Annotation:Honorable George Baillie's Strathspey
X:1 T:Honorable George Baillie's Strathspey M:C| L:1/8 R:Strathspey S:Gow - First Collection of Niel Gow's Reels (2nd ed. 1801) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:F f|c<FTc>F c<FTf>d|c<FTc>A {A}G2 G<f|c<FTc>A c<Fa>g|f<dTc>A F2F:| c|f>g{fg}a>g f>ca>(g|f>)dTc>A {A}G2 G>c|Tf>g{fg}a>g f<ca>g|f<dTc>A F2 F>c| Tf>g{fg}a>g f>ca>g|f<dc>A {A}G2 G>A|F<cA<c F<ag<a|f>dTc>A F2F||
HONORABLE GEORGE BAILLIE'S STRATHSPEY. AKA and see "Highland Skip (1) (The)," "Mrs. Mary Grant McInnes—Dandaleith." Scottish, Strathspey. F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. The tune appears under the above title in Niel Gow's First Collection, second edition (1784), attributed to Niel (1727-1807), although the tune first was published as "Highland Skip (1) (The)" by Daniel Dow in c. 1775. The tune is probably named for the grandson (and namesake) of George Baillie of Jerviswood (d. 1738), an Edinburgh burgess who had been granted the lands of Mellerstain by Charles I. Baillie began construction of a grand estate at Mellerstain commissioning architect William Adam to design and build the house. However, when George died in 1738 only two wings had been constructed and work stopped with the main part of the house unbuilt. The estate descended to George's daughter Rachel, who married Charles Hamilton, Lord Binning. Their first son eventually became the 7th Earl of Haddington, but their second son, named George, became the laird of Jerviswood and Mellerstain and assumed the name Baillie. This George Baillie resumed work on Mellerstain, and commissioned the famous architect Robert Adam, to complete the construction of Mellerstain which his father William began, which he did between 1770 and 1778. The interior of the manor features some of Adam's finest work. The (Hon.) George Baillie's name appears among those in a "List of the Nobility and Gentry Who appeared at the Balls at Kelso Races, October 1783," a broadside published sheet of the period (National Library of Scotland).
The strathspey also appears (as "Mrs. Mary Grant McInnes—Dandaleith") in the posthumous collection of William Marshall, published in 1845, and it appears likely to have been Marshall's work, albeit an early one and not previously published by him.
