Monck's March is an old tune now associated with morris dancing. General
Monck was a parliamentarian in the civil war largely involved in
actions in Scotland. After the death of Oliver Cromwell and his
replacement by Thomas Cromwell the Commonwealth started to collapse.
Monck changed allegiances and and marched his regiment south from
Coldstream in 1660 to restore the monarchy. His regiment later became
the Coldstream Guards. How soon after these events the tune
commemorating his march was written I don't know. Another tune called
Lord Monck's March was in the 1657 edition of Playford and predated the
famous march south so was probably simply named for him.
I think the connections between the morris tune Monck's March and
Proudlock's Hornpipe are pretty clear. Some years ago I played an
adaptation of Proudlock's on the half-longs in the Society competitions
and have to say that when I made the arrangement I referred back to the
morris tune (published in the key of A in the Morris Ring Handbook) as a
starting point.
Ian
[email protected] wrote:
Morning - there are some Proudlocks in my village doing some family
research and they've been aware of the tune for some time. I said I'd
see what I could find ...
Does anyone have any history, apocryphillia or references for the
tune? Here's what I have so far...
- The earliest printed reference I know of is the First NPS tunebook.
- TOPIC have it played by Billy Ballentine on piccolo (1954 I think)
- Various sources cross-reference it to the much older Monk's March.
I can see the similarity but it's distinct. I'm also unaware of any
reference to the Monk's March in older NSP related manuscripts
- Often (mis)attributed to James Hill - Proudlock's Fancy is a
different tune
- Peter Kennedy recorded Jack Armstrong playing it in the 50s or 60s
where it was listed as "Lewis Proudlock's Hornpipe". There's one
compilation CD ("Bagpipes of Britain & Ireland" CD-SDL416) where the
unattributed sleeve notes say:
'"Lewie" was a famous local fiddler and fisherman who composed many
tunes. He had no fixed job and moved around the county. His
grand-daughter used to play with Jack.'
If 'Lewie' wrote it then that would date it somewhere in the 70 years
preceding the recording... I've never come across any of the "many
tunes" he composed. The only Lewis Proudlock I could find in this
period was born in Swinden (sic). He's listed in the 1851 census as
being 12 yrs old.
- There was another Lewis Proudlock who was a Coquetdale Poet but he
was a bit earlier (d.1816)
cheers
Rob
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