TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
A superscript is denoted by ^{x}.
In the pipe music notation an accent over a group of letters xyz is
denoted by [(xyz]; for example end[(are], and hodr[(od]in.
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.
More detail can be found at the end of the book.
THE PIPES OF WAR
GLASGOW
PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS BY
ROBERT MACLEHOSE & COMPANY LTD. FOR
MACLEHOSE, JACKSON AND CO., PUBLISHERS
TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW
MACMILLAN AND CO. LTD. LONDON
THE MACMILLAN CO. NEW YORK
MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA TORONTO
SIMPKIN, HAMILTON AND CO. LONDON
BOWES AND BOWES CAMBRIDGE
DOUGLAS AND FOULIS EDINBURGH
MCMXX
[Illustration: PIPER JAMES RICHARDSON, V.C., 16TH CANADIAN SCOTTISH
AT REGINA TRENCH, VIMY RIDGE
_From the Painting by J. Prinsep Beadle_]
THE PIPES OF WAR
_A Record of the Achievements of Pipers
of Scottish and Overseas Regiments
during the War 1914-18_
BY
BREVET-COL. SIR BRUCE SETON, Bart., of Abercorn, C.B.
AND
PIPE-MAJOR JOHN GRANT
WITH CONTRIBUTIONS BY
NEIL MUNRO, BOYD CABLE, PHILIP GIBBS, AND OTHERS
[Illustration]
GLASGOW
MACLEHOSE, JACKSON & CO.
PUBLISHERS TO THE UNIVERSITY
1920
Wherever Scottish troops have fought the sound of the pipes has been
heard, speaking to us of our beloved native land, bringing back to
our memories the proud traditions of our race, and stimulating our
spirits to fresh efforts in the cause of freedom. The cry of "The
Lament" over our fallen heroes has reminded us of the undying spirit
of the Scottish race, and of the sacredness of our cause.
The Pipers of Scotland may well be proud of the part they have played
in this war. In the heat of battle, by the lonely grave, and during
the long hours of waiting, they have called to us to show ourselves
worthy of the land to which we belong. Many have fallen in the fight
for liberty, but their memories remain. Their fame will inspire
others to learn the pipes, and keep alive their music in the Land of
the Gael.
[Illustration: D. Haig F.M.
6 Dec^{r} 1918]
PREFACE
This record of the achievements of pipers during the war of 1914-18
is not intended to be an appeal to emotionalism. It aims at showing
that, in spite of the efforts of a very efficient enemy to prevent
individual gallantry, in spite of the physical conditions of the
modern battlefield, the pipes of war, the oldest instrument in the
world, have played an even greater part in the orchestra of battle in
this than they have in past campaigns.
The piper, be he Highlander, or Lowlander, or Scot from Overseas,
has accomplished the impossible--not rarely and under favourable
conditions, but almost as a matter of routine; and to him not
Scotland only but the British Empire owes more than they have yet
appreciated.
In doing so he has sacrificed himself; and Scotland--and the
world--must face the fact that a large proportion of the men who
played the instrument and kept alive the old traditions have
completed their self-imposed task. With 500 pipers killed and 600
wounded something must be done to raise a new generation of players;
it is a matter of national importance that this should be taken in
hand at once, and that the sons of those who have gone should follow
in the footsteps of their fathers.
This is the best tribute that can be offered to them.
The Piobaireachd Society intend to institute a Memorial School of
piping for this purpose, and all profits from the sale of this book
will be handed over to their fund.
The compilation of the statistical portions of the work has involved
correspondence with commanding officers, pipe presidents and pipe
majors of many units in the Imperial armies; to them, for their
enthusiastic assistance in obtaining information, is due the credit
for the mass of detail that has been made available.
To the other contributors--authors, artists and poets--is due in
large measure such success as may follow the publication of this
work. They have helped a cause worthy of their efforts.
It is earnestly to be hoped that Scotland will rise to the occasion.
To the compilers it has been a privilege to record the achievements
of men--many of them personal friends--who contributed so largely to
the success of their gallant regiments.
B. S.
J. G.
CONTENTS
PAGE
FOREWORD BY FIELD-MARSHAL EARL HAIG OF BEMERSYDE, K.T. v
PREFACE vii
THE PIPES OF WAR. By BREVET COL. SIR BRUCE SETON, Bart.,
of Abercorn, C.B.
