THE PIPES OF WAR

GLASGOW

TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW

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

GLASGOW

MACLEHOSE, JACKSON & CO.

PUBLISHERS TO THE UNIVERSITY

1920

[Pg v]

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.

D. Haig F.M.
6 Dec^r 1918

[vi]
[vii]

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[viii] 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.

[ix]

CONTENTS

[xi]

ILLUSTRATIONS

[Pg 1]

THE PIPES OF WAR

BY

BREVET-COL. SIR BRUCE SETON, BART.
OF ABERCORN, C.B.

[2]
[3]

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[4] 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.

[5]

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[6] 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[7] 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[8] 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.

[9]

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 [10]similar. This instrument is essentially a single drone bagpipe, and is to be found all over India, in Yunnan and other parts of China.

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[11] 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 [12]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.

[13]

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.

[14]

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:

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.

[15]

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.

[16]

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.

[17]

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.

[18]

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[19] 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"[20] 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[21] 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."

[22]

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[23] 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."

The shattered remnants of the 15th Division were withdrawn in the evening from the blood-stained slopes of Hill 70, but the battalions were played in by their own pipers. The 9th Black Watch numbered only 100 of all ranks and one piper; the 7th Cameron pipers were practically annihilated, the 8th Seaforths lost ten, and others suffered in similar degree.

It is a far cry from Hill 70 to Scaur Donald, and they were only regimental pipers, but to these brave men the words of the old song are surely applicable.

In the fighting subsidiary to the main action of Loos, at Mauquissart and in the neighbourhood of Neuve Chapelle, the 2nd Black Watch pipers distinguished themselves greatly. They played their companies into and beyond the first line of German trenches. One of them, A. Macdonald, stood playing on the German parapet while the position was being cleared, and then on, through a hurricane of fire, over three lines of trenches, until dangerously wounded. For this he was given the D.C.M.

Three others, J. Galloway, R. Johnstone and David Armit, did precisely the same; and yet another, David Simpson, behaved with such gallantry that he also came to be known as "the Piper of Loos," the third of the brave trio to earn that honourable title. He had already played over three lines of German trenches, and was leading towards the fourth when he was killed. Johnstone, on this occasion, played till he fell gassed.

Throughout the long succession of actions which punctuated the Somme operations in 1916, the pipes continued to be much in evidence, and refer[24]ences to them and to their effect upon the men during that bloody fighting are frequent in the contemporary reports of observers, and in private letters subsequently published. French reports also have placed on record their admiration for the company pipers of Scottish regiments. "Some of the finest work," writes one well-known French military writer, "was accomplished at the very outset by the Highlanders, who carried the trenches in lightning fashion, urged on by the inspiriting music of their pipes."

The fighting at Loos had shown, on a comparatively small scale, that the pipes, when freed from the restrictions placed upon their employment by the exigencies of trench warfare, were still capable of fulfilling their historic rôle in open fighting The gallantry of the pipers at Hulluch and Hill 70 was worthy of the units they led, and established a record which was hard to beat; but for months on end their great achievements were emulated by those of their successors in the new armies which had poured into the field.

The opening attack on the 1st July affords numerous examples of pipers playing their companies into action, and a few may be taken as representative of the whole.

In the attack by the 32nd Division the 17th H.L.I, succeeded, with a loss of over 500 men, in capturing and holding part of the Leipzig redoubt, though unsupported for a considerable time. The Commanding Officer writes:

"I told the Pipe Major to play; he at once responded, getting into a small hollow, and playing and greatly heartening the men as they lay there hanging on to the captured position. Pipe Major Gilbert showed a total disregard of danger and played as if he were on a route march. For this action he obtained the Military Medal."

In the advance on Mametz on the same day the 2nd Gordons were led by their company pipers. An officer of an English battalion in the 20th Brigade describes how "we heard their pipes play these fellows over. It sounded grand against the noise of shells, machine guns and rifle fire. I shall never forget them."

The same thing occurred later when the battalion attacked the orchards of Ginchy. On both occasions the casualties were very heavy.

PIPER DANIEL LAIDLAW, V.C., 7TH KING'S OWN SCOTTISH BORDERERS
At Loos
From the Drawing by Louis Weirter, R.B.A.

[25]

At Fricourt Pipe Major David Anderson of the 15th Royal Scots stood out in front of the battalion until he was wounded, and played across shell-beaten ground under heavy fire. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre.

The two battalions of Tyneside Scottish were similarly played to their attack on La Boiselle and the ridge in front of it on the opening day of the battle of the Somme. A correspondent who was present says:

"The Tynesiders were on our right, and, as they got the signal to advance, I saw a piper—I think he was the Pipe Major—jump out of the trench and march straight towards the German lines. The tremendous rattle of machine-gun and rifle fire completely drowned the sound of his pipes, but he was obviously playing as though he would burst the bag, and, faintly through the roar of battle, we heard the mighty cheer his comrades gave as they swarmed after him. How he escaped I can't understand, for the ground was literally ploughed up by the hail of bullets; but he bore a charmed life, and the last glimpse I had of him as we, too, dashed out showed him still marching erect, playing on regardless of the flying bullets and of the men dropping all round him."

Of the two battalions 10 pipers were killed and 5 wounded, and Pipe Major Wilson and Piper G. Taylor both got the Military Medal. Many of these pipers, having played their companies up to the German trenches, took an active part in the fighting as bombers.

Again, at Longueval on 14th July, regimental pipers were conspicuous. As the 26th Brigade—8th Black Watch, 10th Argylls, 9th Seaforths, and 5th Camerons—commenced their advance, they were exposed to frontal and enfilading machine-gun fire, and shrapnel mowed them down; but their pipers led the way, and the men followed cheering and shouting.

"Where we were the brunt of the action fell on two New Army battalions of historic Highland regiments. Their advance was one of the most magnificent sights I have ever seen. They left their trenches at dawn, and a torrent of bullets met them. They answered immediately—with the shrill music of the pipes, and, indifferent apparently to the chaos around them, pushed steadily on towards their objective."

