Category: History

History: ‘Scotch Piper and the Dancing Girl’ – Part 3

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We conclude our interview of an itinerant piper, originally from Peterhead he says, and formerly of the 93rd Regiment. Given his references to the MacGregors, it is possible that he was one of that clan. See more here. This interview is dated 1851 and is by journalist Henry Mayhew. In this concluding excerpt the piper avers that the Lowland Scot is tight with his money when compared to the Highlander….

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History: ‘Scotch Piper and the Dancing Girl’ – Part 1

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We are grateful to reader Francis Chamberlain for his research and for forwarding this article to us. It is a historically interesting account of an interview by a Victorian age journalist Henry Mayhew. Mayhew was a ‘street journalist’ who approached and interviewed street musicians, vendors, costers, thieves, prostitutes etc. of the period. This article appeared in ‘London Labour & The London Poor’, 1851. It features an (unfortunately) unnamed piper of…

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History: ‘Scotch Piper and the Dancing Girl’ – Part 2

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We continue with the second part of Victorian journalist Henry Mayhew’s interview with an unnamed itinerant piper of the 1850s and a veteran of the 93rd regiment. Here our hero tells us of the money he can make in various parts of the kingdom, how it is cheaper to live in Scotland than London (some things never change), how he has kept poor health since leaving the Army, how best…

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Iain MacPherson MM, the Man and His Pipes

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Several readers contacted Piping Press after our article on the pipes belonging to the late Iain MacPherson, brother of the more famous Donald, but an expert piper in his own right. Piping historian Jeannie Campbell, who knew Iain well, was the first to get in touch. In addition to her comments, we are grateful to Jeannie for supplying the pictures of Iain: ‘Iain MacPherson’s pipes were Kintail, mounted with imitation…

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Bid to Identify Iain MacPherson’s Pipes

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I was taught by Donald MacPherson and remember him talking about his brother Iain who died mid 1990s and that he lived abroad. He spoke very highly of how good he was but how he was not really into solo competition. By Bruce Erskine The reason for this article is that I had the great pleasure recently of playing Iain’s pipes. My friend Willie Kidd, who is a little older…

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