INTRODUCTION 3
A HISTORY OF THE PIPES 9
THE PIPES IN THE WAR, 1914-1918
The Western Front 18
Gallipoli 31
Salonika 33
Mesopotamia 33
The Last Stage 34
Pipers in the Ranks 35
Pipers on the March 37
Pipe Tunes 42
Individual Achievements 46
Foreigners and the Pipes 63
The Pipes in Captivity 64
MILITARY PIPE BANDS AND REFORM 66
REGIMENTAL RECORDS
The Scots Guards 71
The Royal Scots 73
The Royal Scots Fusiliers 82
The King's Own Scottish Borderers 86
The Cameronians (The Scottish Rifles) 91
The Royal Highlanders (The Black Watch) 96
The Highland Light Infantry 105
The Seaforth Highlanders 114
The Gordon Highlanders 124
The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders 130
The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders 135
The London Scottish 143
The Tyneside Scottish 145
The Middlesex Regiment 146
The Liverpool Scottish 147
The Royal Fusiliers 147
The Argyllshire Mountain Battery 148
The Ross and Cromarty Battery 148
Miscellaneous 148
The Pipe Band of the 52nd (Lowland) Division 149
Prisoners of War Band 150
Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry 150
The Royal Highlanders of Canada 151
The 48th Highlanders of Canada 152
The Canadian Scottish 153
The Cameron Highlanders of Canada 154
The 21st Canadians 155
The 25th Canadians 155
The 29th Canadians 156
The 236th Canadians 157
The Canadian Pioneers 158
The 2nd Auckland Regiment 158
The 42nd Australians 159
The South African Scottish 159
ROLL OF HONOUR, 1914-1918 161
CANNTAIREACHD. By MAJOR J. P. GRANT, M.C., Yr. of
Rothiemurchus 179
THE IRISH PIPES: THEIR HISTORY, DEVELOPMENT AND DIVERGENCE
FROM THE SIMPLE HIGHLAND TYPE. By W. H. GRATTAN
FLOOD, Mus.D., K.S.G. 191
THE TUITION OF YOUNG REGIMENTAL PIPERS. By JOHN GRANT,
Pipe Major 195
THE SPIRIT OF THE MACCRIMMONS. By FRED. T. MACLEOD,
F.S.A.(Scot.) 201
A GOSSIP ABOUT THE GORDON HIGHLANDERS. By J. M. BULLOCH 219
TO THE LION RAMPANT. By ALICE C. MACDONELL OF KEPPOCH 228
THE MUSIC OF BATTLE. By PHILIP GIBBS 232
THE PIPES IN THE EVERYDAY LIFE OF THE WAR. By ARTHUR
FETTERLESS 239
THE OLDEST AIR IN THE WORLD. By NEIL MUNRO 246
THE PIPES: ONSET. By JOSEPH LEE, Lieut. 255
FLESH TO THE EAGLES. By BOYD CABLE 258
THE BLACK CHANTER. By CHARLES LAING WARR 267
THE PIPES. By EDMUND CANDLER 286
ILLUSTRATIONS
PIPER JAMES RICHARDSON, V.C., 16TH CANADIAN SCOTTISH,
AT REGINA TRENCH, VIMY RIDGE _Frontispiece_
From the Painting by J. PRINSEP BEADLE.
PIPER DANIEL LAIDLAW, V.C., 7TH KING'S OWN SCOTTISH
BORDERERS, AT LOOS _Page_ 24
From the Drawing by LOUIS WEIRTER, R.B.A.
"THE COMRADES WE LEFT IN GALLIPOLI" " 32
From the Pipe Tune composed by COLONEL H. A. C. MACLEAN
of Pennycross, C.M.G. Set by MRS. A. C. MACDIARMID.
PIPER KENNETH MACKAY, CAMERON HIGHLANDERS, AT
QUATRE-BRAS " 64
From the Painting by LOCKHART BOGLE, by kind permission
of the Officers of the 1st Cameron Highlanders.
PIPE-MAJOR HOWARTH, D.C.M., 6TH GORDON HIGHLANDERS,
AT NEUVE CHAPELLE " 120
From the Painting by J. PRINSEP BEADLE.
BEN BUIDHE, ARGYLLSHIRE " 136
From the Water-colour Drawing by GEORGE HOUSTON, A.R.S.A.
BORDER OF CELTIC DESIGN BY ALEXANDER RITCHIE, IONA " 161
THE PIBROCH " 208
From the Painting by LOCKHART BOGLE.
DUNIQUAICH, LOCH FYNE " 248
From the Water-colour Drawing by GEORGE HOUSTON, A.R.S.A.
THE PIPES OF WAR
BY
BREVET-COL. SIR BRUCE SETON, BART. OF ABERCORN, C.B.
INTRODUCTION
The history of the bagpipes as a military institution is a long and
honourable one, inseparable from that of Scottish troops, Highland
and Lowland, wherever they have fought, for centuries past. The
strains of _piob mhor_ have been heard all over those bloody European
battlefields on which Scottish soldiers of fortune died--too often
for lost causes--from the time when Buchan's force joined the
Lilies of France in 1422, throughout the Hundred Years' War, in the
Low Countries, in Germany, in Austria; and they have handed on a
tradition which has been lived up to in the later days of the regular
Scottish units of the British Army.
But memories are short; and, in the army as elsewhere, the passion
for reform before the greatest war of all was threatening many
old-established institutions whose utility was not immediately
apparent.
And so it came about that to many observers, indeed to a considerable
section of military opinion, it appeared likely that along with the
kilt, the use of tartan, bonnet, doublet and other special features
of the dress of Scottish regiments, the bagpipe must be regarded as
a picturesque anachronism destined to disappear as the conditions
of war changed and as the yearning of high military authorities for
a deadly khaki uniformity of clothing and equipment became more
insistent.
"Why," it has often been said, "should Scottish units find it
necessary, either in peace or on active service to retain an obsolete
musical instrument of their own? In days past, before the rifle had
revolutionised tactics, when shooting was erratic at 100 yards'
range, there might have been something to say for an instrument
which experience showed to be capable of stimulating men at the
psychological moment when effort was failing; but is it reasonable
to expect that the educated twentieth century soldier will prove to
be responsive to any such stimulus--even if it were possible, under
modern conditions of rifle and shell fire, to provide it?"
The reply to such a line of argument is clear enough; and its truth
has been demonstrated in every action in which Scottish troops have
taken part during the war.
