Peter Bain’s Bagpipe – Part 2

I was contacted by the current owner, Peter Aumonier, and a previous student of my great-grandfather’s, Malcolm McRae, writes John Gillies. Malcolm purchased the pipes on behalf of Donald Bain who took them with him to New Zealand after my great-grandfather’s death.

Peter and I were able to video call so I was able to see the pipes, a beautiful set of 1908 hallmarked silver and ivory Hendersons, with a unique serpent engraving. Malcolm’s email records the whereabouts of the pipes better than I ever could:  

‘I had gone from Australia to live in Scotland for two years, 1967/68, to further my piping. I was going to Robert Brown at Balmoral for piobaireachd (my teacher in Australia, Peter Davidson, had struck up a friendship with Brown during Peter’s one season in Scotland in 1924!). 

‘I was in Glasgow initially, and met up with a New Zealand piper, Donald Bain, who was there (with a young family) for the piping. I had met up with Peter Bain, who was very friendly towards the “overseas” pipers, and I went to him for weekly lessons in light music. His wife was also very obliging, and had a great sense of humour, making fun of the pipers and the serious attention they gave to their pursuit. At first I thought she was rather dismissive of the whole piping scene, but I realised that she had had to live with it all her married life, and humour was her means of survival!

‘Donald Bain was fanatical about his bagpipe – it was rarely going to his satisfaction – and he borrowed Peter Bain’s pipe to play during the 1968 season, and was very successful with it. 

‘Both Donald and I had decided to return to our respective countries at the end of 1968. Peter was a judge at Cowal that year, and I won the ‘best dressed piper’, judged by Peter – doubtless a consolation prize, as he knew I was going home.

‘In 1974 I returned to Scotland, with a new wife, and we stayed 30 years. When Peter Bain died we were living in Strathglass, west of Inverness. I knew Angus MacPhee, an art teacher at Inverness High School, who had boarded with Peter and his wife in Glasgow when Angus had been studying, and somehow learned that Peter’s widow had asked Angus to help her to find a buyer for Peter’s bagpipe.

‘I remember speaking to Angus on the telephone, and making an offer for the pipe on behalf of Donald Bain, who was keen to buy the pipe which had helped with his successes in 1968. I ended up buying the pipe on Donald’s behalf and it went to New Zealand with Donald the following summer.

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‘Some years later I was judging the piping at Glenurquhart Games with Angus MacPhee. Peter Aumonier, from Canada, came up to play, but before he could begin, Angus (who had been staring at Peter A’s pipe) said, ‘Where did you get that bagpipe?’ Peter said he’d bought it from Murray Henderson (who was, or had been. in partnership with Jim McIntosh in USA and they had dealt in second-hand bagpipes). Angus had recognised the pipe as having been Peter Bain’s, with which he was very familiar from his student days in Glasgow, and which he had sold for Peter’s widow.

‘Donald Bain had taught Murray Henderson before Murray went to Scotland in 1973, and I surmised that (probably unwisely) Donald had fallen out of love with the pipe and had either sold it to Murray or had asked Murray to find a buyer.‘

We know that the pipes were my great-grandfather’s and the trail from him onwards, but I feel it will be rather difficult to trace their origins from 1908 until around 1926 when he joined the army. Peter A and I believe that the set was given to him during his time in the army at one point, as I’m sure the Scots Guards had contracts from Hendersons and a lot of other reputable makers during that time.

The pictures I have of him during his time in the Scots Guards show him having two separate sets of bagpipes, both different to the ones that Peter A now owns. Unless in the second image, the engraving was added later on which could be a possibility albeit unlikely.

The first is a picture of him at ‘The Lump’ in Portree during the Skye Highland Games [top]. Under his arm are a set that has ivory ferrules, projecting mounts and ring caps. The second image is taken on the set of the film ‘Cottage To Let’ in 1941. He is holding a set that has ivory projecting mounts as well as silver ferrules and ring caps.

Anyway, I consider the mystery solved and I’d like to thank Piping Press again for publishing my request. I am delighted that the pipes are still going 117 years later and I am incredibly grateful to you, Malcolm and Peter for taking the time to help me with my query. 

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