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

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire (; ) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Aberdeenshire (historic), Aberdeenshire, which had substantial ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. She was born in Forgue,

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, Sc ...

Geordie Geordie ( ), sometimes known in linguistics as Tyneside English or Newcastle English, is an English dialect and accent spoken in the Tyneside area of North East England. It developed as a variety of the old Northumbrian dialect and became espe ...

Lord Bateman Baron Bateman, of Shobdon in the County of Hereford, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 30 January 1837 for William Bateman, previously member of Parliament for Northampton. Born William Hanbury, he was the gra ...

, Barbara Allen, Binorie, and other far rarer old ballads such as

The White Fisher The White Fisher is Child ballad 264, and number 3888 in the Roud Folk Song Index. Synopsis A man tells his wife that they have been married only one month and asks why the child is quickening. The woman blames her pregnancy on a priest, or o ...

, 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