The strength of an army depends, to an incalculable degree, on
the strength not only of individual regimental _esprit de corps_,
but of the national sentiment of its units. The retention of
time-honoured territorial titles in the New Armies, instead of a
soulless numbering of units, was itself due to a recognition by the
authorities of the principle that the individual soldier is a better
fighting man when he feels that he has to live up to an ancient and
brilliant regimental record. The Rifleman, even in peace, would never
voluntarily be transferred to a "red" regiment, nor does a 10th
Hussar yearn for the cuirass of the Life Guardsman. When a man joins
a regiment, voluntarily or compulsorily, he adopts for the whole
period of his military service the customs, the prejudices, and the
traditions of his unit, and is himself moulded by them in a manner
which is as inexplicable as it is marked.
And if regimental _esprit de corps_ and tradition are strong,
national and territorial sentiment are stronger. In the old army,
as a result of the system of recruitment, this factor was of less
importance than in the, comparatively speaking, unmixed units of the
new army of to-day. All our military history shows that the appeal to
such national sentiment is as certain in its effects as the appeal
to regimental tradition; and this war has enormously accentuated its
importance.
All observers agree--and military despatches confirm the view--that
the rivalry of national sentiment has proved invaluable; units,
whether battalions or divisions, have literally competed for
distinction for their own nationality, and have succeeded in
associating particular exploits with themselves for ever. It may
truly be said that behind the achievements of the 9th, 15th, 51st and
52nd and Canadian Divisions the motive impulse was national rather
than merely regimental.
In the keeping alive of this national sentiment in Scottish units,
their distinctive dress and, still more, the retention of the
national instrument, have played an important part; and this applies
with equal force to units composed of Scotsmen who have left their
native land permanently or temporarily.
Throughout the war these units have more than maintained the great
traditions of their past history, carrying on the records of Scottish
gallantry which have been excelled by no troops in the world and
equalled by few.
And so with the pipers.
How important a contributory cause they have been to the success of
their battalions is recognized by all alike, men and officers--and
not least by the Field Marshal Commanding in Chief. In spite of
modern conditions they have, in cases too numerous to record, played
the part which was normally theirs in the olden days of set battles.
To many of the men in the ranks the music of the pipes in peace
time may have had no special association other than with dances and
gatherings; but whenever the piper assumed his historic _rôle_--so
long dormant--of fighting man, the inherited peculiarities of the
Scottish soldier were aroused and the music made an overpowering
appeal to his national sentiment.
Inherited sympathy of this kind is no doubt inexplicable--but it
exists. It certainly cannot be ascribed to the Celtic strain in
individuals, for we know that the bagpipe was in general use for
centuries all over the Lowlands--perhaps even before it displaced the
bard and the harper and became the war instrument of the Highlands.
We cannot analyse what Neil Munro describes as "the tune with the
river in it, the fast river and the courageous, that kens not stop
nor tarry, that runs round rock and over fall with a good humour,
yet no mood for anything but the way before it"; we only know that
it works on some individuals and some races as no other instrument
does, and we need not try to satisfy ourselves whether this is due to
the flat seventh in the scale, or the ever-sounding drones, or the
inherited memory it arouses.
The idea that the piper would be too conspicuous an object to be
employed in his proper capacity has proved to be partly true, as
indicated by the casualties among them when playing; but the same
argument might be applied to any other soldier in the ranks. Shells
show no discrimination in their objective.
To a certain extent this objection is a sound one; but it is all a
matter of relative values. Many commanding officers have expressed
the opinion that at times when, on account of the all-pervading noise
of the battlefield, not a note of his music could be heard by the
men nearest to him, it was the actual presence of the piper that
supplied the stimulus to the men; in fact, it was the piper, not his
instrument, that was followed.
For obvious reasons pipers are harder to replace than the ordinary
soldier, and, in trench warfare especially, most regiments have tried
to keep them in relative security; but in the records of units which
follow it will be seen that, when the trouble comes, the piper has
always been to the fore, and "the tune with the tartan of the clan in
it" has been heard again as it has for centuries past.
From the military point of view the bagpipe has the merit of
accentuating national sentiment at just those moments when the
stimulus is most necessary, of rousing the "_mir cath_," the frenzy
of battle, and of rallying men when the ideal is liable to be lost
sight of in the presence of the nerve shattering realities of action.
In all these ways the company pipers have justified their existence.
In the discharge of a duty which may be regarded as sentimental in
the highest sense of the term, they have, literally by hundreds, made
the supreme sacrifice; wherever Scottish units have fought these men
have exposed themselves, unhesitatingly, recklessly, playing their
companies to the attack in conditions which, as regards intensity
of personal risk, have never previously been experienced. Many
battalions have lost all their pipers more than once, but, as long as
reinforcements were available, there has never been any difficulty
in getting fresh men out of the ranks or from home to take their
place; and the new men have followed the old, just as heedless, as
they played their comrades forward, knowing quite well that for many
of them the urlar of "_Baile Inneraora_" or "_The March of the
Cameron men_" might suddenly change to the taorluath of "_Cha till mi
tuille_."
The Germans at least, though they may not recognise the tune when
they hear it in the streets of Cologne, appreciated the grim
significance of _piob mhor_ when "_I hear the pibroch sounding,
sounding_" followed the lifting of the barrage.
The war also has afforded many instances of another function of the
pipes in action. Charging the enemy at a foot pace through deep mud
is after all but a "crowded hour of glorious life," which may or may
not be completely or even partially successful, and men may have to
be rallied when their nerves have given out under intolerable strain.