[26]

Describing the attack by the 10th Argylls, another observer writes:

"We came under a blistering hot fire, but the men never hesitated. In the middle of it all the pipes struck up "The Campbells are coming," and that made victory a certainty for us. We felt that whatever obstacles there barred our path they had to be overcome.... The last fight was the worst of all. It was at the extreme end of the village, where the enemy had possession of some ruined houses. They had a clear line of fire in all directions, and we were met with a murderous hail of fire. For a moment the men wavered. I doubted if they were equal to it. Then a piper sprang forward, and the strains broke out once more. The attacking line steadied and dashed at the last stronghold of the Huns. Their line snapped under our onslaught."

On this occasion the Pipe Major, Aitken, a man of sixty, was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. One of the pipers referred to in the above incident was James Dall, and his Commanding Officer considers his action in playing the regimental march at this juncture was the means of his company gaining their objective; the other was D. Wilson, who was also mentioned in despatches with Dall.

Of the attack by the 9th Seaforths a wounded officer writes:

"We swept on until we finally carried the German trench with a rousing cheer to the strain of the pipes. The heroism of the pipers was splendid. In spite of murderous fire they kept playing on. At one moment, when the fire was so terrific it looked as if the attack must break down, one of the pipers dashed forward and started playing. The change could be felt at once, the sorely pressed men gave a mighty cheer and dashed forward with new zeal."

North of Longueval the 1st Gordons made a furious attack, on the 18th July, and on this occasion they were led by their pipers.

"They were out of sight over the parapet, but we could hear at intervals their shouts of 'Scotland for ever!' and the faint strains of the pipes. Then we saw them reappear, and then came prisoners."

Similar accounts were given of the 6th and 7th Gordons. In the 6th Gordons Piper Charles Thomson had his arm blown off while playing. "The[27] gallantry of these men who wear the tartans of the old Scottish clans would seem wonderful if it were not habitual with them. Their first dash for Longueval was one of the finest exploits of the war. They were led forward by the pipers, who went with them, not only towards the German lines, but across them and into the thick of the battle.... In that September fighting the pipe major of a Gordon battalion played his men forward and then was struck below the knee; but he would not be touched by a doctor until the others had been tended. He was a giant of a man and so heavy that no stretcher could hold him, so they put him in a tarpaulin and carried him back. Then he had his leg amputated and died."[4]

On the 3rd September the 4th Black Watch were played into action and had to capture a village. According to an eye-witness:

"It was magnificent to see these men charge up the narrow street leading to the second barricade. Amid the ruined houses on each side the enemy were posted. At the moment when it was hottest the strains of the pipes were heard. The men answered with a cheer and swept steadily on over the barricade and through the ruins; and the village was ours."

Of a Seaforth battalion a similar story is told:

"The men simply raced into the storm of bullets ... at last it became too terrible for any human being to stand against it. The attacking lines melted away, the men seeking what cover could be found.... It was here that the pipers of the Seaforths had their chance. They took it. As the men advanced again to the attack they were cheered on by the strains of the pipes, which could just be heard. The men dashed through, clearing out the enemy as they went."

During the attack on Beaumont Hamel in October, as in the earlier fighting at Thiepval, the pipers of the 15th H.L.I. lost very heavily when leading their companies.

Such instances of the bravery of pipers and of the stimulus afforded by the pipes to men in action became matters of almost every-day occurrence, and, though everyone recognised the tremendous losses that were the result of their exposure, there were occasions when those losses were more[28] than compensated for at the time by the results obtained. Everywhere, at Contalmaison, Martinpuich, Pozières, Delville Wood, wherever Scottish troops were employed, their pipers played their historic rôle, and, to quote Philip Gibbs, "over the open battlefields came the music of the Scottish pipes, shrill above the noise of gunfire."

Nor were the pipers of purely Scottish regiments left to establish these records of bravery unchallenged. They had keen rivals in battalions of overseas Scots, notably the South African Scottish and the Canadians.

During the fighting for Delville Wood in July the South Africans were torn to pieces by shell fire. The remains of the battalion hung on for days, losing all their officers but the colonel. When relief came their pipers headed the blackened and weary warriors out of the wood of death.

Similarly, the 16th Canadian Scottish pipers maintained the fine reputation they had earned on the Ypres salient. When the battalion moved up to the attack on the Regina trench on 8th October, there was keen competition among the pipers as to who should be allowed to play them over. "Four pipers, Richardson, Park, M'Kellar and Paul marched ahead of the battalion with the Commanding Officer for a distance of half a mile under intense machine-gun fire and escaped scatheless. They could be heard clearly as they played 'We'll take the good old way,' and, as they passed, wounded men lying in shell holes raised themselves on their elbows and cheered them. When they got near the German line the battalion encountered uncut wire which, being unusually heavy, took some time to cut. While this was going on Piper Richardson played up and down outside the wire for twenty minutes in the face of almost certain death.... Shortly afterwards a company sergeant major was wounded, and Richardson volunteered to take him out. After he had gone he remembered he had left his pipes behind. He left the sergeant major in safety in a shell hole and returned. He was never heard of again."

This brave man was awarded a posthumous V.C., the second piper to obtain this coveted distinction. Piper Paul was subsequently given the Military Medal.

[29]

At the capture of the Vimy Ridge on 9th April, 1917, by the Canadians, the pipers of some of their battalions took a prominent part. On this occasion the 16th Canadian Scottish repeated what they had done in previous engagements, their companies being led by pipers. The pipers concerned were Pipe Major Groat and Pipers M'Gillivray, M'Nab, M'Allister, M'Kellar and Paul, and they advanced a distance of over a mile under heavy fire without any casualties. The Pipe Major was awarded the Military Medal.

Similarly the 25th Canadians had their pipers out in this action, and Piper Walter Telfer, who went on playing after being severely wounded, was given the Military Medal; Piper Brand got the same decoration.

Later on, in the fighting round Arras, a battalion of the Camerons was played to the attack:

"When the order came our men went over with right good will. It was a thrilling moment, especially when the pipes struck up the Camerons' march. I believe it was that music, at that particular moment, which made it possible for us to go through the ordeal that followed."

