1 The author wishes to record her thanks to the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama for granting her study leave in summer 2002, in which to commence the research resulting in this article. Thanks also go to the many individuals who have assisted in their professional or personal capacities in gathering the information required during the course of this research.Google Scholar

2 A brief history of the Whatman paper mill is outlined at http://www.princetonaudubon.com/about_the_watermark.htm, the website of the New Jersey printing firm, Princeton Audubon. Illustrations of the watermarks themselves are provided on the website of the British Association of Paper Historians, at http://www.baph.org.uk/imagepages/watermarks/whatman.html.Google Scholar

3 Alexander Simson and Elisabeth Carse married 18 June 1795 in Dundee, Angus. Their children were Mary (born 1796), Elisabeth (1798), Alexander (1801), William (1803), James (1806) and Thomas (1808); International Genealogical Index, British Isles: Dundee, Angus, Scotland <www.familysearch.org> (henceforth IGI).+(henceforth+IGI).>Google Scholar

4 See Charles Humphries and William C. Smith, Music Publishing in the British Isles, from the Beginning until the Middle of the Nineteenth Century: a Dictionary of Engravers, Printers, Publishers and Music Sellers, with a Historical Introduction (2nd edn with supplement, Oxford, 1970), 292–3. All these London Simpsons were music publishers/engravers and flute makers, as also were a James Simpson jnr. (fl. 1799, Sweeting's Alley), and a J.C. Simpson of Sweeting's Alley, Royal Exchange (fl. 1796, possibly the same as James Simpson jnr. See also John A. Parkinson, Victorian Music Publishers (Michigan, 1990), 252–3.Google Scholar

5 There were two or three individuals named Alexander Simson/Simpson who were born in the vicinity of Dundee at around the right time.Google Scholar

6 IGI: Pell Street Independent, Stepney, London, England.Google Scholar

7 Taxation records for 1819/20: Dundee City Archives ACC1/10/1B (2 August, Suburbs N & E Division). Entry 279: ‘Robt. Simpson, Shipmaster, Blackscroft’; entry 281: ‘James Simpson, Grocer, Blackscroft’. Taxation records for 1821/22: Dundee City Archives ACC1/10/6 (26 August, Dundee Subs. N & E Division). Entry number 275: ‘James Simpson, Grocer, Blackscroft’. Blackscroft is a street that was then on the outskirts of Dundee.Google Scholar

8 Census records. Dalfield Walk is covered by three districts, Districts 70–72.Google Scholar

9 Perhaps it is no coincidence that a catch in MS 2 entitled Would you know my cellar's charms? has in MS 3 become Would you know Cecilia's charms?!.Google Scholar

10 Dundee City Archives records CH2 /1218 / 91 and 92.Google Scholar

11 IGI: Dundee, Angus, Scotland.Google Scholar

12 National Archives of Scotland SC45/31/24 pp. 369–72, 26 April 1873, Inventory of the Personal Estate of Umquhile James Simpson. Died 1 December 1872. The final listing of James Simpson at 97 Overgate appears in The Post Office Dundee Directory, including Lochee, Broughty Ferry, Newport, and the Rural District in the Vicinity of Dundee, for 1869–70 (Dundee, 1869).Google Scholar

13 Perth and Kinross Council Archive MS 100/790.Google Scholar

14 Bell Street Hall, 1 January 1857: ‘Grand festival and concert on New Year's night’ (Dundee Central Library, Lamb Collection of Nineteenth-Century Ephemera: Lamb 434 (30) Handbill). Corn Exchange Hall, Bank Street, 1 January 1859: ‘Grand festival and concert … on New-Year's night’ (Dundee Central Library, Lamb 434 (33) Poster). In each case, ‘Tickets and programmes to be had of Mr Methven … 104 Nethergate’ (Alexander Simpson's employer). Items described online in the Wighton Database, 19th Century Musical Events in Dundee <http://www.wighton.sol.co.uk/dundee_keyw.cfm>. ¹⁵ Perth Archives Ref. Code GB 252 MS 100/12 (MS 100, Part 2).. 15 Perth Archives Ref. Code GB 252 MS 100/12 (MS 100, Part 2).' href=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Bell+Street+Hall,+1+January+1857:+‘Grand+festival+and+concert+on+New+Year's+night’+(Dundee+Central+Library,+Lamb+Collection+of+Nineteenth-Century+Ephemera:+Lamb+434+(30)+Handbill).+Corn+Exchange+Hall,+Bank+Street,+1+January+1859:+‘Grand+festival+and+concert+…+on+New-Year's+night’+(Dundee+Central+Library,+Lamb+434+(33)+Poster).+In+each+case,+‘Tickets+and+programmes+to+be+had+of+Mr+Methven+…+104+Nethergate’+(Alexander+Simpson's+employer).+Items+described+online+in+the+Wighton+Database,+19th+Century+Musical+Events+in+Dundee+.+15+Perth+Archives+Ref.+Code+GB+252+MS+100/12+(MS+100,+Part+2).>Google Scholar

