The Lord High Admiral

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

1- 8 1s set advancing, turn 2H ½ way, lead down below 3s and cast up to 2nd place opposite sides
9-16 1s set advancing to end BtoB (Man facing up and Lady down) and dance Crown Triangles
17-24 1s dance out to right and dance Fig of 8 on own sides while 2s+3s dance R&L changing places on sides to start
25-32 2s+1s+3s circle 6H round and back

(MINICRIB. Dance crib compiled by Charles Upton, Deeside Caledonian Society, and his successors)

1- 8 The Anchor:
1- 2 first couple set advancing;
3- 4 first couple turn half way with two hands to finish facing down;
5- 6 first couple lead below third couple, second couple step up;
7- 8 first couple cast up into second place.
9-16 The Crown:
9-10 first couple set advancing to finish back to back, man facing up and lady facing down;
11-16 crown triangles.
17-24 The Hall: first couple dance a figure of eight on own side of the set, passing second lady and third man by the right shoulder to start and finishing in second place; at the same time second and third couples dance rights and lefts, giving right hands on the sides to commence.
25-32 The Garter: six hands round to the left in a circle and back to the right.

Repeat from second place.

(Dance crib reproduced from The Whetherly Book Of Scottish Country Dances, revised and republished by Alison Mitchell)

Keith Rose's Crib Diagram

The Lord High Admiral - Full Size And Key To Symbols

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Dance Information

Additional note by John Mitchell:
For many years the "Cairngorm Dancers" organised a number of events including an annual Hogmanay Party at Cobham Hall in Kent. One year they decided to hold a competition for a new dance. Teachers were invited to submit dances in draft. At the next gathering the dances were given to different teachers to teach immediately from the draft.

This was the winning dance. The Cairngorms subsequently published a book of dances containing the best of the submissions. Cobham Hall was originally the country home of Earl Darnley, the Hereditary Lord High Admiral of Scotland. (It is now a girls' boarding school).

The current Earl Darnley still lives in Cobham and his state coach is housed in one wing of the Hall. Charles II created the hereditary Irish Peerage of Darnley. "La Belle Stuart" (the original model for Britannia on our coinage) was a member of the Darnley family and a great favourite of Charles II until she eloped with and married the Duke of Richmond and Gordon. (The Meopham Scottish Country Dance Club organises occasional summer dances in the grounds of the Hall.) The Great Hall in the heart of the building displays the achievement of the Lord High Admiral in plaster work on the ceiling. The achievement comprises an Anchor, surmounted by an Earl's coronet, on which are displayed a shield bearing the family arms, with mantling, surrounded by a Garter.

Editor's note to the 2023 edition: No tune suggested for this dance in the original edition.

(Dance information reproduced from The Whetherly Book Of Scottish Country Dances, revised and republished by Alison Mitchell)

Most of them were courtiers or politicians, not professional naval officers. The Lord High Admiral was one of the nine Great Officers of State in medieval England.

The office of Lord High Admiral, when it was not occupied by an individual, was "put into commission" and exercised by a board of Lords Commissioners headed by a First Lord of the Admiralty. This became the usual state of affairs.

In 1964, the office of First Lord of the Admiralty was abolished and the functions of the commissioners were transferred to the Admiralty Board of a tri-service Defence Council, and the title of Lord High Admiral was re-vested in the Sovereign.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, The Lord High Admiral From 1964

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