Once again "The March of the Cameron Men" was the undoing of an enemy which had to stand up against the Camerons; and in one part of the line, when the attack was most furiously resisted, the company piper changed his tune to the old "Piobaireachd Dhomnuil Duibh"—

An account of the few minutes before "zero" by a piper of this battalion appeared in the Scottish Field ("Pipes of the Misty Moorland," John M'Gibbon), and affords a good example of the steadying effect of the pipes in a period of great strain on morale:

"I looked down at the company and I could see they were shaken.... I slung my rifle over my back and took up the pipes; that cheered them. I played through two or three tunes and then birled up 'Tullochgorum.' They fairly hooched it and stamped time with their feet. It was close [30]on 'zero' ... when I changed to 'The March of The Cameron Men.' Our guns burst out with drum fire behind us ... and the men jumped the parapet like deer and raced over the broken ground at the double. I kept up 'The Cameron Men.' ... I reached the parapet of the first enemy trench, when I 'stopped one' with my leg, and down I went in a heap."

The pipes were again to the front in the fighting for Hill 70 on the Lens-Loos line in August, 1917. It was surely appropriate enough that, in the advance over the very country in which so many Scottish regiments had fought, with only temporary success, two years before, the pipes should again be at the head of the units which recaptured those blood-soaked positions.

An officer, describing the advance of the 13th Royal Highlanders of Canada, says:

"Our advance was resumed and we swarmed over the top at three different points. Away to the left, which was the objective of our advance, the strains of the pipes could be heard, and across the hills, where so many Scottish lads had fallen two years ago, there burst a loud triumphant cheer as the Canadian Highlanders pressed on to complete their work."

And so it happened that the gallant lads of the 15th Division were avenged.

Opportunities for pipers continued during the later fighting in 1917-18. Records of individual companies and platoons show that on several occasions the pipes encouraged the men to further effort. In one case near Albert, a company of the Black Watch was temporarily cut off from its supports after getting into a German trench and suffered heavily; the men were crushed by superior numbers, and the prospect was black until the piper, who was present as a stretcher bearer, started playing. This had a great effect on the company, which held on to the position until reinforcements arrived.

In the fighting about Albert in August, 1918, several instances occurred of pipers playing their companies to the attack.

On the whole, however, at this stage in the war, it was being found increasingly difficult to renew the depleted ranks of the pipe bands, and most regiments were simply driven to keeping their pipers out of action as far as possible, except on special occasions. But there were still enough left of them to lead their units ever further eastward as the tide of war rolled back.

[31]

Incidents frequently occurred showing that their experience of four years' fighting had not damped the ardour of pipers in action.

On one occasion a 16th Canadian piper went into action playing on top of a tank, and was killed. At Amiens, the pipers of the 16th and 48th Highlanders of Canada played the battalions to the attack in August, 1918.

As the German defeat became increasingly apparent and the British forces drove the enemy before them, pipers again got an opportunity of leading their companies to the attack. During the fighting about Albert-Arras in August, 1918, Scottish troops were heavily engaged. Lieut. Edouard Ross, of the French interpreter staff, describes an attack by a battalion of the Black Watch in which a detachment with a piper got into the German trenches; they were all wounded, and their position was dangerous, but the piper started playing, and the sound rapidly brought reinforcements, who captured the position.

GALLIPOLI

In Gallipoli, as on the Western front, pipers added lustre to their reputation; and incidents which occurred to some of them showed that they were stout fighting men even after their pipes were put out of action.

The nature of the terrain generally precluded the more spectacular duty of playing their units to the attack, and the heavy casualties in the force and the constant demand for men resulted in their being frequently employed in the ranks; nevertheless, several cases did occur of company pipers acting as such.

On 12th July, 1916, when the 6th H.L.I. captured three lines of Turkish trenches, Pipers W. Mackenzie and M'Niven played at the head of their companies; M'Niven was killed, and Mackenzie, putting down his pipes, took part in the fighting with a Turkish shovel and did great execution.

On the same day the pipers of the 7th H.L.I. led their battalion into action, and only one of them was wounded. Of these men one, Piper Kenneth MacLennan, was subsequently awarded the Distinguished Conduct[32] Medal "for playing his pipes during the attack and advancing with the line after his pipes had been shattered by shrapnel, and heartening the wounded under fire." Another, Piper Cameron, played his company over three lines of trenches, with a revolver hanging on his wrist, and earned a mention in despatches; and Piper Macfarlane played through two bayonet charges until two of his drones were blown off by shell fragments.

Writing of the fighting on 12th July, a wounded officer writes:

"The sound of the pipes undoubtedly stirred them on, a piper belonging to each of the two battalions, 5th Argylls and 7th H.L.I., having mounted the parapets of their own trenches, and there in full danger played their comrades on to victory."

In the attack on Achi Baba there was no opportunity for pipers as such, though Pipe Major Andrew Buchan played the 4th Royal Scots "over the top," and, as an officer writes: "fearless of all danger went along the line and did much to hearten the men." Buchan was killed.

Of the pipers of the 5th Royal Scots none survived the early days of the fighting on the Peninsula. An officer of the regiment wrote that they "gloriously upheld the traditions established long ago." In the Achi Baba fighting four were killed and four wounded.

Casualties in action and by disease took heavy toll of the pipers of all these battalions, and after a few months on the Peninsula the pipe bands temporarily ceased to exist.

Even before the withdrawal of the force from Gallipoli it was found that so many casualties had occurred among the pipers of the battalions engaged that the bands were well on the way to extinction. Consequently, under the able management of Colonel Maclean of Pennycross a divisional band numbering twelve pipers and six drummers—all that remained—was organised out of the wreck of the pipe bands of the 52nd Division. That band, though never sent into action, individually or collectively played frequently under shell fire; and "Hey Johnnie Cope" could be heard quite distinctly every morning in the firing line up to within a few days of the evacuation.

THE COMRADES WE LEFT IN GALLIPOLI.
Set by Mrs. A. C. MACDIARMID
From the Pipe Tune Composed by
Col. H. A. C. MACLEAN C.M.G. of Pennycoss.

[33]

The divisional band served on the Desert front in Egypt, and then accompanied the Division right into Palestine, playing the leading battalion, the 4th K.O.S.B.'s, over the frontier to "Blue Bonnets over the Border."

Later on, more pipers and more Scottish units appeared; and so we find the 2nd London Scottish being played into Jerusalem, and "Dumbarton's Drums" sounding at the head of the Royal Scots as they took over the guard on the Holy Sepulchre—as is the right of "Pontius Pilate's Bodyguard."

SALONIKA

Opportunities for the employment of pipers as such were comparatively rare in the course of the Salonika operations, for obvious reasons. At Karadzakot Zir, however, the 1st Royal Scots pipers played their companies to the attack on the village, and the C.O. reported that, in his opinion,

"It was largely due to the presence of the pipers with the leading wave that the enemy evacuated their trenches and retired in disorder."

