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Taught/practised on:

2012 April 1 st 2013 January 6 th

The dance is inscribed to Duncan MacLeod of Glasgow. The tune for this dance is Captain William MacLeod's Fancy by William Marshall. William MacLeod was born in Madras in 1759 and succeeded his uncle Roderick (3rd) as 4th of Borline. He joined the 73rd Highlanders (the 2nd Battalion of the Black Watch) in India. He appears to have retired from the Regiment with the rank of Captain, for in the Gentleman's Magazine 1801 (July-Dec.) there is the following: "William MacLeod Esq. late a Captain in the 73rd foot to be a Deputy-Commissary of Musters to the King's troops serving in the Presidency of Fort St. George in the East Indies." He married Catherina Johanne, 1789?-1864, daughter of Abraham Couperus, Dutch Governor of Malacca, at Zion Danish Church, Tranquebar, on 13th May 1804 and died in Tranquebar on 20th October 1819.  His tombstone in Zion churchyard reads: "Sacred to the memory of William MacLeod Esq. late a Captain in H.M. Service and Deputy Commissary of Musters to the King's troops in India who departed this life at the age of 59 (recte 60) on the 20th October 1819. Universally regretted and esteemed. This monument has been erected by his affectionate and disconsolate widow, to whom his memory shall always be dear and sacred." However disconsolate, she remarried six months later on 12th April 1820 Captain Duncan Sim of the Madras Engineers! Maybe she was influenced by the fact that the late Captain William MacLeod's personal estate amounted to £11.13s.5d, with fees for medical attendance £200 and funeral expenses £139. His grey horse was sold for £100, and among the books in his library which were sold were 18 vols. of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15 vols. of Sinclair's Scotland, 6 vols. of Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and 3 vols. of Pride and Prejudice.

MACLEOD'S FANCY (J4x32) John Drewry  RSCDS Book 33 1- 8 1s+4s set diagonally, 1M+4L ¾ turn RH & cast up/down own side back to place whilst 1L+4M cast down/up own side & ¾ turn RH back to place 9-16 All dance reels of 4 on sides, ending as at start of reel 17-24 2s & 3s turn 1s & 4s RH into a St Andrew's Cross, all set & turn corners to end 1s in 3 rd  place & 4s in 2 nd  place on own sides having passed other corner RSh 25-32 1s & 4s set & cross over (Ladies dancing between Men) & dance ½ Fig of 8 round end couples to 3 rd /2 nd  places (giving RH at top, LH at bottom)