Bell Duncan (8 August 1849 – 5 January 1934), also known as Isobel, Isabella and Elizabeth, was a traditional singer from Aberdeenshire,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. She was born in

Forgue Forgue is a hamlet in Aberdeenshire. It lies northwest of Aberdeen and northeast of Huntly. The Glendronach distillery is located in Forgue. Notable residents * George Bartlet, Dean of Aberdeen and Orkney * Sir George Stuart Forbes, Indian ...

, Aberdeenshire in 1849, to George Duncan (1814-1903) a farmer, and Jane Duncan (''née'' Hutcheon) (1807-1884), from whom she learnt most of her songs. She worked as a housekeeper and had three children. She had an enormous repertoire of around 300 traditional songs which were recorded by the song collector

James Madison Carpenter James Madison Carpenter, born in 1888 in Blacklands, Mississippi, near Booneville, in Prentiss County, was a Methodist minister and scholar of American and British folklore. He received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from the ...

, including 60 of the

Child Ballads The Child Ballads are 305 traditional ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, anthologized by Francis James Child during the second half of the 19th century. Their lyrics and Child's studies of them were published as '' ...

, many of which have never been recorded from the mouths of any other source singer. Hundreds of Carpenter's recordings of Bell Duncan are available on the Vaughan William Memorial Library website with Carpenter's transcriptions of the lyrics, including her performances of ballads such as

The Elfin Knight "The Elfin Knight" () is a traditional Scottish folk ballad of which there are many versions, all dealing with supernatural occurrences, and the commission to perform impossible tasks. The ballad has been collected in different parts of England, ...

, Geordie, Lord Bateman, Barbara Allen, Binorie, and other far rarer old ballads such as The White Fisher, Fair Mary of Wallington and The Gardener Lad.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duncan, Bell 1849 births 1934 deaths Scottish folk singers People from Forgue 19th-century Scottish women singers 20th-century Scottish women singers