MESOPOTAMIA

Playing the pipes in the Golden East is a far greater effort than it is at home, and every piper who has soldiered there knows how the heat and the dryness of the atmosphere affect his bag and reeds. But the cult of piob mhor thrives east of Suez, and at least as much enthusiasm is shown by regiments stationed in India as in a home station.

And when Scottish troops were called upon to take their part in the Mesopotamia operations, we find the pipes as prominent a feature in the fighting as they were on the Western front. At Sheikh Saad on 7th January, 1916, the 1st Seaforths—the "Reismeid Caber Feidh"—were played to the attack across absolutely open ground by their Pipe Major Neil M'Kechnie and other pipers. An officer who was present describes the incident as follows:

"As we advanced over the dead flat open desert the Turks suddenly opened a very heavy fire from well concealed trenches at a range of from 600 to 800 yards. The battalion immediately advanced by rushes towards[34] the enemy's position in spite of very heavy initial losses. Foremost among the men was our acting Pipe Major, M'Kechnie, who immediately struck up the regimental charge or 'onset,' 'Cabar Feidh.'

"His fine example as well as his music had a remarkable effect on the men at such a critical moment. He was shortly afterwards wounded, and had to drop behind as the lines went on."

In the same action the 2nd Black Watch were played in by their pipers just as they had been on many previous occasions in France. In the act of playing Corpl. Piper MacNee was mortally wounded. This brave man had been wounded before at Mauquissart and awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. The Pipe Major, John Keith, was awarded the D.C.M. for "gallant and distinguished service throughout the operations."

THE LAST STAGE

For four years and a half the pipes of war played their part in the greatest war in history; in the front, under conditions in which they could never have been expected to exist at all, they have led men to victory, have rallied them when victory eluded their grasp, and have marched them back undismayed by the tortures of battle; behind the lines they have headed the long columns of Scottish troops on their way up to the furnace in which the fate of nations was cast.

But, everywhere, they expressed the ideal of the race and led men to follow causes, even causes which appeared lost ones, through to the end.

When silence fell on the 11th November, 1918, along the blasted line where rival civilisations had so long struggled for mastery, the rôle of the pipes changed, and it was no longer the "onset" that the piper was impelled to play. The consummation of long effort had been attained—and what instrument more entitled to bear witness to the fact than the one which had sounded over the blood-stained slag-heaps of Loos, the shell-swept heights of Vimy?

As the British First Army entered Valenciennes, the pipers of a historic Scottish division played through the "place" opposite the Hotel de Ville,[35] and must have awakened in the old gabled houses memories of the centuries old alliance between the Lilies of France and the Thistle.

Further east, along the roads that led to Cologne, the pipes played unceasingly, as befitted the occasion, impressing on the population that this was indeed the coming of "Scotland the Brave."

And so, over the great Rhine bridge, the pipes of the 9th and Canadian Divisions led the way, and Germany learnt at last that when piob mhor sounds "Gabhaidh sin an rathad mor"[5] it generally attains its objective.

PIPERS IN THE RANKS

The piper is, first and last, a fighting man; and when a regiment is mobilised it at once loses most of its pipers. Whatever the strength of the band may have been in peace time, only the "sergeant piper"—a hideous official term for the pipe major—and five "full" pipers are normally retained as such. The remainder, while acting as pipers when opportunity offers—and designated accordingly—serve in the ranks.

During this war, and notably during the early years of it, it was often found necessary to make use of full and acting pipers in some purely military capacity, i.e. either in the ranks, or as Lewis gunners, bombers, orderlies, runners or stretcher bearers. This fact accounts for many of the honours awarded to pipers, and, at the same time, for the heavy casualties among them.

It is quite impossible to do justice to individuals or units in regard to the part they played in performing such duties; for those who obtained official recognition, in some form or other, hundreds have merely had the satisfaction of playing the game, in accordance with the rules laid down by all ranks of the British army. The few examples given in this place are typical of the whole.

At Festubert in June, 1915, the pipers of the 6th Seaforths worked continuously day and night, and brought 170 casualties from the front line to the dressing station; at Loos the 9th Black Watch lost nearly all[36] their pipers when similarly engaged, and at the two actions of Loos and Neuve Chapelle the 6th Gordons had two killed and ten wounded.

Again, the 2nd Royal Scots pipers lost heavily on the Somme, and were on one occasion highly commended for bringing water up to some newly captured trenches under heavy fire.

The comments of General Sir William Birdwood in a despatch to the Australian Government, though intended to apply to Australian stretcher bearers, are very applicable to pipers acting in this capacity, whether individually or collectively:

"Where all have done so well it is very hard to differentiate, but as a class the stretcher bearers have been beyond praise. Never for a second have they flinched from going forward time after time, absolutely regardless of the fire brought against them; and I so deeply regret that they should have suffered in consequence."

Another and most hazardous class of duty, which was largely performed by pipers in some battalions, was that of "runners" or despatch carriers; this often involved crossing heavily shelled country, and has resulted in many casualties. Notable cases have occurred of men carrying despatches through intense barrages, and some have received rewards; the majority of such cases, however, have necessarily been unnoticed.

Some men appear to have specialised in this duty, e.g. Pipe Major Matheson, 1st Seaforths, who got the D.C.M. "for gallant conduct on many occasions in conveying messages under heavy fire," and Lance-Corpl. Piper Dyce, 13th Royal Highlanders of Canada, who on one occasion carried a most urgent despatch through artillery barrage when badly wounded.

In other cases pipers, individually and collectively, have done admirable service in bringing up ammunition.

Many instances of acts of heroism by individual men are detailed below.

[37]

PIPERS ON THE MARCH

Playing the pipes in action, though essentially the most important, is, for obvious reasons, only one of the duties of the soldier piper. Every unit of an army is not always in close touch with the enemy, and every battalion puts in a good many miles of marching in a year in conditions which are rarely ideal and very often acutely miserable. It is here that the pipes have rendered such conspicuous service as the marching instrument par excellence; and the cult of the bagpipe has spread to units and nationalities which, before the war, would never have thought it possible that the company piper would become one of their most cherished institutions.

