Dance Struan Robertson's Reel 6362

Once Robertson land ringed round and about the sharp-pointed cone of Schiehallion in western Perthshire. In time, however, the focal point of Clan Donnachaidh became Struan, about five miles west of Blair Atholl, near the junction of the Rivers Garry and Errachty, with the main seat of the chief at Dunalasdair on the River Tummel. From Struan the clan lands stretched out fan-shaped from the south shore of Loch Rannoch north toward Badenoch and east to Glenshee.

The Robertsons descended from the Celtic Earls of Atholl. Donnachadh Reamhar, the “Stout Duncan” who led his clan at the battle of Bannockburn, had two sons, Robert of Struan, 2nd Chief, and Patrick of Lude, head of the senior cadet branch. In 1437 Robert Riabach, 4th Chief, captured Sir Robert Graham, one of the murderers of James I, and in 1451 “Grizzled Robert” was rewarded by James II with the Barony of Struan. (See “The Perth Medley”)

Alexander, 13th Chief, the Struan Robertson of this dance and its tune, was an interesting man. Called the “Elector of Struan”, he was a poet, a fanatic Jacobite, a former seminarian and a misogynist. The contrasts were like flashes of lightning in the night sky.

Struan was a poet and a sampling of his verse gives an insight into his character.

To a friend who was going to sea he wrote:

I, who am sore oppress’d with love,
Must like the lonely turtle dove,
To hills and shady groves repair,
To vent my grief and sorrow there;
Must now, alas! resolve to part
At once with you and with my heart;
For do you think my heart can stay
Behind, when you are gone away.

No, no, my dear, whene’er we part,
Take with you my bleeding heart;
But use it kindly, for you know
How much it lov’d you long ago:
You know to what a great degree,
Sighing for you, it wasted me.
When one sweet kiss could well repay
My pains and troubles all the day.

In another song he addressed his “Lov’d Celestia”.

My lov’d Celestia is so fair,
  So charming in each part,
That every feature is a snare
  To catch my wounded heart.
And, like the flutt’ring bird in vain
  That labours to be freed,
The more I struggle with my pain,
  Alas! the more I bleed.

Altho’ the Heavens her heart have made
  Insensible of care,
Yet will I gaze, nor hope for aid,
  But gazing I despair:
Then tell me, ye who read the skies
  The mystery disclose,
Why, for the pleasure of my eyes
  I forfeit my repose.

A third poem, allusive and tinged with bitterness, leaves the reader wondering to whom it was addressed and why.

He who presumed to guide the sun,
  Was crowned with bad success;
Tho’ for his rash attempt undone,
  He’d glory’d ne’er the less.
Him you resemble, and aspire
  To lead our brightest fair;
Like him too, tho’ consum’d by fire,
  You boast because you dare.

The author of these three songs was the brother of Margaret Robertson, “Black Margaret”. When Struan withheld her dowry she led a band of some fifty Athollmen to try to obtain it by force. She failed in her attempt and was held captive in the Hebrides. She escaped and after being recaptured she was put in chains and detained in Dundee. Throughout their lives, Struan’s relations with his sister were extraordinary, indeed.

From extreme youth to his death at the age of eighty, Struan was an active Jacobite partisan. In 1688 he supported John Graham, Viscount Dundee, in the cause of James VII (II). For his part in this rebellion his estates were forfeited, but he was pardoned by Queen Anne in 1703. During the Rising of 1715, he and five hundred of his clan again took up their swords for the Jacobites. At the battle of Sheriffmuir on 13 November, 1715, Struan was taken prisoner. He was rescued twice, once by his cousin Robert Ban of Invervack and a second time, after recapture, by his sister Margaret. He went into exile in France and was only able to return home after Margaret had pleaded for him to George I. It was the same Margaret, who had been held in chains, who was able to restore the estates to Struan. In 1745 the old Jacobite rose with the other Highland chiefs eager to topple the Hanoverians. Then a man in his late seventies, he personally led his Robertsons as far as Prestonpans and after the battle he was escorted home in Sir John Cope’s carriage, wrapped in the general’s fur cloak.

Struan Robertson died at his house at Carie in Rannoch on 18 April, 1749, three years and two days after the final defeat of the Jacobites at Culloden.

A collection of Struan’s poems were published posthumously in 1751. A second edition was printed in 1785 and at that time several poems, considered to be objectionable, were omitted.

“The Blue Ribbon”, An Ribean Gorm, is the oldest extant Robertson piobaireachd and is sometimes called “The Robertson’s Gathering” or “The Robertson’s March”.