Belle Stewart
Encyclopedia
Belle Stewart became known as a Scottish
traditional singer
.
The general public knew little about Belle Stewart until 2006, when her daughter, Sheila Stewart, wrote the biography Queen Amang the Heather: the Life of Belle Stewart.
Sheila Stewart corrects the frequently cited birthdate 17 July to the 18th.
at Caputh, near Blairgowrie
, into a family of Highland Scottish Travellers
, who lived in bow-tents (similar to dome tents). As a result of their life-style, the whole family received much insult and abuse. Belle's father died when she was only 9 months old. Afraid that social workers might take her children from her, her mother stopped travelling and settled in Perthshire
. The McGregor family tried to teach Belle how to read palms
(fortune telling), but she didn't take to this. The family frequently went to Northern Ireland
to do pearl-fishing
. In the evenings they would gather at ceilidh
s to exchange folk songs.
, a bagpiper, to propose to her. They married in secret on 17 August 1925 at Ballymoney
in Northern Ireland
. As married second cousins, they for a time had fears that this would affect the health of their children, but such fears proved unfounded.
Belle married into a rich heritage. Alex's father Jock Stewart (1869–1954) had become a champion piper, supposedly the subject of the popular Scots and Irish drinking-song "Jock Stewart, A Man You Don't Meet Every Day" recorded by The Dubliners
and The Pogues
among others. Jock's father, "Big Jimmy" Stewart, also a champion piper, allegedly died when beaten to death by a group of Irishmen he met on his way home from busking in the Pitlochry area — because he refused to play a tune they requested. Alex's mother, Nancy Campbell, reputedly had both a grandfather (Andy Campbell) and a grandmother sentenced to death by hanging in the 18th century for the crime of travelling.
For a few months Belle suffered from Bell's palsy
. Alex left her and returned to Ireland. After treatment she made a complete recovery, and Alex returned to her. On 7 July 1935 Bell gave birth to Sheila. Belle also had another daughter, Cathie, and two sons, Andy and John. The family made their living by selling scrap metal
and by pearl fishing.
During the Second World War the authorities conscripted Alex Stewart into the military. His Captain, a "Naken" or Non-Traveller, also came from Blairgowrie
. The Captain was wounded in action and Alex carried him to the Red Cross camp. When the Captain learned who had saved his life, he said that he would have preferred to die rather than to owe his life to a "Tink". Alex and his wife wrote letters in the Traveller cant
known as Beurla-reagaird
. The British Army
postal censors could not understand it, and ordered them to stop.
In 1952 Alex and Belle paid a builder to build them a house.
When the Stewarts of Blairgowrie went to the Sidmouth Festival
(founded in 1955) in Devon they encountered "New Age travellers" for the first time, selling jewellery. Belle Stewart noticed how dirty the New Agers were. They labelled themselves as travellers but Belle replied "No, you're not. We are." The New Age Travellers said "But you're dressed too fine to be travellers." The photographs in Sheila Stewart's book show how much care the Stewarts took with personal appearance. At festivals the whole family would wear tartan
kilts and the pipers among them wore full regalia.
Belle's repertoire of folk tales frequently refer to the supernatural
, including changelings. A collection of her stories appeared in print as "The King o' the Black Art" in 1987. When Alex Stewart died, the Church of Scotland
minister at Blairgowrie
refused to allow a funeral service in his church, because Alex had been a Traveller. A Dundee
minister phoned them and offered them a service in his church.
, a friend of Ewan MacColl
visited. The following week Ewan MacColl visited the Stewart family. Soon the younger members of the family made recordings of ballads in London. A few months later the whole family received invitations to perform at MacColl's "Singers' Club" in London. In March 1954 Hamish Henderson
invited the Traveller family to do a concert in Edinburgh alongside "Auld Galoot" (Davie Stewart), Jeannie Robertson
and Jimmy MacBeath
. Later in 1954 Douglas Kennedy and Peter Kennedy
visited them and made recordings. So began their career performing in folk clubs: there the people treated them with respect, unlike the rest of urban society.
As well as singing the songs she heard from other Travellers, Belle was expected to write a new song for Hogmanay
. Her most famous composition is "The Berry Fields o' Blair".
