Nationality Scottish | ||
Born 13 October 1840 ( 1840-10-13 ) Duirinish, Skye Died 31 December 1926, Dunvegan, United Kingdom Education Newnham College, Cambridge Books One Hundred and Five Songs of Occupation from the Western Isles of Scotland | ||
Frances Tolmie (13 October 1840 – 31 December 1926) was a Scottish folklorist. She was born and died on the Isle of Skye. She collected Gaelic songs which were published in 1911.
Life
Tolmie was born on a farm on Duirinish on the Isle of Skye in Scotland in 1840. Her mother was Margaret MacAskill and was born on the Isle of Eigg. Her father was John Tolmie whose family had been associated with the MacLeod clan at the nearby town of Dunvegan. By 1854, her father had died and she and her family moved to Strontian where her brother was to be the minister. Over the next two years she extended her education to music and she seems to have taught herself the language of Gaelic.
In 1873 she was, for two terms, one of the first students at Newnham College in Cambridge. This was one of the first colleges for women. She was remembered for being an exceptionally tall highlander, red haired and she would entertain her fellow students by telling their fortunes by gazing at a mixture of egg white and water.
Tolmie spent many years gathering together traditional songs in Gaelic.
She collected Gaelic songs which were published in 1911 in the Journal of the Folksong Society. The collection was introduced by another folk song collector (Lucy Broadwood) and she supplied notes to explain the Gaelic musical scales to readers.
Tolmie returned to Skye and died in Dunvegan at the end of 1926.