That Irish regiments should again adopt the national instrument that had played their ancestors on to the battlefields of France in 1286 is so natural as to need no comment; but when we find English and Australian units, battalions of the United States army, and ships of His Majesty's Navy, to say nothing of field ambulances and transport units, adopting the bagpipe, no further evidence is required to substantiate its claim to be a highly important feature of modern military organisation.

It is indeed to a recognition, in the very early days of the war, of the great value of the pipes in "exciting alacrity and cheerfulness in the soldier" that is due the fact that so many units have deliberately tried to keep their pipers out of harm's way, and have only allowed them, under protest, to accompany their companies into action, and then only in limited numbers. Commanding officers have appreciated that, as a stimulus to tired men, to men marching weary miles to take up a position, to men returning worn out from a spell of duty, the music of the pipes has proved invaluable.

Instances of this stimulating effect are too numerous to mention, but a few, taken from contemporary accounts of the war, may be regarded as typical.

The following incident in the retirement from Mons has frequently occurred elsewhere. "I shall never forget how one General saw a batch of Gordons and K.O.S.B. stragglers trudging listlessly along the road. He halted them. Some more came up, until there was about a company in[38] all, with one piper. He made them form fours, put the piper at the head of them, 'Now lads, follow the piper and remember Scotland,' and they all started off as pleased as Punch, with the tired piper playing like a hero."[6]

The Rev. Dr. Maclean, C.M.G., describes a case of the effect of the pipes on tired men:

"It was a sweltering hot day, and the road was deep with dust. The long snaky khaki column came marching steadily down the hill, silent under the weight of their accoutrements with the grinding heat of an April sun.... As the Scots came by he gave the sign to the piper. He stepped forward and struck up one of the great battle marches of our race. The scene that followed baffled description. A roar of cheering burst from the ranks."

Another instance,[7] by one who was himself in the ranks, may be regarded as typical. The regiment concerned was the Glasgow Highlanders, but the description is applicable to every Scottish regiment in the Army List:

"Kilometre after kilometre we marched, through the hottest hours of the middle day, and our feet and backs ached under the weight of all we carried, our faces were dabbled and streaked with dust and perspiration, and in our mouths was only dust to chew....

"Walking had become a purely mechanical exercise, our limbs controlled, as it seemed, by some power outwith us; our brains were numb and dazed with fatigue and the maddening persisting pain that was our every step. Blindly, dumbly, helplessly we staggered on ... in infinite weariness we dragged ourselves to the beginning of the street, and then—

"Then the pipes suddenly set the heavens and the earth dancing to the strains of 'Highland Laddie,' the regimental march of the Glasgows. And at the skirl of the pipes, and before the eyes of those critical spectators, every man braced himself, his step assumed as much of jauntiness as he could put into it, and he had a laugh and a jesting answer ready on his lips for every outsider who spoke to him.... It was something more potent than wine that put the boldness into their step, it was the sense [39]of the tradition and honour of their regiment: the feeling that on no account must they present other than a brave front to the world, that the one unpardonable offence would be to let the battalion down."

Examples could be multiplied indefinitely, but the best tribute to the value of the pipes as a marching instrument and in keeping the men cheery is, after all, the fact that regiment after regiment felt constrained to keep them out of action entirely—whether as pipers pure and simple or in other military capacities.

Statements to this effect have been received from nearly all the regiments whose views have been asked, commanding officers being almost unanimous in their opinion that, only where it is imperatively necessary, should a pipe band be exposed to the chances of annihilation inseparable from modern shell fire.

And in just the same manner as the pipes have helped battalions along the "via dolorosa" into action so they have, time and again, played them back to rest and comparative security. In some cases they had shared in the action itself, in others they waited until their services were required. Many commanding officers and observers have referred to this as one of the most important of their duties. In describing the return of a battalion, or what remained of it, from Longueval, Philip Gibbs writes:

"There was a thick summer haze about, and on the ridges the black vapours of shell bursts.... It was out of this that the Highlanders came marching. They brought the music with them and the pipes of war playing a Scottish love song, 'I lo'e na a laddie but ane.' Their kilts were caked with mud, they were very tired, but they held their heads up, and the pipers who had been with them played bravely ... and the Scottish love song rang out across the fields."

An officer of an Argyll battalion, writing of the days of trench fighting, says: "They have done much to hearten us on long marches. They came out of Bethune after Loos and played what was left of us back to billets." Another, in the Royal Scots, referring to the return of the battalion from Kemmel, says: "I shall never forget the effect on the men; as they struck up they fairly shouted themselves hoarse with delight."

[40]

"Wonderful pipes! The men get tired and would fall out, but the pipes make a unity of them. Invisible tendons and muscles seem to connect the legs of all files, and all move as one, mechanically, rhythmically, certainly. The strong are reduced to the step, the weak are braced up to it. All bear the strain and share the strain. So we go on, and the miracle is in the power of the music."[8]

A final quotation—one of a very great number received—reflects the opinion of all ranks:

"I have often seen a company just out of the trenches straggling along the road too weary to think of keeping in formation, let alone in step. On the first sound of the pipes these same men would double up to their place and march along with the best of them."

The ubiquity of the pipes on the Western front has been remarked by all observers. "The music of the pipes is now as much a part of the great orchestra of this war as the incessant rumbling of distant guns, as the swirl of traffic along the transport lines, as the singing of birds above No Man's Land.... And where there are pipes there are Scotsmen—Scots everywhere from the sea to St. Quentin, in old French market towns, and in Flemish villages ... and in camps behind the fighting line not beyond the reach of long range shells, and up in the trenches where death is very near to them.... As long as history lasts the spirit of France will salute the memory of these kilted boys and of all the Lowland Scots who have gone into the furnace fires of this war to the music of the pipes, and have fallen in heaps upon her fields. A thousand years hence, when the wind blows softly across the ground where they fought, old Scottish tunes will sound faintly in the ears of men who remember the past, and all this country will be haunted with the ghosts of Scotland's gallant sons."[9]

Nor has it been on the Western front alone that the value of the pipes has made itself appreciated. In every other theatre of war as well has "the tune with the tartan of the clan in it" been heard at the head of columns toiling through the dust and heat, or through pitiless rain. In Egypt and Gallipoli and the Holy Land, in Mesopotamia and the Balkans, [41]the pipes have been the prelude to great happenings. "Bundle and Go" in the early dawn of an Eastern day, "Soldier lie down" at night—these have been the preliminaries which led up naturally to "Cabar Feidh" in a hail of machine gun fire, or "Horo mo nighean donn bhoidheach" in the streets of captured Bagdad.