In 1966 Peter Shepherd and Jimmy Hutchinson started the Blair Folk Festival. Sheila Stewart won the singing competition with "The Twa Brothers". After 1969 the annual festival relocated to Kinross
. Later in the 1960s Alex Stewart made his living in the summer months by playing bagpipes to tourists in Glen Coe
and Oban
. Belle knew all the songs and decided which of the other members of the family could sing which songs. Ian Stewart became a bagpiper like his father. Belle Stewart became a recipient of the British Empire Medal
in 1981. (Her daughter Sheila later received an MBE
.) "The Overgate", a version of the folksong "Seventeen Come Sunday
" has particular associations with the Robertson/ Higgins/ Stewart family of Travellers. Belle recorded it in 1976. In 1965 the family recorded an album called "The Stewarts of Blair", which the Scottish folk scene took to its heart.
In 1975 another Scottish Traveller, Jeannie Robertson
, released an album called The Queen Among the Heather, a compilation of tracks from 1953 onwards. In 1976 Belle Stewart released an album with an almost identical title "Queen Among the Heather". A certain rivalry existed between the two. Alan Lomax
preferred Robertson's singing, and Sheila, semi-apologetically, agrees with him in her biography.
In about 1970 the family spent a month performing in America
. They made several appearances at the Edinburgh Folk Festival
and in folk clubs around the UK. Ewan MacColl featured them in a Radio Ballad. Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger
also compiled a collection of the folklore of Belle and other members of her family, called Till Doomsday in the Afternoon.
After the death of Alex they continued to tour, and appeared at a folk festival in Bologna
in 1980 and at Lake Como in 1980, with Ian taking the place of chief piper.
Belle Stewart died aged 91 in 1997, and hundreds of people attended her funeral. Six RAF
jets flew in formation overhead during the funeral. This happened by coincidence, not as a tribute, but some found it very appropriate.
Anthologies:
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
traditional singer
Traditional singer
A Traditional singer is someone who has learned folk songs in their original context - for example while sailing a ship or working on a farm. Until modern inventions such as the phonograph radio and cinema became common, this was the only way for ordinary people to learn songs.By the time of the...
.
The general public knew little about Belle Stewart until 2006, when her daughter, Sheila Stewart, wrote the biography Queen Amang the Heather: the Life of Belle Stewart.
Sheila Stewart corrects the frequently cited birthdate 17 July to the 18th.
Early years
Belle McGregor was born on the banks of the River TayRiver Tay
The River Tay is the longest river in Scotland and the seventh-longest in the United Kingdom. The Tay originates in western Scotland on the slopes of Ben Lui , then flows easterly across the Highlands, through Loch Dochhart, Loch Lubhair and Loch Tay, then continues east through Strathtay , in...
at Caputh, near Blairgowrie
Blairgowrie and Rattray
Blairgowrie and Rattray and Raitear is possibly from an English language cognate of Gaelic ràth, meaning fortress + a Pictish term cognate with Welsh tref, meaning settlement) is a twin burgh in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Amongst locals, the town is colloquially known simply as "Blair"...
, into a family of Highland Scottish Travellers
Scottish Travellers
Scottish Travellers, or the people termed loosely Gypsies and Tinkers in Scotland, consist of a number of diverse, unrelated communities, with groups speaking a variety of different languages and holding to distinct customs, histories, and traditions...
, who lived in bow-tents (similar to dome tents). As a result of their life-style, the whole family received much insult and abuse. Belle's father died when she was only 9 months old. Afraid that social workers might take her children from her, her mother stopped travelling and settled in Perthshire
Perthshire
Perthshire, officially the County of Perth , is a registration county in central Scotland. It extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south...
. The McGregor family tried to teach Belle how to read palms
Chiromancy
Palmistry or chiromancy , is the art of characterization and foretelling the future through the study of the palm, also known as palm reading, or chirology. The practice is found all over the world, with numerous cultural variations...
(fortune telling), but she didn't take to this. The family frequently went to Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
to do pearl-fishing
Pearl hunting
Pearl hunting or pearl diving refers to a largely obsolete method of retrieving pearls from pearl oysters, freshwater pearl mussels and, on rare occasions, other nacre-producing molluscs, such as abalone.-History:...
. In the evenings they would gather at ceilidh
Céilidh
In modern usage, a céilidh or ceilidh is a traditional Gaelic social gathering, which usually involves playing Gaelic folk music and dancing. It originated in Ireland, but is now common throughout the Irish and Scottish diasporas...
s to exchange folk songs.
