MacCallum's Lament
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1952.29.A1
Original Tape ID
Summary
MacCallum was a poacher on Speyside. He was summoned to court and vowed that if Constable King came to arrest him he would swing for him. A warrant was granted and Constable King was to carry it out. His wife had a dream in which she saw MacCallum kill her husband as they crossed the Spey in a boat. She tells him of the dream and begs him not to cross the Spey with MacCallum. He gathers his family, reads a passage from the Bible to them and leaves with Constable McNiven. They search the forests for several hours then come back to MacCallum's house and enter. MacCallum fires and Constable King is killed.
Jimmy MacBeath got a pencil text of the song from Alec Mathieson at Foggieloan (Aberchirder) in 1925. He says MacCallum the poacher tried to shoot McNiven. In the struggle all three guns went off and McNiven ran off to the home of farmer Bell. It was said that Constable McNiven shot King because he wanted to marry Mrs King.
Item Notes
The title and words of 'MacCallum's Lament' is plagiarised from a poem by PC Matthew Anderson which he composed in 1899, entitled 'Verses on the Murder of Constable King, near Nethy Bridge on 20th December 1898'. Jimmy McBeath's account of the events are not supported by the evidence of the time, as supplied by eyewitnesses in newspaper reports and subsequently presented as evidence at the trial in February 1899.
Text and music transcribed in School of Scottish Studies and published in 'Tocher'. 52 verses.
The tune is a varient of 'The Hills of Glenorchy'.
See:
Greig-Duncan vol. 2, p. 246
Item Subject/Person
MacCallum, Allan
Item Location
County - Inverness-shire
Parish - Abernethy
Village/Place - Nethy Bridge
Language
Scots
Genre
Collection
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Good