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(Below: William Marshall by John Moir. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery)
William Marshall (1748-1833) was born in the village of
Fochabers in Moray and is one of Scotland's most famous fiddle composers. The
son of Francis Marshall and Isabel Marshall (née Innes), he entered the
service of the Duke of Gordon at about the age of twelve, and was later
appointed butler and house-steward at Gordon Castle, a position that he held
for thirty years. At the age of twenty-five, Marshall married Jane Giles, and
the couple had five sons and one daughter (Marshall,
1845:1). A man of high intelligence, his interests included the study of
mechanics, astronomy and architecture. He was renowned as a clock maker, and
three of his clocks are known to survive (Cowie,
1999:89-91). Joseph MacGregor, an accountant who also wrote memoirs of the
Perthshire fiddler Niel Gow and of his son Nathaniel (Alburger, 1996:136), gives an indication of
Marshall's interests and character in the introduction to the 1845 collection
(Marshall, 1845) where a lengthy biography of
Marshall appears:
He was a capital dancer, and exhibited great lightness and agility in that amusement when he was eighty years old; he wrote a beautiful hand, and was correct in his style of writing. He was skilled in falconry, and some sixty years ago trained some fine hawks for the then Duke of Gordon; and the splendid trial-flights of these birds are well remembered by many of his friends and relations. He was an excellent shot, and an expert rod-fisher, dressing his trout-flies with great neatness and exactness of imitation. He joined in trials of strength; and, in throwing the hammer, excelled all the athletic countrymen with whom he contended. For his triumphs in this manly exercise he was more indebted to his science than his physical power, although that was considerable. In a running-leap on level ground, or in clearing a height, few, if any, in the country could match him. His fleetness in the foot-race was so great, that he was largely backed against a celebrated runner. He was in a fair way of outstripping his practised opponent, when he stumbled, and was thus left with only the consciousness that he possessed the skill and fleetness necessary for victory, to console him under the disappointment of accidental defeat. (Marshall, 1845:2)
Marshall also excelled in music, although he had no formal training in it (Marshall, 1845:1). He was a prolific composer of fiddle tunes (see Marshall's publications), and was well-known as a fiddle player (see Two anecdotes).
In 1790, Marshall left Gordon Castle and then rented a small farm near Fochabers for a few months. He subsequently moved to a bigger farm called Keithmore, which is close to Dufftown and lies near the River Fiddich. Whilst at Keithmore, Marshall became factor to the Duke of Gordon, with the responsibility of overseeing estates in Banff and Aberdeenshire, and he continued in this post until 1817 (Marshall, 1845:2) Around 1822 at the age of 74, Marshall left Keithmore and retired to Newfield Cottage near Craigellachie Bridge. He died there in 1833, and is buried in Bellie Churchyard which is situated about two miles from Fochabers.
Find out more about William Marshall: Publications - Two anecdotes
About the author - Acknowledgements - Bibliography - Celtic and Scottish Studies homepage - Conclusion - Fochabers homepage - Homepage
Published by the Department of Celtic and Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh
© University of Edinburgh 2001
Last modified Wednesday, 26-Aug-2009 13:32:26 BST by Katherine Campbell