Marriage
Belle's version of "If I Was a Blackbird" inspired Alex StewartAlex Stewart
Alex Stewart is a professional boxer, who represented Jamaica at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.-Amateur career:...
, a bagpiper, to propose to her. They married in secret on 17 August 1925 at Ballymoney
Ballymoney
Ballymoney is a small town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 9,021 people in the 2001 Census. It is currently served by Ballymoney Borough Council....
in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. As married second cousins, they for a time had fears that this would affect the health of their children, but such fears proved unfounded.
Belle married into a rich heritage. Alex's father Jock Stewart (1869–1954) had become a champion piper, supposedly the subject of the popular Scots and Irish drinking-song "Jock Stewart, A Man You Don't Meet Every Day" recorded by The Dubliners
The Dubliners
The Dubliners are an Irish folk band founded in 1962.-Formation and history:The Dubliners, initially known as "The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group", formed in 1962 and made a name for themselves playing regularly in O'Donoghue's Pub in Dublin...
and The Pogues
The Pogues
The Pogues are a Celtic punk band, formed in 1982 and fronted by Shane MacGowan. The band reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. MacGowan left the band in 1991 due to drinking problems but the band continued first with Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals before...
among others. Jock's father, "Big Jimmy" Stewart, also a champion piper, allegedly died when beaten to death by a group of Irishmen he met on his way home from busking in the Pitlochry area — because he refused to play a tune they requested. Alex's mother, Nancy Campbell, reputedly had both a grandfather (Andy Campbell) and a grandmother sentenced to death by hanging in the 18th century for the crime of travelling.
For a few months Belle suffered from Bell's palsy
Bell's palsy
Bell's palsy is a form of facial paralysis resulting from a dysfunction of the cranial nerve VII that results in the inability to control facial muscles on the affected side. Several conditions can cause facial paralysis, e.g., brain tumor, stroke, and Lyme disease. However, if no specific cause...
. Alex left her and returned to Ireland. After treatment she made a complete recovery, and Alex returned to her. On 7 July 1935 Bell gave birth to Sheila. Belle also had another daughter, Cathie, and two sons, Andy and John. The family made their living by selling scrap metal
Scrap Metal
Scrap Metal were a band from Broome, Western Australia who played rock music with elements of country and reggae. The members had Aboriginal, Irish, Filipino, French, Chinese, Scottish, Indonesian and Japanese heritage. The band toured nationally as part of the Bran Nue Dae musical and with...
and by pearl fishing.
During the Second World War the authorities conscripted Alex Stewart into the military. His Captain, a "Naken" or Non-Traveller, also came from Blairgowrie
Blairgowrie and Rattray
Blairgowrie and Rattray and Raitear is possibly from an English language cognate of Gaelic ràth, meaning fortress + a Pictish term cognate with Welsh tref, meaning settlement) is a twin burgh in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Amongst locals, the town is colloquially known simply as "Blair"...
. The Captain was wounded in action and Alex carried him to the Red Cross camp. When the Captain learned who had saved his life, he said that he would have preferred to die rather than to owe his life to a "Tink". Alex and his wife wrote letters in the Traveller cant
Cant (language)
A Cant is the jargon or argot of a group, often implying its use to exclude or mislead people outside the group.-Derivation in Celtic linguistics:...
known as Beurla-reagaird
Beurla-reagaird
Beurla Reagaird is a nearly extinct, Gaelic-based cant used by the indigenous Highland Scottish Travellers.-Name:Beurla Reagaird loosely translates as "speech of metalworkers"...
. The British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
postal censors could not understand it, and ordered them to stop.
In 1952 Alex and Belle paid a builder to build them a house.
Cultural milieu
The Scottish Travellers referred to palm-reading as "drookerin" in cant, and labelled a non-traveller as a "naken".When the Stewarts of Blairgowrie went to the Sidmouth Festival
Sidmouth Festival
Sidmouth FolkWeek , is a folk festival held every year in the first week of Augustin the coastal town of Sidmouth in South West England. It offers a range of activities including concerts, ceilidhs, pub sessions, workshops, dance displays, and children's activities...