"Many a soldier sadly misses his pipe, which of course may not be lit on a night march; but to me a greater loss is the silence of those other pipes, for the sound of the bagpipes will stir up a thousand memories in a Highland regiment, and nothing helps a column of weary foot soldiers so well as pipe music, backed by the beat of a drum."[10]

When the British army advanced into German territory the pipers had an opportunity to play with an abandon that had never been felt before.

"Next day, with the skies still streaming, we made the longest continuous march, some 36 kilometres, and by that effort got well into Germany. The roads improved as we got farther on, but the tramp through the forest of Zitter was long, marshy, and melancholy. Our company was first after the pipers, and had the full benefit of the music all the way. And we wandered inward; inward, with our seeking and haunting Gaelic melodies, into the depths of the hanging, silent wood. It was strange how aloof nature seemed to these melodies. In Scotland, or even in France, all the hills and the woods would have helped the music. But in this German land all were cold toward us, and those endless pine trees seemed to be holding hands with fingers spread before the eyes to show their shame and humiliation. There was a curious sense that the road on which we trod was not our road, and that earth and her fruits on either hand were hostile.

"And how tired the men became, with half of them through the soles of their boots and with racking damp in their shoulders and backs from their rain-sodden packs. But we listened still whilst voluminous waves of melody wandered homeless over German wastes and returned to us,

[42]

or to the stirring strains of the 'March of the Battle of Harlaw,' or to the crooning, hoping, sobbing of 'Lord Lovat's Lament,' and so went on from hour to hour through the emptiness of Southern Germany. When we thought we had just about reached our camping ground for the night, we came to a guide post which showed it still to be seven kilometres on. But that was at the top of a long hill, and the road ran gently down through woods the whole way. The colonel sent a message to play 'Men of Portree.' The rain had stopped, and an evening sky unveiled a more cheerful light. So, with an easy inconsequent air, we cast off care and tripped away down to the substantial and prosperous bit of Rhineland called Hellenthal, well on our way to Cologne."[11]

The interminable marches are over and their goal has been attained; and the instrument which has a tune for every human emotion can now play "The Desperate Battle" in German towns with a safety which has been long unknown. To many a man, however, as he fingers his chanter, the feeling will come, as he thinks of the good men and true who never reached the 11th November, 1918, that the tune that is most appropriate is "Lochaber no more."

PIPE TUNES

Pipe tunes—as every piper knows—have local associations, associations with particular incidents, particular emotions; and in military piping this is never overlooked. In war everything has changed—everything but the elemental courage and passions of the men who are engaged in it; and, as piob mhor is essentially the instrument on which those elemental passions can be best expressed, it is not uninteresting to observe how individual pipers have resorted to particular tunes, to suit particular occasions. In many, perhaps in most, cases there were traditional or regimental reasons for playing one tune rather than another, and such tunes were often in the highest degree appropriate; but in other cases the individuality of the performer determined the choice.

Of a selection based on tradition the best authenticated instance is that of the Gordon piper who played Cogadh na Sith, "War or peace,"[43] during the Somme fighting. The tune itself, a piobaireachd composed by the great M'Crimmon some 400 years ago, was played by the Gordons at Waterloo and by a Cameron piper, Kenneth M'Kay, at Quatre Bras.

"[12]About the middle of June a draft of about a hundred and twenty men arrived in camp for the Gordons—the finest draft the commanding officer declared he had ever seen. On the 18th, they were ordered to the front. I found they had a piper with them, and immediately laid hold on him to play the men down to the station. I brought him up to my tent and provided him with a set of pipes which I had reserved for my own particular work.... I found something more interesting than that. His great-grandfather had been a piper in the regiment in the days of the Napoleonic war, and at the Battle of Waterloo he stood within the square and played the ancient Highland challenge-march 'Cogadh na Sith,' as the French cuirassiers hurled themselves upon the immovable ranks in vain.

"'John,' I said, 'this is the anniversary of Waterloo, and you will lead the men out to that very tune which your great-grandfather played on that great day.' I told the colonel, and his eyes gleamed as he said to me, 'Ah! padre, we'll do better than that. You will tell the men about it, and I will call them to attention, and your piper will play his tune in memory of the men of Waterloo.'

"And so it was done, and a thrilling incident it was as the men stood rigid and silent in full marching order, and the piper strode proudly along the ranks, sounding the wild, defiant challenge that stirred the regiment a hundred years before."

Regimental tunes appeal enormously to the men who hear and know them; it was probably as much the sound of "Blue Bonnets over the Border" as the sight of Piper Laidlaw piping along the parapet that made the men, shaken with shell fire and gas, go straight forward; and red hackles have followed "Highland Laddie" in circumstances when another tune might have failed to exert the same extraordinary influence. But, having played his regulation onset, the piper has an opportunity of suiting his own taste and selecting a tune appropriate musically and emotionally, as well as in name, to the occasion.

[44]

On many occasions when the choice of a tune has not been restricted by regimental custom or tradition, individual performers have made selections which indicated the remarkable mentality of the British soldier.

At Loos, where Pipers Simpson and M'Donald of the 2nd Black Watch played their company over the top and through the attack, the tune they commenced with was "Happy we've been a' thegither,"—only later changing into the ceremonial onset "Highland Laddie." To men in a trench who have suffered untold nerve strain waiting for Zero and who happen—as do most men in Highland regiments—to know one tune from another, no more appropriate combination of "onsets" could have been selected.

At Beaumont Hamel, when the 17th H.L.I. took the German trenches and had an opportunity of bombing out the occupants, Pipe Major Gilbert played another popular and very suitable tune, "The muckin' o' Geordie's Byre," and greatly encouraged the men in their task. This same tune has done duty on many similar occasions.

It was to "We'll tak the guid auld way" that the 16th Canadians attacked at Vimy, and many Cameron pipers have played the "Piobaireachd Dhomhnuill Duibh" in similar circumstances.

Another very favourite tune was "The Macgregor's Gathering" which was played with great effect in the capture of many villages during the Somme fighting.