16 Census for Dundee: 1871/282–2/7A, p. 51 (Ecclesiastical District of St. David).Google Scholar

17 Dundee City Archives 1871 / 72 valuation roll: ACC7/1 /17.Google Scholar

18 Elliot, A., Lochee: As it was and as it is (Dundee, 1911), 136.Google Scholar

19 Myrekirk is still a private residence today, albeit structurally altered. Thanks are due to the present owner, Wilson Walker, for kindly allowing access to the property deeds and to the property itself.Google Scholar

20 See The Post Office Dundee Directory, including Lochee, Broughty Ferry, and Newport, for 1867–68 (Dundee, 1867); also The Post Office Dundee Directory, including Lochee, Broughty Ferry, Newport, and the Rural District in the vicinity of Dundee, for 1869–70 (Dundee, 1869).Google Scholar

21 See note 12 above.Google Scholar

22 ‘James Simpson, Collector of accounts, died 1/12/1872, 6 Shore Terrace Dundee, of paralysis. Both parents dead. Informant: son, Alexander Simpson. Son & occupier present.‘ James Simpson's wife is given as Cecilia Elder, and his parents were Alexander Simpson and Elizabeth Carse. Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages, Dundee, ref. 1872/District of St. Clement/Entry 568.Google Scholar

23 Disappointingly, no mention is made of music or musical instruments.Google Scholar

24 Dundee City Archive 1871/72 valuation roll, ref. ACC7/1/17. James Simpson is shown as the proprietor of the dwelling house and two cottages at Myrekirk, but is not shown as occupying any of these properties; Dundee City Archive 1875/76 valuation roll ref. ACC7/1/21. Entry no. 740: ‘Description of Subject: Myrekirk, Cottage. Proprietor: Heirs of James Simpson. Occupier and tenant: Mrs James Simpson’; entry no. 741: ‘Description of Subject: Myrekirk Cottage. Proprietor: Heirs of James Simpson. Occupier and Tenant: David Archibald, paper maker’; entry no. 742: Description of Subject: Myrekirk, Land. Proprietor: Heirs of James Simpson. Occupier and Tenant: 1 Tenant under £4'.Google Scholar

25 The Post-Office Dundee Directory, including Lochee and Broughty Ferry, for 1861–62 (Dundee, 1861). In the entry for Alexander Simpson, ‘of Methven & Co.‘ is used to distinguish him from an older man of the same name: a bookseller, who worked in the vicinity but who seems not to have been related. In the 1861 census the bookseller was 38 years of age (when our Alexander Simpson was only 25), whilst James Simpson's brother Alexander would by then have been 60. The bookseller did, however, sell tickets for concerts sponsored by Methven.Google Scholar

26 IGI, Dundee, Angus.Google Scholar

27 A year later the firm was re-named Methven-Simpson; See Millar, A.H., Glimpses of Old and New Dundee (Dundee 1925), 112–13.Google Scholar

28 ‘Early in his career, Mr Simpson became a promoter of high-class concerts and other entertainments’; press-cutting, Thursday 21 February 1918 (probably from the Dundee Advertiser) in Dundee Obituary Book No. 2, January 1918–February 1935, Dundee Local History Library.Google Scholar

29 Trade directories for 1867–70; see note 20.Google Scholar

30 Alexander and Isabella Simpson were living at 6 Shore Terrace, Dundee in 1871; 1871 Census for Dundee: 1871 / 282–3 / 1, p. 9 (Ecclesiastical District of St. David).Google Scholar

31 The Dundee Directory 1876–77, including Lochee, Broughty Ferry, Newport, Tayport, and the Rural District in the Vicinity of Dundee (Dundee, 1876).Google Scholar

32 The last entry for Methven Simpson at 22 Reform Street, Dundee, appears in The Dundee Directory 1971, including Monifieth, Carnoustie, Newport-on-Tay, Tayport and Rural District in the Vicinity of Dundee (Dundee, 1971).Google Scholar

33 See The Dundee Register and Directory … for 1824–5 (Dundee, 1824) in which John Angus is listed; The Post Office Dundee Directory for 1846–47 (Dundee, [1846]) in which James Angus is listed; The Dundee Directory for 1850 (Dundee, [1850]) in which James and John Angus are both listed; The Dundee Directory for 1853–4 (Dundee, 1853) listing John Angus; and The Post Office Dundee Directory … for 1858–59 (Dundee, 1858) listing James Angus.Google Scholar