(founded in 1955) in Devon they encountered "New Age travellers" for the first time, selling jewellery. Belle Stewart noticed how dirty the New Agers were. They labelled themselves as travellers but Belle replied "No, you're not. We are." The New Age Travellers said "But you're dressed too fine to be travellers." The photographs in Sheila Stewart's book show how much care the Stewarts took with personal appearance. At festivals the whole family would wear tartan
Tartan
Tartan is a pattern consisting of criss-crossed horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours. Tartans originated in woven wool, but now they are made in many other materials. Tartan is particularly associated with Scotland. Scottish kilts almost always have tartan patterns...
kilts and the pipers among them wore full regalia.
Belle's repertoire of folk tales frequently refer to the supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
, including changelings. A collection of her stories appeared in print as "The King o' the Black Art" in 1987. When Alex Stewart died, the Church of Scotland
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
minister at Blairgowrie
Blairgowrie and Rattray
Blairgowrie and Rattray and Raitear is possibly from an English language cognate of Gaelic ràth, meaning fortress + a Pictish term cognate with Welsh tref, meaning settlement) is a twin burgh in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Amongst locals, the town is colloquially known simply as "Blair"...
refused to allow a funeral service in his church, because Alex had been a Traveller. A Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
minister phoned them and offered them a service in his church.
Celebrity
While John Stewart worked on a building site in HatfieldHatfield
- Places :Hatfield is the name of several places around the world. It comes from O.E. Haeth field , meaning field of heather.In Australia*Hatfield, New South Wales, located in the Electoral district of Murray-DarlingIn England:...
, a friend of Ewan MacColl
Ewan MacColl
Ewan MacColl was an English folk singer, songwriter, socialist, actor, poet, playwright, and record producer. He was married to theatre director Joan Littlewood, and later to American folksinger Peggy Seeger. He collaborated with Littlewood in the theatre and with Seeger in folk music...
visited. The following week Ewan MacColl visited the Stewart family. Soon the younger members of the family made recordings of ballads in London. A few months later the whole family received invitations to perform at MacColl's "Singers' Club" in London. In March 1954 Hamish Henderson
Hamish Henderson
Hamish Scott Henderson, was a Scottish poet, songwriter, soldier, and intellectual....
invited the Traveller family to do a concert in Edinburgh alongside "Auld Galoot" (Davie Stewart), Jeannie Robertson
Jeannie Robertson
Jeannie Robertson was a Scottish folk singer.-Hamish Henderson and Alan Lomax:It is not known where Jeannie Robertson was born but she did live at 90, Hilton Street in Aberdeen, where a plaque now commemorates her. Like many of the Scottish Travellers from Aberdeen, Glasgow and Ayrshire, she went...
and Jimmy MacBeath
Jimmy MacBeath
Jimmy MacBeath was an itinerant worker and singer of Bothy Ballads from the north east of Scotland. He was a source of traditional songs for singers of the mid 20th century Folk Revival in Great Britain.-Life:...
. Later in 1954 Douglas Kennedy and Peter Kennedy
Peter Douglas Kennedy
Peter Douglas Kennedy was an English collector of folk songs in the 1950s. Peter's father, Douglas, was EFDSS director after Cecil Sharp....
visited them and made recordings. So began their career performing in folk clubs: there the people treated them with respect, unlike the rest of urban society.
As well as singing the songs she heard from other Travellers, Belle was expected to write a new song for Hogmanay
Hogmanay
Hogmanay is the Scots word for the last day of the year and is synonymous with the celebration of the New Year in the Scottish manner...
. Her most famous composition is "The Berry Fields o' Blair".
In 1966 Peter Shepherd and Jimmy Hutchinson started the Blair Folk Festival. Sheila Stewart won the singing competition with "The Twa Brothers". After 1969 the annual festival relocated to Kinross
Kinross
Kinross is a burgh in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It was formerly the county town of Kinross-shire.Kinross is a fairly small town, with some attractive buildings...
. Later in the 1960s Alex Stewart made his living in the summer months by playing bagpipes to tourists in Glen Coe
Glen Coe
Glen Coe is a glen in the Highlands of Scotland. It lies in the southern part of the Lochaber committee area of Highland Council, and was formerly part of the county of Argyll. It is often considered one of the most spectacular and beautiful places in Scotland, and is a part of the designated...
and Oban
Oban
Oban Oban Oban ( is a resort town within the Argyll and Bute council area of Scotland. It has a total resident population of 8,120. Despite its small size, it is the largest town between Helensburgh and Fort William and during the tourist season the town can be crowded by up to 25,000 people. Oban...