Of this there have been several instances.
It must not, of course, be imagined that regimental pipers, during
this or any other war, have been normally employed in playing their
units to the attack; the whole condition of modern fighting makes
this impossible in the same way and for the same reason that it has
made impossible spectacular charges by battalions in line.
It would be a more accurate presentment of the case to say that the
military piper, _qua_ piper, normally exercises his functions behind
the front line, in billets and on the line of march; and in this
respect he resembles other army musicians whose duty--according to
old Army Regulations of 300 years ago--is "to excite cheerfulness and
alacrity in the soldier."
But, recognising all this, the peculiarity of the piper is that,
in open fighting, when his unit has been committed to the attack,
he often assumes the _rôle_ which distinguishes him from all other
musicians, and takes his place at the head of his company.
Instances of this during the war are innumerable, and those which are
detailed below are but typical of what has occurred in every field of
operations, and in most units which possessed pipers.
And if it is impossible to say too much of the regimental pipers of
the British Army, it is equally so in the case of those of Overseas
units, notably of the Canadians. From the point of view of the
historian who wishes to demonstrate what pipers have done during this
war, no more remarkable case could be selected than that of the 16th
Canadian Scottish. The pipers of this distinguished battalion won
one V.C., one D.C.M., one Military Medal and Bar, and eight plain
Military Medals--a record which is unique. No man was put up for a
decoration unless he had played his company over the top at least
twice, and no piper was ever ordered to play in action--it was left
to volunteers, who, it was found, had to resort to the drawing of
lots to obtain the coveted privilege of playing.
The colonel of the regiment--himself a V.C.--commenting on the
casualties says: "I believe the purpose of war is to win victories,
and if one can do this better by encouraging certain sentiments and
traditions why shouldn't it be done? The heroic and dramatic effect
of a piper stoically playing his way across the ghastly modern
battlefield, altogether oblivious to danger, has an extraordinary
effect on the spirit and enterprise of his comrades. His example
inspires all those about him."
And so it comes to this: the method of employment of the regimental
piper during this war has depended largely on opportunity--and still
more on the individuality of commanding officers. Men vary within
very wide limits in the price they are prepared to pay for attaining
their object; and where one man will deliberately sacrifice a certain
number of men to get a position, another will as deliberately avoid
the sacrifice, even if it costs him his objective.
As far as pipers are concerned, the decision arrived at by commanding
officers of the two schools is equally indicative of the esteem in
which they hold them.
A HISTORY OF THE PIPES
At what stages of his development primitive man discovered he could
obtain musical sounds by blowing on a hollow reed we cannot now
ascertain; if we could do so we could at once determine when the pipe
came into existence. It is unprofitable to speculate on this point.
What we do know, however, is that men playing the pipe are portrayed
in sculptures the date of which is fixed by the best authorities as
about 4000 B.C., and we conclude that in Chaldaea, Egypt, Assyria
and Persia at least, the pipe--but not necessarily the bagpipe--had
become a recognised musical instrument.
Actual specimens of the Egyptian pipe dating back to at least 1500
B.C. are in existence, and we know that they had a reed giving a
scale almost identical with the chromatic scale; they also had a
drone. Such a pipe had, clearly, advanced some way on the upward
development to "_piob mhor_."
Every stage in its evolution still persists in some country in the
world, and by comparing these it is possible to trace the actual
process. Thus, besides the single pipe, which is world-wide in
its distribution, we have the Egyptian "arghool," which consists
of a pipe "chanter" and drone lying side by side; and the later
development, the "zummarah," has a bag. In India the twentieth
century snake charmer has an instrument in which chanter and single
drone lie side by side fixed into a small gourd with a lump of wax.
The chanter has a small reed very similar to our own chanter reeds,
and, although the scale differs, the sound produced is remarkably
similar. This instrument is essentially a single drone bagpipe, and
is to be found all over India, in Yunnan and other parts of China.
_Note._--The author takes this opportunity of acknowledging his
indebtedness for much of the early history of the instrument to
Manson's _The Highland Bagpipe_ and Dr. Grattan Flood's _The
Story of the Bagpipe_, both monuments of research.
It would have been more than surprising if the pipe, in some form or
other, had not been used in ancient Greece and Rome. There are, in
fact, very many references to it in classical literature, and by 100
A.D. we know that the "askaulos" had evolved into the bagpipe proper,
and Chrysostomos speaks of a man who could "play the pipe with his
mouth on the bag placed under his armpit."
Martial, Suetonius, Seneca, and other Latin writers refer to the
"tibia utricularis," and there is practically no doubt that it
was used as a marching instrument in the armies of Julius Caesar.
A bronze showing a Roman soldier in marching order playing the
utriculus has been discovered in England, and the writer Procopius
refers to Roman pipe bands in this country.
But when we come to the question of the introduction of the bagpipe
into the British Isles, and especially into Scotland, we are at once
on highly controversial ground.
It is obvious enough that the instrument is not peculiar to the
Celtic races; that it has maintained its hold on them long after
its disappearance in other European nations is equally so. But who
introduced it into these favoured isles, whether the Cruithne or
Prydani or Picts or the later "C" Gaidheal branch of the Celtic
stem--who shall say?
Some authorities--students of the subject would be a safer term--are
prepared to assert that the bagpipe was introduced first into
England, thence to Lowland Scotland, and only long afterwards into
the Highlands; and one recent writer in the _Celtic Magazine_ says
the evidence of its association with the Scottish Gaels does not go
back beyond the middle of the sixteenth century!
