. There is no record of when James died, but Mary outlived him and sought a widow's portion of what remained of his overseas holdings.
See also Grant's "annotation:Mrs. Fraser of Culbockie's Jig", composed for another plantation (slave)-owning member of the Fraser family, Sarah, who was a sister of James the younger (above).