A curious coincidence was the selection by the pipers of the 1st H.L.I. of "I'll gang nae mair tae yon toun" as they marched out of Marseilles on 1st November, 1914, on their way to the front. During the first six months they lost seven pipers killed, eight wounded and two taken prisoner, and the band ceased to exist.

"Baile Inneraora,"—otherwise "The Campbells are Coming"—was the tune to which the first Highland regiment of the Expeditionary Force, the 2nd Argylls, landed in France; from that time onward it has immortalised on every front, if that were necessary, the town of which Burns wrote:

[45]

The Argylls long ago took Burns' song and treated it with the contempt it deserves when they adopted "Baile Inneraora" as their "onset." It was played at the taking of Longueval, in the attack at Loos, and at the subsequent rally after that glorious disaster, and in many other actions.

During the fighting on the Somme for the heaps of ruins which had once been a French village, an incident occurred which takes us back to the legend connected with the pibroch "A Cholla, mo run." Long ages ago, when the Campbells heard they were going to be attacked by Coll Kiteach at Dunivaig, they set an ambush and captured the advance guard. All were hanged except the piper, who was given permission to play a lament over his comrades. The piper at once started the warning, which was heard and understood by his comrades,

The poor piper was instantly stabbed by the infuriated Campbells.

It is a far cry from those days, when men could converse to each other in pibroch, to 1916; but another tune—not "A Cholla, mo run"—was played by another piper in a French village when his party was cut off. Two officers, a sergeant, and a piper of an Argyll battalion, got separated from the main body, and found themselves unable to get away when the village was again attacked by our men. The small party at once started bombing the enemy from the rear, but the piper, appreciating the unpleasant possibility of their own presence not being recognised, struck up the regimental onset. This alarmed the Germans, who thought they were being attacked from a fresh quarter, and materially contributed to the success of the operation.

[46]

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENTS.

"Agus bha iad am measg uam fear treuna 'n an luchd-cuideachaidh 's a' chogadh."

To attempt to compile a complete record of the achievements of individual pipers or of the pipe bands of units is an impossible task; it would involve a review of the whole course of the war. A long time must elapse before the histories of battalions are completed, and even then we shall probably never know fully the extent to which their pipers have contributed to the attainment of success.

Throughout the war correspondence has been carried on with individuals who, in spite of their appalling environment, have found time to supply information. They at least have the satisfaction of knowing that to them is largely due the fact that brave acts have been saved from oblivion.

Such a review as follows is but a fragmentary one, based on information obtained from officers, N.C.O.'s and men of the battalions concerned—but almost never from individual pipers. Among these men there appears to have been a conspiracy of silence, and attempts to obtain fuller information as to the reason for the granting of awards or the names of pipers whose identity disappeared under the blue pencil of the Censor have proved in very many instances unavailing.

The omission from these pages of mention of achievements of pipers of many battalions must be regarded as indicating lack of space to record them, or of failure to obtain the desired information.

The original Expeditionary Force landed in France with seven Scottish battalions possessing pipe bands; when the armistice was signed the number of such units exceeded a hundred. Although on mobilisation the number of "full" pipers in a battalion is only six it must be remembered that there are always "acting pipers" serving in the companies who are available—until that source of supply is exhausted—to take the place of casualties; and it is safe to reckon that the 100 battalions have had more than 2500 pipers at various times.

The numbers that served in various units during the campaign varied enormously; in some, which freely utilised their pipers in the front line—in the ranks, as bearers, and as pipers in action—as many as seventy or eighty[47] have been borne on the strength at different times; in others, which kept these men invariably behind the front line, the casualties were negligible and comparatively few were used up.

This difference in method of employment largely explains the variations in the casualty lists and honours of different units; and, in some cases, it has been found impossible to obtain anything like complete information.

[54]

[55]

[57]

[60]

[63]

FOREIGNERS AND THE PIPES

Brought in contact as Scottish troops have been with those of our Allies it is not surprising that military pipers have attracted the attention of observers and writers who, before the war, knew nothing of their existence. From the early days of the war the pipes, the tartan and the kilt aroused the liveliest interest in France; and perhaps the sincerest tribute to them is the fact that, in their caricatures of the nations, the Germans usually depicted the British soldier as a particularly unattractive Highlander.

At first the French writers were mildly sarcastic about the players of the "cornemuse," and regarded them as an amiable weakness of the comrades of the "auld alliance"; but gradually they discovered that pipes and tartan were the outward and visible signs of a spirit which won their whole-hearted admiration, and then their attitude changed.

Describing an attack by the 51st Division a French observer wrote:

"Resolutely they crossed what seemed to be impossible ground ... they charged to the shrill sounds of the bagpipes ... they charged like heroes of Walter Scott—leurs bonnets à rubans et leur jupes de danseuses."

Though the Breton bignon, the cornemuse, the German dudelsackpfeife are no longer—if they ever were—instruments of war, the instinctive admiration for the pipes remains in the most unexpected quarters; and in France, Flanders, Italy, the Balkans, and even the occupied portions of Germany, "piob mhor" has aroused race memories long dormant. One effect of this is the demand which has recently arisen in Italy for pipes from this country; another is the fact that the French Government have added a painting of a piper by a French artist to the official collection of war pictures.

American observers were often very ignorant of the mysteries of the bagpipe. A writer in the Boston Evening Transcript, after eulogising the piper as a military institution, informs his readers that in the hands of a really skilled performer the strains of the pipes can be heard for a distance of six miles against the wind or ten miles if the conditions are favourable. The writer may have been of M'Crimmon descent, but his enthusiasm exceeded his powers of observation.

[64]

One thing is quite certain, viz., whatever their inmost feelings regarding the musical qualities of the pipes, foreigners generally appreciate their military value in war and share the opinion of the court-martial in 1746 that they must be regarded as an "instrument of war."

The Germans certainly were not slow in forming an estimate of the military value of the piper. From a very early stage in the war they learned to associate the instrument with a type of troops for whose mentality, as exhibited in the attack, they had more respect than sympathy, and the piper at once became a marked man whenever he went over the top. The casualties among pipers while playing would of themselves suggest that this was the case; but the statements of officer prisoners show that orders were given to pick off pipers for precisely the same reason as officers commanding platoons or companies.

THE PIPES IN CAPTIVITY

Even pipers fall into the hands of the enemy occasionally, but they were never allowed to take their instruments with them into captivity. Gradually, as "comforts," pipes were sent out to individual officers and men; and the following letter from an officer of the Gordon Highlanders who was at Friedberg Camp, indicates how popular pipe music became among his fellow-prisoners of the Allied armies.

