Career
He is considered the "Father of Scottish country dancing."
John Dawney, dancing master of Edinburgh, recommended Francis Peacock of the same city. On 14 February 1747, the town council appointed the 23-year-old Peacock as official and only dancing master of Aberdeen. He was paid him seven shillings sterling per student per month, together with some money to organise the music
In Aberdeen, Peacock founded the first school of dance, married a local girl and began a teaching career that would last five decades.
Many of his students included the Scottish nobility. Peacock firmly believed that dancing was a vital activity for young people to learn grace and manners.
He writes,
"I may here observe, that there cannot be a greater proof of the utility of Dancing, than its being so universally adopted, as a material circumstance in the education of the youth of both sexes, in every civilised country. Its tendency to form their manners, and to render them agreeable, as well in public as in private.
The graceful and elegant ease which it gives to the generality of those who practice it with attention, are apparent to everyone of true discernment."
He is particularly known for his eight-volume treatise on dance, Sketches Relative to the History and Theory, but More Especially to the Practice of Dancing (1805).
This was one of the early works on the history of dance. lieutenant was dedicated to Jane Gordon, Duchess of Gordon. He used the traditional Gaelic names for the dances but also employed the classical French ballet terms as well.
He also painted portrait miniatures and composed music, including an anthem played during the coronation of George III in 1761.
He played the violin with the Aberdeen Musical Society, which he co-founded with David Young, Andrew Tait and John Gregory. He published Fifty Favourite Airs for the Violin (1762).
Peacock was also a philanthropist. The proceeds of his 1805 Sketches were donated to the Aberdeen Lunatic Asylum (now Royal Cornhill Hospital).
He also left a considerable sum of money to charity in his will.
A commemorative plaque is located at his former dance school on Castle Street in Central Aberdeen. The street of Peacock"s Close in eastern Aberdeen gets its name from him.