Glenbuchat Heritage

7 William McHardy and Scott Skinner Fiddler

William McHardy and Scott Skinner

Click to see introduction to Auchernach.

Click to see all the pages referring to Auchernach.

From: www.thecourier.co.uk

“It was shortly after his 1893 return from touring Canada and America that Scott Skinner would meet his second wife, Gertrude Anderson Park and Angus became their romantic bolthole.

“By 1897 they were living together, which in those days must have been unheard of, at Broomwell Cottage,” said Mr Dolan.

“Shortly after his first wife Jane’s death in the Elgin poorhouse in January 1899, Scott Skinner and Gertrude were to be married in a simple ceremony at Broomwell Cottage with just a few close friends present.”

The marriage would last a decade, but Scott Skinner could not fund his wife’s extravagant tastes and she departed for South Africa, with the contents of the cottage being sold.”

In return for his generosity. Skinner wrote three tunes connected to William McHardy. They were

The Laird of Drumblair
The Iron Man
The Bungalow.

Traditional Tune Archive
THE. LAIRD O' DRUMBLAIR STRATHSPEY,

Scottish, Strathspey or Schottische.

The mansion of Drumblair lies in the Parish of Forgue, on the north-western borders of Aberdeenshire in the North West of Scotland. The tune was composed by J. Scott Skinner (1843–1927) for his friend and benefactor William F. McHardy of Drumblair, who gave Skinner use of a rent-free cottage for many years to support his art. In his autobiography (My Life and Adventures, Wallace Music, 1994) Skinner wrote that McHardy, the Laird, was so impressed with the composition that for the remaining 15 years of his life he sent Skinner a thank-you check at Christmas-time. McHardy could apparently well afford to be magnanimous, for he had made a fortune of over 100,000 pounds in South America with engineering enterprises before returning to live at Forgue near Huntly. The tune is considered one of the finest and most famous of Skinner's 600 compositions, and appears in his Harp and Claymore collection. It was one of the tunes included by him later in his career in the romantically entitled 1921 concert set "Warblings From the Hills." Skinner, writing in his autobiography My Life and Adventures (first serialized in The People's Journal, 1923), described his inspiration for the tune: "Suddenly (one night) a tune, 'pat' and complete, flashed into my head in his honour. I jumped out of bed (looking for music manuscript paper])...but a search produced nothing better than a piece of soap paper, and on this I promptly dashed off 'The Laird o' Drumblair.' And the tune was dispatched as it had been written." "Ye're no' gaun tae send that awfy-like paper tae the Laird," protested his wife, "He'll jist licht his pipe wi' it!" It was sent anyway. Skinner also rendered the same melodic motif as a reel called "Angus Campbell."


THE IRON MAN (J. Scott Skinner)
The 'iron man' was William F. McHardy of Drumblair, who made a fortune in engineering enterprises in South America; he was Skinner's friend and benefactor.

THE BUNGALOW.
McHardy made a cottage available to Skinner, rent free, which was the subject of his tune

From: https://holeousia.com/about-me/deeside-tales-the-stories-of-a-small-glen/

"James Scott Skinner felt Bovagli’s spirit in the same way as I did. It is indeed a secret jewel of a place, but with a reaching, embracing, and unabating sadness. I share not a shred of Skinner’s musical talent, but innately, and curiously (and even with a century’s passing) we emote akin. That may sound strange, but like Skinner, I ‘feel’ a place before I understand it. Skinner’s most favourite retreat in Scotland was the wondrous estate of Auchernach in Glen Nochty. Of all the Donside estates the lost grandeur of Auchernach and its overgrown Walled Garden moved me similarly – but these days, as a yearn fashioned from Sleeping-Beauty. Skinner loved the place and his friend Major McLennan wrote a 6/8 time March for the Laird called ‘General Forbes – Rose of Auchernach"