Jacobite songs "overlooked" in Scotland's cultural history says American scholar

Now an American student has embarked on a project to collect and record every song and poem connected to the period.

Andrew Simpson, who is originally from rural Nebraska and now lives in Arizona, said he was disappointed to learn how little had been documented about folk music from the time of the rebellions of 1715 and 1745.

He said is was impossible to understand “one’s cultural history” without such songs.

His interest in the Jacobite period began when he wrote a college paper on Viscount Dundee, a Scottish nobleman and professional soldier who led the first uprising of 1689 and became the subject of a song written by Sir Walter Scott.

‘Bonnie Dundee’ as he became known, led an uprising in support of the deposed Roman Catholic monarch James II.

Mr Simpson said: “While doing research I stumbled across the song ‘Braes O’ Killiecrankie’ and was disappointed to learn how little there was in the realm of documentation about Jacobite folk music.

“After that I came across The Corries and their work in traditional folk music and wanted to have a complete compilation of Jacobite folk music for my own use. 

“It really intrigued me that so much of the Jacobite music that is loved by modern generations is a development out of Romanticism writers such as Robert Burns and James Hogg and how their work helped to solidify the modern cultural understanding of the Jacobite cause.”

He pointed to the Skye Boat Song which he described as ‘heavy romanticisation of the event, less historical accuracy’. 

READ MORE: Public donate thousands to bring rare House of Stuart paintings 'home' to Scotland

He said: “Currently the goal is to do three things with the compiled music. Firstly to provide a more dispositive list of Jacobite music in order to understand the cultural significance of the songs and the stories they tell and second to provide the actual music with the lyrics. 

“Several such works published in the 1800s included lyrics but no sheet music. I would also like to provide a brief historical introduction to the song.

“Many of the folk songs written before or after the Rising of ’45 require a deep level of cultural and contextual knowledge to understand what is being communicated. 

“Additionally, it is my firm belief that remembered cultural history is often recorded in our folk songs. 

“It would be impossible to understand one’s cultural history without understanding the folk music behind it.”

READ MORE: New event puts visitors centre stage at bloody Battle of Culloden

The Jacobite cause ended with the defeat of Charles Edward Stuart by a British government force on d Drumossie Moor,  near Inverness. It was the last pitched battle fought on British soil.

Mr Simpson’s family can trace its roots back to the Frasers of Lovat, and he has 19th century ancestors who lived in small farming towns and villages in Kincardineshire.

He is due to begin studying at St Andrews University later this year for a Master of Letters Degree in Early Modern European History and has appealed for help from Scottish societies throughout the US and members of the wider Scottish diaspora.

He said:  “If anyone has sheet music, lesser-known Jacobite songs, or histories of Jacobite songs, I would love to collect and record the material.”

Even though he grew up in a predominantly farming community in rural Nebraska, Andrew said his family grew up on the traditional legends of Scotland, adding: including those of Robert the Bruce and William Wallace.

He added: “I developed a love for the bagpipes and started taking lessons in high school; I have been playing for the last eight years.”

The West Highland Museum in Fort William, which houses one of the largest Jacobite collections, has been given almost a quarter of a million pounds in funding to expand. 

Andrew can be reached on a_simpson1@outlook.com.