The matter is one of academic interest, no doubt, but there is no
likelihood of its ever being settled.
Records did not exist in the ancient Highlands, and we have to turn
to early Irish literature for reference to the bagpipe. In the
Brehon Laws of the fifth century it is spoken of as the "cuisle";
and, although Tara's halls are usually associated with the harp,
it is recorded that at the assemblies which took place there in
pre-Christian days it was the custom for the pipes to play at the
banquets.[1]
It is possible the bagpipe was brought over from the north of
Ireland, "Scotia" as it then was, on the invasion of the Highlands by
Cairbre Riada, who founded the kingdom of Dalriada in Argyle in A.D.
120; or in the later great colonisation, about A.D. 506, under Lorne
and Angus, the sons of Ere.
It certainly does not appear likely that the bagpipe came over from
"Scotia" in the first place, unless we are to accept the view that
the Scottish Celt came over by the same route; unfortunately we have
very little accurate knowledge of the early history of the Highlands,
and there are no local written records extant to prove--as they do in
the case of Ireland--that the instrument existed in those early days.
We do know that the harper and the bard were national institutions
of immense antiquity in the Highlands, and that, as the bagpipe
became an increasingly important feature of everyday life, they were
bitterly opposed to it.
Even Latin authors, who were familiar with the bagpipe as a marching
instrument in their own army, omit to refer to the existence of _piob
mhor_ in the Highlands. The Greek writer Procopius, in 530 A.D.,
dismisses the Highlands with the statement that "in the west the air
is infectious and mortal, the ground covered with serpents, and this
dreary solitude is the region of departed spirits." And so we are
thrown back on tradition.
In the absence of records of the employment of the bagpipe in war in
the Highlands it is to Ireland, the so-called Lowlands of Scotland
and to England that we have to turn for information; at the same time
we must bear in mind that evolution of the instrument itself had
begun to operate, and the English and Lowland pipes were different
from the variety now known as the "Highland," which has supplanted
all others.
As regards Ireland it is known that the Irish troops who fought
in Gascony in 1286 had pipers with them, and a drawing of their
instrument appears in a manuscript of 1300 A.D. in the British
Museum. There were also Irish pipers at the battle of Falkirk in
1298, and they are again referred to in contemporary accounts of the
battle of Creçy.
The military piper therefore goes far back into history. But it was
as a social instrument that one finds most frequent reference to
bagpipes of some pattern or other in the Middle Ages. There was a
pipe band at the English Court in 1327, and an old inventory of 1419
shows that at the Palace of St. James' were "foure baggpypes with
pypes of ivorie ... the bagge covered with purple vellat."
But, whereas the English pipes went the same way as the Continental
varieties, it was otherwise in Scotland. Two institutions existed
there which fostered the tradition and saved _piob mhor_ from the
fate of disappearance--the Burgh piper and the Clan piper; and by
1450 A.D. these had certainly become part of the national life.
In Edinburgh in 1487 A.D. there were three town pipers, who were
paid three pence daily; one of their duties was "to accompany the
toun's drummer throw toun morning and evening." In 1505 A.D. the town
records of Dumbarton, Biggar, Wigton, Dumfries and Linlithgow refer
to burgh pipers.
In Aberdeen in 1630 A.D. exception appears to have been taken to the
custom of playing through the streets, as it is placed on record
that this was to be stopped "it being an uncivill forme to be usit
uithin sic a famous burghe, and being oftene found fault uith als
weill be sundrie niehbouris as by strangeris." That the citizens of
this "famous burghe" are peculiarly susceptible to the criticisms
of "strangeris" might never have been suspected by superficial
observers, and it is well that there is official testimony to the
fact.
The effect of their daily music on the inhabitants of Perth was
different,--or perhaps Perth was less amenable to the criticisms of
"strangeris." In any case it is recorded of a burgh piper, who used
to rouse the citizens at 5 a.m., that his music was "inexpressibly
soothing and delightful."
At Dundee the piper played through the town "every day in the morning
at four hours and every nicht at aucht hours," and was paid twelve
pennies yearly by each householder.
The pipes, at least in the pre-Reformation days--were sometimes
played in church; in course of time, however, piping on Sunday
scandalised the authorities, religious and civil, and, in the burgh
records, we find repeated instances of pipers being punished for this
misdemeanour.
The burgh piper was a man of peace; the clan piper was a man of
war. For many centuries he had to compete with the "clarsair," or
harper, and the bard, and aroused feelings of acute hostility from
the latter. In 1411 A.D. one bard, MacMhurich of Clan Ranald, wrote a
poem of a most uncomplimentary nature about the bagpipes.
The recitation of the bard before battle was probably last heard
at Harlaw in 1411, and the clan bards disappeared finally in 1726;
the last clan harper died in 1739, and the "croistara"--the fiery
cross--was sent round the clans for the last time in the '45.
The last Scottish piper will pass when the Scottish race itself
passes--which will certainly be the last of all.
The clan pipers were highly esteemed as musicians--from the musical
point of view they, no doubt, left us far behind. The courses of
training, lasting over years, at the old piping schools such as
existed at Boreraig, turned a man into a piper. As Neil Munro has it:
"To the make of a piper go seven years of his own learning and seven
generations before; at the end of his seven years one born to it
will stand at the start of knowledge, and, leaning a fond ear to the
drone, he may have parley with old folks of old affairs."
