Belle Stewart, born Isobella McGregor, (18 July 1906 – 4 September 1997) was a Scottish Traveller traditional singer.
[3] Isobella McGregor was born on the banks of the River Tay at Caputh, near Blairgowrie, into a family of Highland Scottish Travellers, who lived in bow-tents (similar to dome tents).
Afraid that social workers might take her children from her, her mother stopped travelling and settled in Perthshire.
The McGregor family tried to teach Belle how to read palms (fortune telling), but she didn't take to this.
Jock's father, "Big Jimmy" Stewart, also a champion piper, allegedly died when beaten to death by a group of Irishmen he met on his way home from busking in the Pitlochry area, because he refused to play a tune they requested.
[5] The couple had five children who died as babies, and Sheila, Cathie, Andy and John who survived, and an adopted daughter, Rena.
While John Stewart worked on a building site in Hatfield, a friend of Ewan MacColl visited.
In March 1954 Hamish Henderson invited the Traveller family to do a concert in Edinburgh alongside "Auld Galoot" (Davie Stewart), Jeannie Robertson and Jimmy MacBeath.
[8] In the 1960s Alec Stewart made his living in the summer months by playing bagpipes to tourists in Glen Coe, Oban and Loch Ness.
"The Overgate", a folksong with some similarities to "Seventeen Come Sunday" has particular associations with the Robertson / Higgins / Stewart families of Travellers.
Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger also compiled a collection of the folklore of Belle and other members of her family, called 'Till Doomsday in the Afternoon.
[9] After the death of Alec they continued to tour, and appeared at a folk festival in Bologna in 1980 and at Lake Como in 1980, with Ian taking the place of chief piper.
[12] Stewart was awarded the British Empire Medal in 1981 for "an outstanding contribution to Scottish traditional music".