. Belle knew all the songs and decided which of the other members of the family could sing which songs. Ian Stewart became a bagpiper like his father. Belle Stewart became a recipient of the British Empire Medal
British Empire Medal
The Medal of the Order of the British Empire for Meritorious Service, usually known as the British Empire Medal , is a British medal awarded for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Crown...
in 1981. (Her daughter Sheila later received an MBE
MBE
MBE can stand for:* Mail Boxes Etc.* Management by exception* Master of Bioethics* Master of Bioscience Enterprise* Master of Business Engineering* Master of Business Economics* Mean Biased Error...
.) "The Overgate", a version of the folksong "Seventeen Come Sunday
Seventeen Come Sunday
"Seventeen Come Sunday" is an English folk song which was used in the first movement of Ralph Vaughan Williams' English Folk Song Suite and a choral version by Percy Grainger . The words were first published between 1838 and 1845 .-Lyrics:...
" has particular associations with the Robertson/ Higgins/ Stewart family of Travellers. Belle recorded it in 1976. In 1965 the family recorded an album called "The Stewarts of Blair", which the Scottish folk scene took to its heart.
In 1975 another Scottish Traveller, Jeannie Robertson
Jeannie Robertson
Jeannie Robertson was a Scottish folk singer.-Hamish Henderson and Alan Lomax:It is not known where Jeannie Robertson was born but she did live at 90, Hilton Street in Aberdeen, where a plaque now commemorates her. Like many of the Scottish Travellers from Aberdeen, Glasgow and Ayrshire, she went...
, released an album called The Queen Among the Heather, a compilation of tracks from 1953 onwards. In 1976 Belle Stewart released an album with an almost identical title "Queen Among the Heather". A certain rivalry existed between the two. Alan Lomax
Alan Lomax
Alan Lomax was an American folklorist and ethnomusicologist. He was one of the great field collectors of folk music of the 20th century, recording thousands of songs in the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, the Caribbean, Italy, and Spain.In his later career, Lomax advanced his theories of...
preferred Robertson's singing, and Sheila, semi-apologetically, agrees with him in her biography.
In about 1970 the family spent a month performing in America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. They made several appearances at the Edinburgh Folk Festival
Edinburgh Folk Festival
The Edinburgh Folk Festival has had a shadowy existence since about 1951. Hamish Henderson was instrumental in creating the first "People's Festival" in 1951, with funding from the British Council, The Communist Party and the Scottish TUC, this was revived in 2002 by the Scottish Socialist Party...
and in folk clubs around the UK. Ewan MacColl featured them in a Radio Ballad. Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger
Peggy Seeger
Margaret "Peggy" Seeger is an American folksinger. She is also well known in Britain, where she lived for more than 30 years with her husband, singer and songwriter Ewan MacColl.- The first American period :...
also compiled a collection of the folklore of Belle and other members of her family, called Till Doomsday in the Afternoon.
After the death of Alex they continued to tour, and appeared at a folk festival in Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
in 1980 and at Lake Como in 1980, with Ian taking the place of chief piper.
Belle Stewart died aged 91 in 1997, and hundreds of people attended her funeral. Six RAF
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
jets flew in formation overhead during the funeral. This happened by coincidence, not as a tribute, but some found it very appropriate.
Discography
- "The Stewarts of Blair" (1965) Topic 12T138
- "The Travelling Stewarts" (1968) Topic 12T179
- "Queen Among the Heather" (1977) Topic 12TS307
- "The Stewarts of Blair" (1986) Lismor LFLP 7010
Anthologies:
- "Back o' Benachie - Songs and Ballads from the Lowland East of Scotland" (1967) Topic 12T180
- "Festival at Blairgowrie" (recorded 1967) Topic 12T181
- "The Voice of the PeopleThe Voice of the PeopleThe Voice of the People is an anthology of folk songs sung by Traditional singers and musicians of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.There are 511 recordings on 20 CDs, compiled by Dr Reg Hall, a historian at Sussex University...
Volume 20 - There is a Man Upon the Farm" (two songs - "The Overgate" and "The Berry Fields o' Blair")