Anna Gordon (24 August 1747 – 14 July 1810), Mrs Brown of Falkland was of the most important British ballad sources; they were published by e.g. Walter Scott and Francis James Child. Her collected ballads comprise five corpora:

Brown A is an interleaved manuscript consisting of (a) a copy made by Robert Jamieson in 1799 of a manuscript containing twenty ballad texts written by Robert Eden Scott some years prior to Brown B (1783) and of (b) Jamieson’s annotations on the interleaved pages. It has been referred to in the literature as Robert Jamieson’s Brown manuscript.

Brown B is a manuscript containing the texts and tunes of fifteen ballads written in the hand of Robert Eden Scott (1769-1811), Mrs Brown’s nephew. The manuscript is on long-term deposit in the National Library of Scotland (Acc 10611 (1)).

Brown C is a manuscript containing nine ballads written out by Anna Brown between February and April 1800 and sent to Alexander Fraser Tytler. The tunes of these ballads were also taken down at the time but neither the original music nor any copy of it is to be found. Brown C has been known as Alexander Fraser Tytler’s Brown manuscript.

Brown D is a separate small collection consisting of four letters to Robert Jamieson dated 1800-05, with their enclosures, which has been bound in at the beginning of MS La.III.473 preceding Brown A.

Browd E is another separate corpus within the repertoire of Mrs Brown, consisting of her ballads in Robert Jamieson’s Popular Ballads and Songs, published in two volumes in 1806. Jamieson clearly identifies five of the ballad versions as being from Mrs Brown.

The Ballads

Part I: Ballads in A with their Parallels from B and C

1. A Rose the Red & White Lilly (Roud 3335; Child 103; G/D 1:162)
   B Rose the Red, & White Lilly (with tune)
2. A Jack the Little Scot (Roud 63; Child 99; G/D 5:1013; Henry H736)
   B Jack the Little Scot (with tune)
3. A Willy o Douglass Dale (Roud 65; Child 101; G/D 5:1010)
   B Willie o’ Douglass-Dale (with tune)
4. A Young Bekie (Roud 40; Child 53; G/D 5:1023; Henry H470)
   B Young Bekie (with tune)
5. A Young Bicham (Roud 40; Child 53; G/D 5:1023; Henry H470)
6. A The Gay Goss Hawk (Roud 61; Child 96)
   B The Gay Goss-Hawk (with tune)
7. A Brown Adam (Roud 482; Child 98; G/D 5:994)
   B Brown Adam (with tune)
8. A Lady Elspat (Roud 4023; Child 247)
   B Lady Elzpat (with tune)
9. A Lady Jane (Roud 42; Child 62; G/D 6:1161; Henry H126)
10. A Burd Ellen (Roud 43; Child 63; G/D 6:1229)
    C Lord John and Bird Ellen
11. A Lady Maisry (Roud 45; Child 65)
    B Lady Maisery (with tune)
12. A Fair Anny (Roud 49; Child 76; G/D 6:1226)
    C Love Gregor
13. A Kempion (Roud 3912, 3176; Child 34)
    B Kempion (with tune)
14. A King Henry (Roud 3967; Child 32)
    B King Henry (with tune)
15. A Sweet Willy (Roud 220; Child 6; G/D 2:346)
    B Willie’s Lady (with tune)
16. A Gil Brenton (Roud 22; Child 5)
    B Chil Brenton (with tune)
17. A Brown Robin (Roud 62; Child 97; G/D 8:1932)
    B Brown Robin (with tune)
18. A The Twa Sisters (Roud 8; Child 10; G/D 2:213)
    B The Cruel Sister (with tune)
19. A Alison Gross (Roud 3212; Child 35)
20. A The Bonny Birdy (Roud 3972; Child 82)

Part II: Ballads in B, C, D and E without Parallels in A

21. B Clark Colven (Roud 147; Child 42) (with tune)
22. C Thomas Rymer, & Queen of Elfland (Roud 219; Child 37)
23. C Fa’se Footrage (Roud 57; Child 89; G/D 8:1930)
24. C Jellon Grame and Lillie Flower (Roud 58; Child 90; G/D 2:198)
25. C The Bonny Earl of Livingston (Roud 59; Child 91)
26. C Bonny Bee Ho’m (Roud 484; Child 92, Appendix; G/D 6:1116; Henry H180)
27. C Bonny Foot-Boy (Roud 105; Child 252; G/D 5:1048)
28. C Cruel Brother or The Bride’s Testament (Roud 26; Child 11)
29. D Bonny Baby Livingston (Roud 100; Child 222; G/D 6:1264)
    E Bonny Baby Livingston
30. D The Baron of Braikly (Roud 4017; Child 203; G/D 2:234)
31. D Allan O Maut (Roud 164; G/D 3:559)
32. E Willie and May Margaret (Roud 91; Child 216; G/D 6:1231)
33. E Hugh of Lincoln (Roud 73; Child 155)
34. E Lamkin (Roud 6; Child 93; G/D 2:187; Henry H735)
35. E The Birth of Robin Hood (Roud 3910; Child 102)

This album was released to accompany Ruth Perry’s biography The Ballad World of Anna Gordon, Mrs. Brown of Falkland, published by Oxford University Press, ca. February 2025. Anna Gordon (24 August 1747 – 11 July 1810), also known as Mrs. Brown of Falkland, Fife, was one of the most important British ballad collectors.

See also Sigrid Rieuwerts (ed.), The Ballad Repertoire of Anna Gordon, Mrs Brown of Falkland, The Scottish Text Society, Fifth Series, 2011.

Folking.com review by Dai Jeffries

Introduction and liner notes by William Donaldson, Geordie McIntyre and Ruth Perry;
Ballad texts transcribed by Alasdair Roberts from the sung performances, while remaining faithful to the orthographic particularities and irregularities of the earliest manuscript sources;
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Mark Lough at Tolbooth Recording Studio, Stirling, from 2016 to 2023;
Cover image: Old Aberdeen, courtesy of Aberdeen City Libraries;
Design by Calum Hadden at Birnam CD

Musicians

Alison McMorland: vocals [1, 3, 5-7, 9-11], chorus [4];
Jo Miller: vocals [2, 4, 8, 12];
Kirsty Potts: vocals [11];
Alasdair Roberts: guitar [10];
Owen Sutcliffe: flute [8];
Daniel Thorpe: fiddle [6]

Tracks

CD 1

1. Thomas Rymer and Queen of Elfland (Roud 219; Child 37) (6.46)
2. Kempion (Roud 3912, 3176; Child 34) (6.19)
3. Lady Elspat (Roud 4023; Child 247) (5.50)
4. The Cruel Sister (Roud 8; Child 10; G/D 2:213) (17.05)
5. Clerk Colven (Roud 147; Child 42) (7.16)
6. Young Bekie (Roud 40; Child 53L; G/D 5:1023; Henry H470) (13.41)

CD 2

7. Lamkin (Roud 6; Child 93; G/D 2:187; Henry H735) (8.18)
8. King Henry (Roud 3967; Child 32) (7.17)
9. Brown Adam (Roud 482; Child 98; G/D 5:994) (4.56)
10. The Gay Goss Hawk (Roud 61; Child 96) (11.55)
11. The Baron of Braikly (Roud 4017; Child 203; G/D 2:234) (6.32)
12. Lady Maisry (Roud 45; Child 65) (9.38)

All songs trad.