Betsy Miller's Hornpipe

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

Betsy Miller's Hornpipe (H8x48) 3C (4C set) Lewis N Derrick 1991

1-8 The 1st, 2nd and 3rd couples dance six hands round and back
9-16 The 1st woman sets for eight bars, while the 1st man sets then casts off one place, dances across the set between the 2nd and 3rd couples and casts up one place on the opposite side to end on the left-hand side of his partner
17-24 Taking promenade hold the 1st couple dance a reel of three across with the 2nd couple giving right shoulders to the 2nd man to begin and ending in the centre at the top facing down still on opposite sides; the 2nd couple dance up to first place at the end of the reel
25-32 The 1st couple promenade down the centre, cross down below the 3rd couple using left hands and cast up one place to end in second place on own sides then with hands joined on the sides the 2nd, 1st and 3rd couples set
33-36 The 2nd, 1st and 3rd couples advance and retire
37-40 The 1st couple turn their first corners once and three-quarters round by the left hand to end in second place on opposite sides
41-44 The 2nd, 1st and 3rd couples advance and retire
45-48 The 1st couple turn their partners' second corners once and three-quarters round by the right hand to end in second place on own sides

Repeat having passed a couple

(Dance crib compiled by the deviser, Lewis N Derrick 2022)

Dance Notes

Dancer's choice: during bars 9-16 the 1st woman (representing 'Betsy') dances any suitable solo setting steps of her own choice (set and point, coupe pas-de-basque, pas-de-basque and high cuts, etc.), which may or may not involve arms and do not have to be the same for both the first and second times through, exactly as is traditional when setting in the centre of an Eightsome Reel.

Dance Information

This was devised by Lewis Derrick to commemorate Elizabeth (Betsy) Miller (1792-1864) from Saltcoats, Ayrshire, a Scottish merchant who was the first woman to be given a sea captain's licence by the Board of Trade, making her the first female sea captain in Great Britain.

Suggested tune: Swedish Tune.

Devised 1991; first published 2022.

(Dance information reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Lewis N Derrick)

Elizabeth (Betsy) Miller was the daughter of the successful timber merchant and shipowner William Miller from Saltcoats at Ayrshire coast by the Firth of Clyde. She took over the company from her father.

She was the first woman to be given a sea captain licence from the Board of Trade, and was referred to as a reference case during a debate in the House of Commons on the Merchant Shipping Act 1834.

She retired in 1862 and left the company to her sister Hannah.

Published in The McGhie Scottish Country Dance Sheets, Collection 5, reproduced here with the kind permission of the deviser, Lewis N Derrick.
Dance information licensed under this Creative Commons Licence 3.0.
Text from this original Betsy Miller article on Wikipedia.

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