The Accomplished Ladies of Torloisk

A brief comment in a song-collector's diary leads the author to examine the songcollecting activities of one well-to-do Hebridean family on the Island of Mull in the early nineteenth century. Biographical and extant musical sources are examined in turn, with a full listing of musical manuscripts, followed by descriptive details of the sources. The repertoires of key sources are compared. The Maclean-Clephanes' song-collecting activities are also set alongside other individuals similarly occupied around this time, including an explanation as to why comparisons cannot really be made between these wealthy young Scotswomen with the slightly older, and more commercially-minded Irishwoman, Sydney Owenson (Lady Morgan).