Author: Menzies, Daniel
Biography:
MENZIES, Daniel (1790-1828: findmypast.com)
He was born on 17 May 1790 and baptised on 23 May at Alloa, Clackmannanshire, Scotland, the son of Janet (Smart) and Alexander Menzies. Little is known about his personal life, but he became a Captain in the Royal Perthshire Militia, where he put to use his musical talents as a performer and composer. (He composed the well known “Earl of Kinnoull’s Reel” in honour of the 11th Earl, who was Colonel of the Militia.) In 1818 he published The Bagpipe Preceptor and in 1827 A Treatise on the Angelica, or, Musical Glasses without Water, both with Oliver and Boyd of Edinburgh. He is said to have written Airs on the Clarsaich or Scottish Harp, but no extant copy has been located. No records have been found of marriage or children. Several popular tunes are attributed to him though some of them were tacitly claimed by the violinist Duncan McKerracher (1796-1873). He died at Kinross on 30 Apr. 1828 leaving, according to one death notice, “numerous friends.” (findmypast.com 28 May 2023; Traditional Tune Archive, tunearch.org; David Baptie, Musical Scotland [1894], 128; Edinburgh Evening Courant 8 May 1828) HJ