One of the results of the Heritable Jurisdiction Act of 1747, which
so completely altered the conditions of life in the Highlands, was
the disappearance of the office of hereditary clan piper.
The tunes these men played were the old tunes we know so well; and
so it has happened that in this war we find companies marching into
and through machine-gun and artillery barrage and into broken French
villages and through German trenches while the company piper plays
the same melodies that inspired their forebears to fight their
neighbours lang syne--melodies which have been heard, too, in the
same part of the world in the days when Scottish troops fought for
the Lilies of France against all comers.
The association of the bagpipe with military operations is probably
very ancient in Scotland. Perhaps the tradition that the Menzies
pipers played at Bannockburn rests on an insecure foundation, but if
the Bruce had no pipers, his son David most certainly had, as witness
the Exchequer Rolls. In 1549 a French writer states that "the wild
Scots encouraged themselves to arms by the sound of their bagpipes";
and in 1598 Alexander Hume of Logie wrote:
"Caus michtilie the warlic nottes brake
On Heiland pipes, Scottes and Hyberniche.
Incidentally, this reference to three different kinds of pipes is
interesting.
The first authentic reference to pipers in the Forces of the Crown
appears to have been in 1627, when Alex. Macnaughton of Loch
Fyne-side was commissioned by King Charles I. to "levie and transport
twa hundredthe bowmen" for service in the French war. Writing in
January 1628 to the Earl of Morton, Macnaughton says:
"As for newis from our selfis, our baggpyperis and marlit plaidis
serwitt us in guid wise in the pursuit of ane man of war that hetlie
followed us."
The records show that this company had a harper, "Harrie M'Gra frae
Larg," and a piper, "Allester Caddell," who, in accordance with the
custom of the time, had his gillie to carry his pipes for him.
Regimental pipers undoubtedly existed in the numerous bodies of
Scottish troops which served at various times on the Continent. Thus,
in 1586, in the "State of War" of Captain Balfour's company in the
Scots Brigade in Holland, there were two drummers and a piper; and
in "the worthy Scots regiment called Mackeye's" raised by Sir Donald
Mackay in 1626 there was an establishment of thirty-six pipers.
Pipers are also found on the rolls of the "regiment d'Hebron"--now
the Royal Scots--and to that very distinguished regiment we may
safely accord the further distinction of being the first "Regular"
regiment of the British Army to have pipes. The "North British
Fusiliers," now one of the battalions of the Royal Scots Fusiliers,
also had pipes as far back as 1678, and probably as early as 1642.
Writing in 1641, Lord Lothian said:
"I cannot out of our armie furnish you with a sober fiddler.... We
are sadder and graver than ordinarie soldiers, only we are well
provided with pypers. I have one for every company in my regiment,
and I think they are as good as drummers."
The great Montrose had pipers in his armies, and tradition has it
that, in the action of Philiphaugh in 1645, a piper stood on a small
eminence and played the old Cavalier tune, "Whurry, Whigs, awa' man,"
until he was shot by one of Leslie's men, and fell into the "Piper's
Pule" in Ettrick river.
An exactly similar incident occurred in the case of one of the pipers
of Bonnie Dundee at Bothwell Brig in 1679.
At the Haughs o' Cromdale in 1690 a wounded piper climbed on to a big
rock and went on playing till he died, thus setting an example which
has been followed by his successors in many actions in this war. The
stone on which this unknown hero stood is known to this day locally
as "Clach a phiobair."
There are many such in France and elsewhere to-day.
In Wodrow's letters in 1716 there is a reference to the company
pipers of the "Argyle's Highlanders": "They entered in three
companies, and every company had their distinct pipers, playing three
distinct springs. The first played "The Campbells are coming" ... and
when they entered Dundee the people thought they had been some of
Mar's men, till some of the prisoners in the Tolbooth, understanding
the first spring, swung the words of it out of the windows, which
mortified the Jacobites."
Again, in 1715, when Argyle's troops marched to Leith, it was stated
by Cockburn (Historical MSS. Commission): "While our generals were
asleep the rebels marched to Seton House, leaving the piper in the
citadel to amuse."
The piper, by this time, had clearly become a recognised military
institution.
In the '45 the unfortunate Sir John Cope was undoubtedly aroused
by the music of _piob mhor_ at Prestonpans, though it is doubtful
whether "Hey Johnnie Cope" was composed for the occasion.
Prince Charlie had thirty-two pipers of his own, besides those
belonging to the clans with him. One of these men, James Reid, was
taken prisoner in the operations of 1746. He pleaded that he had not
carried arms, but the Court decided that "no Highland regiment ever
marched without a piper: therefore his bag pipe, in the eye of the
law, was an instrument of war"--and they dealt with him accordingly.
This view was confirmed by the Disarming Act of 1747, which nearly
succeeded in attaining its object of abolishing the bagpipe, the
kilt, the tartan and national sentiment generally--only Regular
regiments being exempted from its operation.
Penal legislation against the bagpipe was no new thing. Cromwell had
tried it in Ireland, and, under William II., 600 Irish pipers and
harpers were persecuted with relentless rigour. And in Ireland it
succeeded.
Saxon governments have always done the piper the honour of regarding
him as an exponent and supporter of national sentiment.
