Does anyone know the history of this lovely tune? I just learned it and, well, you know me…I’m mind hungry 
. I figured since it’s apparently a relatively recent composition with a known author, someone here might be able to tell me a little about it.
Redwolf
Here’s a bit, on the history of Hector rather than of the tune specifically…
http://users.argonet.co.uk/users/paw/tunes/hector.htm
http://pw1.netcom.com/~reincke/homepage.html
Thanks! That’s the sort of thing I was looking for. I found a bit of info on Skinner too (biographical stuff) that fleshed it out for me a bit as well.
Redwolf
I’ll have to read those books again this summer.
Funny, I had just the same question… I just learned it as well and it is absolutely lovely (can’t get it out of my head either). Since I am more adept at the guitar than at the whistle (but I’m hoping this is only temporary), I am working out a guitar accompaniment. Every August I get together with my brother-in-law who is a fiddler and I figure it would be a great tune for fiddle and guitar as well. And maybe I can grow another pair of arms, so I can play the whistle too!!!
I asked this question here a long time ago - maybe you’ll find some more interesting stuff with the posts people left for me…
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=4994&highlight=hector+hero
Have a good one,
Joey
Don’t ask, don’t tell.
Supposedly, there is some letter or letters concerning Hector Mcdonald that were supposed to have been opened last month…apparently a rule expires then about disclosing military documents.
Anyone know what they documents contained?
K
A ROSS-SHIRE JOURNAL EXCLUSIVE
A SEALED envelope which lies in the strongroom of a Dingwall law firm may reveal the truth behind the circumstances which led to the downfall of the Highlands’ most honoured hero.
Major General Sir Hector Macdonald KCB, DSO, ADC, LLD, or Black Isle born “fighting Mac” as he was known, shot himself in a Paris hotel in 1903, days before he was due to face court martial in Ceylon for homosexuality.
Whether Sir Hector had indulged in homosexual practices – or whether the charges were part of a plot by the military establishment which had become jealous of a humble crofter’s son rising to such prominence – has been the subject of debate for almost a century.
Now, however, the existence of two documents have come to light which could uncover the real truth. One is a letter written from Sri Lanka and the other is a document by the late Dr Kenneth Macleod from Ullapool, who carried out extensive research into Sir Hector’s life and career.
But in a further twist to the mystery Dr Macleod, who died three months ago in Massachusetts, has directed that the envelope containing his document must not be opened until March 2003.
The date coincides with the expiry of the 100-year rule which forbids publication of such military archives held by the old India Office in London.
The Ross-shire Journal on Friday, Sept. 11, 1998
Dr Macleod also feared his new evidence could still be perceived as damaging to the reputation of one of Sri Lanka’s most prominent and highly-respected families.
Saunders Burns, a now retired partner in the legal firm T S H Burns, confirmed that the firm did retain the letter.
Mr Burns said, “We will honour Dr Macleod’s request to retain his document until his family make their wishes known.”
The firm’s Park Street office sits at the bottom of the hill on which a 100ft memorial was erected in1907 in memory of Ross-shire’s famous son.
John Vass, who has also researched the Sir Hector riddle and was in contact with Dr Macleod, said, “To the last, Dr Macleod was cautious about the contents of the letter. All he would disclose to me about it was that he considered it very likely that certain interests in the Colonial Legislature in Sri Lanka bribed witnesses to incriminate Macdonald.”
Dr Macleod first took an interest in the Sir Hector tragedy as a GP in Ross-shire during the war. When he emigrated to America with his family, where he was latterly as a leading public health specialist, he continued his research into the allegations of plots to destroy Sir. Hector.
A spokesman for Dingwall Museum Trust, which is currently staging an exhibition about Sir Hector, said, “I have heard of this letter’s existence but I don’t know what it contains. Needless to say, we are all waiting with bated breath to see what is revealed in 2003.”
Courtesy of: Ross-Shire Journal, Dingwall.
homosexual practices
I find it odd how with the term homosexual, the emphasis is put on the sexual part, but with heterosexual, the emphasis is on the hetero part. Or mabey I’m the only person who notices that. And just what ‘homosexual act’ was he accused of? Well, I guess we don’t know. But we do all know that all homosexuals ONLY have sex, of course. They do nothing else. Ever.
Of course… Abd maybe heterosexuals are so hung up about it because they don’t have enough!..
