The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #167781   Message #4050380
Posted By: Reinhard
04-May-20 - 09:58 AM
Thread Name: Origins: Strathairlie
Subject: RE: Origins: Strathairlie
Just follow the Whalsay link:

Strathairly

Willie Williamson                [Coming Home]          SA1971.213.11

The words for this sentimental and ultimately sad song were composed by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik (1826-1887), and can be found in Sea and Shore – A Collection of Poems edited by Charles Kingsley, (Boston 1874). Willie Williamson learned the song while in Singapore from a seaman working on a ship of the Blue Funnel Line. He learned it because he liked the tune so much and found the words ‘in some book’.

Strathairly House, a listed building, lies just south-east of the village of Upper Largo with a good view out over the Largo Bay referred to in the song. It’s possible that Dinah Mulock Craig visited Strathairly House for her husband was a Scot who became a became a partner in the MacMillan publishing firm.
Roud no. 25901.