Frederick Hill’s Book of Quadrilles & Country Dances Etc. Etc.

By Dr. Alastair MacFadyen, Alan Macpherson and Anita Mackenzie

A facsimile of the Hill Manuscript, originally published privately in 2009 by the Hill Manuscript Group (Dr. Alastair MacFadyen, Alan Macpherson and Anita Mackenzie, is scheduled for a reprint. The Hill MS is one of the most important surviving manuscripts about Scottish Traditional Dance. It dates from 1841 and was compiled by Frederick Hill of Alford. Very little is known about Frederick Hill other than that he was born in Hammersmith in London, was a Tailor and Clothier by trade and that he settled in Clatt in Aberdeenshire when aged about 25, subsequently moving to Alford a nearby village.

The original notebook is highly likely to have been his aide-memoire; recording the instructions for the dances he had been taught (probably by itinerant dancing masters). The notebook is interesting, in that it includes Quadrilles, Country Dances and High or Step Dances, and is the source of several dances published by the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society. The reproduced notebook comprises 40 scanned images from the original manuscript.