34 Interestingly, the Sacred Harmonist … for the Use of the Congregation of the East Church Dundee, by Members of the Choir (Glasgow, 1841) contains two further tunes by J. Angus: no. 36, Malta, and no. 71, Siloam, both new tunes. The preface of this work notes that ‘several additional tunes have been inserted, which were kindly suggested to the editors … by the conductors of the psalmody in several of the other congregations in town. So that their extended list … now comprises all the tunes sung in at least four of the principal churches in Dundee, besides all those … generally popular throughout the country … and several original pieces, the composition of the editors and several of their friends’.Google Scholar

35 James Angus was christened on 31 March 1816; IGI Dundee, Angus.Google Scholar

36 Jacob Wragg, Wragg's Improved Flute Preceptor … Op. 6 (London, [1806]).Google Scholar

37 This project, directed by John Adams, is described as ‘a study of English social musicians from the seventeenth century onwards from their manuscripts’; http://www.village-music-project.org.uk/.Google Scholar

38 The Victorian diarist Elizabeth Grant (of Rothiemurcus) refers to a particularly spectacular comet in 1811; Elizabeth Grant, Memoirs of a Highland Lady, ed. Andrew Tod (Edinburgh, 1992), 193.Google Scholar

39 Wragg's Improved Flute Preceptor Op. 6 (London, [1806]) shares much repertoire with Wragg's earlier Flute Preceptor Op. 3 (3rd edn, London, [c.1805]) but has some additional material added. James Simpson's manuscripts do contain a few pieces not in the earlier Op. 3.Google Scholar

40 Lucy Neal appears, ascribed to James Sanford, in Musical Bouquet (London, 1844), no. 82; see Public Domain Music website for 1800s: http://www.pdmusic.org/1800s/441n.txt. Mary Blane appears in two sources listed on the University of Minnesota library website: Collection of Eighty Street Ballads on Forty Sheets, University of Minnesota Libraries, WILSON Rare Books Quarto 820.1 C683.), dated post-1830; and described in the catalogue entry as being included in Whitlock's Collection of Ethiopian Melodies (New York, 1846); http://mh.cla.umn.edu/MaryBlane.html. Earlier sources could yet come to light.Google Scholar

41 William McGibbon, A Collection of Scots tunes for the Violin or German Flute and a Bass for the Violoncello or Harpsichord by William McGibbon, with some Additions by R. Bremner (London, 1762), Bk 1, p. 16.Google Scholar

42 William Felton (1715–69) was a clergyman, composer, organist and harpsichordist; his music often appeared in domestic anthologies of the eighteenth century.Google Scholar

43 According to James D Brown and Stephen S. Stratton, British Musical Biography (London, 1897), 191, the composer George Hayden was organist of St Mary Magdalen in Bermondsey in the first half of the eighteenth century; it cannot be confirmed that he composed the Grand March (Simpson MS 1, item 44).Google Scholar

44 Ordinarily, the staves are 8 mm high, whilst those on the loose sheet are only 7 mm high. The text of the hymn Babylon's fall on the other side of the loose sheet is written in a very small, neat, sloping hand, quite narrow in width, and the script of the title has serifs. The Bellini item only has the title and attribution by way of text and, although the title is in a sloping hand, the attribution is more like the other script in the manuscript. The notation of the Bellini is in a freer hand compared either to the psalm tunes on either side, or the small, ultra-precise hand of Babylon's fall, whose vertical lines might even have been ruled.Google Scholar

45 Websites were current at the time of compilation and were checked on 23 April 2005.Google Scholar

46 See The Sacred Harmonist … for the use of the Congregation of the Last Church Dundee, by Members of the Choir (Glasgow, 1841), p. xiii: “The first treble or air, which is written in the second lowest stave, is to be sung by treble voices; that is those of women or boys. The counter, or second treble, or alto, by the highest, or falsetto voices of men, or by the low voices of women or boys (in which case the music is to be sung as if written an octave lower). The tenor by the middle voices of men. The bass by the lowest voices of men.’ Similarly, in the English New Harmonic Magazine or Compendious Repository of Sacred Music in full Score by John Beaumont (London, 1801), the composer writes ‘the melody or principal air of the tune is always next to the bass part, in all my music, for the advantage of keyboard instruments'.Google Scholar

1 Instrumental pieces are scored for treble instruments unless indicated to the contrary. Where flutes are specified or implied (as in items from Wragg FP or Wragg IFP), this is indicated.Google Scholar

2 Elizabeth Grant, Memoirs of a Highland Lady, ed. Andrew Tod (Edinburgh, 1992), 214.Google Scholar

3 Both popular instruments in the nineteenth century, as evidenced by books published in London by John Simpson, Journal for the Concertina (1855) and The Minstrel, a Selection of the Most Admired National Airs … Marked for Simpson's Improv'd Patent Double Flageolet, also for the Single Flageolet, Flute or Violin (n.d.); British Library h.2465 and a.270 respectively.Google Scholar

4 Not intended as a research database: the database is dependent on the oral tradition and does not list sources.Google Scholar