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Description: | Although never heard nowadays, it is difficult to overstate the former popularity of this tune, found in many 18th and 19th century sources with the kind of small differences which indicate wide currency rather than repeated copying. It is thought that the tune is named after Edward (Ned) Shuter (1728-76), a renowned comic actor, but Vickers, as well as providing a good version, is apparently unique in recording the tune's composer, the mysterious Morgan. This is a rare case of attribution to a named composer in Vickers' book, and is the first of four hornpipes credited to Mr Morgan. It begs the question, was he a local fiddler, perhaps even known to Vickers, as none of the other tunes is known elsewhere, Shuter's evidently being his greatest hit.The tune forms part of the The William Vickers' manuscript, dated 1770. The Index to the manuscript shows that part of the book is now missing, but the very substantial surviving part contains 580 tunes, or 'Country Dances' as the author calls them. It is not easy to pinpoint Vickers's location as his name is not uncommon, but he may be the William Vickers who shows up in genealogical records as an 'Officer of Exise' [sic] in Newcastle. It is fairly safe to assume that the collection was made in North East England because although it contains a lot of Scottish and English tunes it has local material which is not found in other sources. ; 18th century tune book compiled by William Vickers | Rights holder: | rights holder : Society of Antiquaries | Temporal: | start=1761;end=1800; | Source: | Folk Archive Resource North East | Identifier: | farne:R0310304 | Go to resource |
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