Even in Scotland the years between 1747 and 1782, when the iniquitous
Disarming Act was repealed, were very nearly fatal to the continued
existence of the bagpipe as a national institution; and it was the
Regular Army which saved it--though no one could ever accuse the
military authorities of unduly favouring the instrument. Even General
Officers have publicly sneered at them--as when Wolfe at Quebec
contemptuously refused to allow the pipes of the Fraser Highlanders
to play, or when Sir Eyre Coote in 1778 described them as a "useless
relic of the barbarous ages."
Both generals had to withdraw what they had said.
The opinion of the Court Martial which tried poor James Reid, that
his bagpipe "was, in the eye of the law, an instrument of war," was
after all as shrewd an expression of the truth as their sentence was
harsh.
In later times the pipes in the army have received little official
recognition. In 1858, when the King's Own Scottish Borderers applied
for their pipers to be placed on the establishment, the Commander in
Chief grudgingly consented "as the permission for these men is lost
in time," but on condition that they were not to cost the public
anything as regards their clothing.
Nor has the modern War Office shown more sympathy to an institution
whose value, even on theoretical grounds, should have been
recognised. The ancient and honourable title of Pipe Major has been
abolished and that of "sergeant piper" has been substituted. Pipers
themselves, on mobilisation, are returned to the ranks with the
exception of six men. In Lowland regiments, indeed, the piper, though
tolerated, is not officially recognised at all.
A bandsman may in due course become a first-class warrant officer--in
one or two units, indeed, he has attained commissioned rank; but the
"sergeant piper" remains a sergeant, and can hope for nothing more.
This, surely, is an injustice which is remediable at small cost to
the nation.
The apathy of the War Office in regard to the training of pipers
as pipers is another matter which is in urgent need of reform.
Commanding officers and pipe presidents are sometimes pipers
themselves--though not always; it is absurd to leave to them the
responsibility of training men in the art. The time has come for
a thorough reform of the whole system and method of training of
military pipe bands.
THE PIPES IN THE WAR, 1914-1918
THE WESTERN FRONT
During the autumn[2] and winter of 1914-15 pipers, for obvious
reasons, had few opportunities of attracting much attention, still
less of performing their highest duty, viz. playing their companies
into action. They were necessarily, on account of the extreme
shortage of men, for the most part employed in the ranks; and in many
of the old Regular battalions pipe bands disappeared altogether.
For a time it seemed that the critics were right, and that in warfare
in the twentieth century there was no longer a place for a class of
man which was destined to disappear, as the bard and the harper had
done in days lang syne.
This view was widely held, and in some regiments was never modified.
But gradually, as attacks became more frequent and movements set
in, and as the British Army grew stronger in numbers, the position
changed, and the piper became more than an invaluable marching
instrumentalist or performer at _ceilidhs_ in billets.
The first occasion on which pipers played, or tried to play, their
companies into action was at Cuinchy on 25th January 1915, when the
1st Black Watch suffered such heavy casualties in advancing through
deep mud up to their knees.
It was at Neuve Chapelle in March 1915 that the company piper
really had his first chance of showing what he could do, as a
piper, in action. On this occasion the 20th Brigade had to carry
the stronghold of Moulin du Piètre, and lost very heavily; the 2nd
Gordons were in the main attack and the 6th Gordons, a Territorial
unit, in reserve. The 6th Gordons were called upon to support their
comrades of the old Regular Army, and advanced, headed by their
pipes and drums, with a rush which carried many of them beyond their
objective.
From that time onwards, right up to the end of the war, pipers
have repeatedly played their units into action, in spite of the
unfavourable conditions resulting from modern rifle and artillery
fire and gas, and have established the standard of gallantry in this
respect which has been at once the admiration of all observers and an
incentive to their successors to emulate them.
During the first weeks' heavy fighting, in April-May 1915, on the
left of the attenuated British line of the Ypres salient, the pipers
of Canadian battalions took a prominent part. In their advance on
the St. Julien wood the 16th Canadians were led by their company
pipers, two of whom were killed and two wounded while playing; their
places were at once taken by others, who played the battalion through
the German trenches at the heels of the retiring enemy to the tune
"We'll tak' the guid auld way." In many subsequent actions these men
distinguished themselves in the same way.
After the failure of the first attack on the German line at Rue des
Bois on 9th May 1915, in the action of Richebourg-Festubert, the 1st
Black Watch were played to a fresh attack by their company pipers.
"With their characteristic fury they had vanished into the smoke, and
the only evidence that remained was the sound of the pipes." When
they reached the German trenches a piper, Andrew Wishart, stood on
the parados playing until he was wounded. Another piper, W. Stewart,
was awarded the D.C.M. on this occasion.
The same thing happened in the case of the 2nd Black Watch at
Festubert, the companies being led by their pipers. Of these men
two, Pipers Gordon and Crichton, were specially mentioned for their
gallantry. The Seaforth pipers, too, suffered heavily in this as in
many later actions--"Caber Feidh" has often been heard along that
line which looked so weak, but was too strong for the Germans.
In the action at Festubert on the 17th May the 4th Camerons got
further than any other battalion, and were played in by their pipe
major, J. Ross, and four pipers. These men got through untouched,
though their pipes were all injured.
Later again, on 16th June 1915, when the Hooge salient was
straightened by the 3rd Division, the attack was led by the 8th
Brigade, and the enemy front and support lines were taken. On this
occasion Pipe Major Daniel Campbell, although wounded, played his
battalion, the 1st Royal Scots Fusiliers, over the top.
Dawn was just breaking when the Pipe Major scrambled out on the
parapet and started playing. The men raced forward after him until
stopped by uncut wire. In the hand-to-hand fighting which ensued the
Pipe Major threw aside his pipes and, catching up a bayonet, joined
in the attack.
It was during the Ypres fighting, where gas was first used against
us, that an incident occurred of which the facts are as stated, but
unfortunately it has been found impossible to get the names of the
men concerned.
"The men, looking into the storm of shells that swept their course
and at the awful cloud of death now almost on them, wavered, hung
back--only for a moment. And who will dare to blame them?
"Two of the battalion pipers who were acting as stretcher bearers
saw the situation in a moment. Dropping their stretcher they made
for their dug-out and emerged a second later with their pipes.
They sprang on the parapet, tore off their respirators and charged
forward. Fierce and terrible the wild notes cleft the air ...
after fifteen yards the pibroch ceased; the two pipers, choked and
suffocated with the gas fumes, staggered and fell."[3]
Although in these earlier actions pipers had done much to maintain
the traditions of the past they had never had the opportunities
of distinguishing themselves that came to them during the great
operations about Loos in September 1915. The attack of two army
corps, in which were thirty Scottish battalions, along a seven-mile
front, was a chance for these men, and one of which they were not
slow to avail themselves. Three pipers at least earned the title
of "The piper of Loos," and one of these, Daniel Laidlaw, of the
7th King's Own Scottish Borderers, was awarded the Victoria Cross;
but, in the general orgie of gallantry which characterised those
operations, individual pipers in very many cases won the highest
praise in their own units but escaped the official recognition they
had earned.
The attack by the 28th Brigade on the Hohenzollern Redoubt was
accompanied by fearful casualties; with uncut wire in front, in
an atmosphere heavily laden with gas, exposed to machine-gun fire
in front and flank, the 6th K.O.S.B., 10th and 11th H.L.I. and
9th Seaforths were decimated. The K.O.S.B. were played over the
top by their veteran Pipe Major, Robert Mackenzie, an old soldier
of forty-two years' service. He was severely wounded and died the
following day.
On the right of this Brigade the 26th had better luck, as the wire
was found to be more thoroughly cut. The 5th Camerons and 7th
Seaforths led the way followed by the 8th Gordons and 8th Black
Watch, and reached Fosse 8, where they hung on, though reduced to the
strength of a single battalion.
"The heroism of the pipers was splendid. In spite of murderous fire
they continued playing. At one moment, when the fire of the machine
guns was so terrific that it looked as if the attack must break down,
a Seaforth piper dashed forward in front of the line and started
'Caber Feidh.' The effect was instantaneous--the sorely pressed men
braced themselves together and charged forward. The Germans soon got
to realise the value of the pipes and tried to pick off the pipers."
In this one attack the 5th Camerons had three pipers killed and eight
wounded. Further south the pipers of the 2nd and 6th Gordons led
their companies in the costly attack on Hulluch and the Quarries. An
officer of the Devons, on their flank, writes:
"I shall never forget those pipes.... During the charge a Gordon
piper continued playing after he was down."
On the other side of the Hulluch road the 15th Division received its
baptism of fire, and lost 6000 men in the two days' fighting. One
of the battalions of the 46th Brigade, the 7th King's Own Scottish
Borderers, afforded an admirable example of the value of the pipes
in rallying men when the position is critical. The piper concerned,
Daniel Laidlaw, was awarded the Victoria Cross and the Croix de
Guerre. The _London Gazette_ Notification, which does not err on the
side of uncontrolled emotionalism, describes the award as follows:
"For most conspicuous bravery.... During the worst of the
bombardment, when the attack was about to commence, Piper Laidlaw,
seeing that his company was somewhat shaken from the effects of gas,
with absolute coolness and disregard of danger, mounted the parapet,
marched up and down and played his company out of the trench. The
effect of his splendid example was immediate, and the company dashed
out to the assault. Piper Laidlaw continued playing his pipes until
he was wounded."
The evidence of eye-witnesses shows that, at the time, a cloud of gas
was settling down on the trench and there was heavy machine-gun fire.
Laidlaw played "Blue Bonnets over the Border," and the effect on the
men was indescribable; as they followed him over the top he changed
to "The Standard on the Braes of Mar." The old tune was surely never
played to better purpose; and if Laidlaw's action stood alone, if he
were the only piper during the war who stimulated a company at the
moment when things were at their worst, surely that achievement amply
supports the view that, even in the warfare of to-day, _piob mhor_
is an instrument of war which can justify all claims made for it. As
it is, Piper Laidlaw, "the Piper of Loos," stands as type of a class
of men who, throughout the war, have lived up to the traditions of a
great past.
Another piper of the same battalion, Douglas Taylor, being wounded
and unable to play, spent thirty-six hours bringing in gassed men
without relief, until he himself was dangerously wounded. Further
on, the 44th Brigade--the 8th Seaforths, 7th Camerons, 9th Black
Watch and 10th Gordons--made the historic charge which captured
Loos and then went on, until, for want of support, they could get
no further and were compelled to retire. They rallied on Hill 70
round a tattered flag made out of a Cameron kilt. The battalions of
this brigade were played into and beyond Loos; and, when they were
widely scattered and mixed up, pipers played to rally the men of
their own battalions. Among many others, Piper Charles Cameron of the
11th Argylls stood out in the open playing unconcernedly, and was
thereafter known in his battalion as "the Piper of Loos."