PIPER KENNETH MACKAY, CAMERON HIGHLANDERS
At Quatre-Bras
From the Painting by Lockhart Bogle, by kind permission of the Officers of the 1st Cameron Highlanders

"Friedberg, 11/1/1917.

In Holland, in the internment camps, an organised pipe band was instituted by the writer of the above letter, and consisted of thirteen pipers of whom two were pipe majors.

[66]

MILITARY PIPE BANDS, AND REFORM

In preparing this record of the pipe bands of our Armies during the war the opportunity has been taken of consulting pipe presidents and pipe majors as to the present condition of military piping and the manner in which obvious defects might be remedied. Like other experts they exhibit divergences of opinion, sometimes as regards the nature of the defects, sometimes as to the best method of remedying them. In certain matters, however, there is absolute unanimity, and these are deserving of attention by the military authorities.

"Sergeant piper."—Throughout the Army there is, and has always been, a strong objection to the title of "sergeant piper," which in official parlance is employed instead of "pipe major." No one ever calls a pipe major a sergeant piper, except in returns; and withdrawal of this modern and indefensible title could result in nothing but good. As there is no financial aspect involved in the change, it would be a graceful and inexpensive concession to a body of men to whom the Army and the nation owe much.

Rank of the Pipe Major.—On another point there is absolute unanimity of opinion, viz., the rank of the pipe major. As responsible for a band possibly numbering twenty or more pipers, the pipe major ought to have the same rank as a bandmaster. To limit the career of a piper to the possibility of becoming a pipe major with the rank of sergeant is to prevent good men accepting the position; and many a man, seeing he can hope for no advancement, leaves the pipes and returns to the ranks, thus getting a chance of rising to warrant rank.

This question of rank has a most important bearing on the interests of piping generally, and is therefore a national one. As instructor to his men the pipe major should be a first-class performer himself, and this—although the public appear to be unaware of the fact—involves long and assiduous training. It is useless asking a man to attain the necessary standard of excellence for this purpose and to offer him the pay of a sergeant in return. The consequence is pipe majors are not always the best pipers—from the professional point of view—in their units; and this[67] ought to be remedied, even though it does cost the nation the difference between the emoluments of a warrant officer and of a sergeant in each unit.

The Appointment of "Piper."—Another necessary reform, which also has the merit of costing nothing, is the official recognition of "piper" as an appointment. In the Army "drummer" is an appointment, but a piper is a private.

One result of this is that, on mobilisation, all pipers revert to the ranks, excepting six (including the sergeant piper) per battalion. Apart altogether from the special liability to casualties among the "full pipers" when playing in action, it is evident that so small a band may, under the ordinary conditions of modern warfare, be put out of action; and then great difficulty is experienced in raising another band. In many battalions during the war this happened, sometimes more than once; and it is these battalions which are most insistent on the strength being twelve instead of six pipers.

Lowland regiments.—A grievance which cries for remedy at the hands of the War Office is the treatment of pipers in Lowland regiments. The official view appears to be that the existence of the pipes in regiments such as the Royal Scots, the K.O.S.B.'s and others is an unreasonable concession to a sentiment which is vulgarly called "Scotch," but which, though believed to be nebulous, happens to be too strong for the military reformers to ignore altogether. This view indicates ignorance of the history of the pipes and of the Lowland regiments; the one may be pardoned, the other is inexcusable.

It is absolutely certain that Lowland regiments had pipers before the existing Highland regiments were raised at all; and the pipes were a national instrument all over the Lowlands for centuries before there was any Regular Army at all.

This being so it is quite illogical that the maintenance of their pipe bands should be a greater financial burden on officers of a Lowland than of a Highland regiment. The value of the institution, from a military point of view, is the same in both; and pipe bands should be treated as part of the recognised establishment in one as in the other.

[68]

Standardisation of military pipe music.—There is one grave defect in military piping which is capable of being remedied quite easily. Anyone who knows anything of piping knows that each individual piper learns his tunes after the setting of some well-known authority, and is for ever after prepared to maintain that that version alone is the correct one. Unfortunately every battalion has its own setting for every tune played in the band and declines to admit the possibility of any other setting being used in any circumstances. Even in the case of distinctively regimental tunes, e.g. "Cabar Feidh," the two Regular battalions of the Seaforth Highlanders play—or used to play, just before the war—different settings of that tune, and a man transferred from one battalion to another had to learn the slight differences which his new unit preferred. The same remarkable individuality exists in every battalion and makes it very difficult indeed to get a number of pipe bands to play even the best-known tunes together without considerable practice.

This is quite wrong. By all means let the individual piper learn and adhere to the setting of piobaireachd by his favourite authority; but to have as many settings of an ordinary march as there are battalions in the Army is not to the advantage of piping.

The remedy is simple enough,—the standardisation of pipe tunes for military purposes, in precisely the same manner as obtains with the National Anthems and trumpet and bugle calls; and, just as no departure to meet regimental custom or prejudice is permitted in the case of these latter, so the setting laid down for the Army in the case of pipe tunes should be strictly defined and adhered to.

The superiority of one setting over another does not enter into the question; what is essential is uniformity.

Many pipe majors have pointed to this standardisation as one of the most important measures to be adopted after the war, in the interests of piping in the Army.

Neglect of Piobaireachd.—It is open to argument whether the military piper does or does not exert a determining influence on the cause of piping generally. Allowing fully for the great value of the recognised societies and[69] the periodical piping meetings throughout Scotland, in keeping up the standard of the national instrument and offering inducements for its study, it will be readily admitted that, by their mere existence as permanent institutions, military pipe bands keep up the cult of the pipes, at home and abroad, to so marked a degree that any decline in their standard must have a deleterious effect on piping generally.

To what extent, then, if at all, is military piping conducted to the best advantage of the cause of piping, and is there room for reform?

It may be taken as generally the case that, in so far as a military pipe band is regarded as designed for duty on the march, and for various routine military musical duties, it fulfils its functions to the satisfaction of all concerned. It is too much to expect the War Office—or even individual commanding officers—to accept the view that neglect of "ceol mor" is not compensated for by a high standard of excellence in the "middle music" and in dances and marches. Individual pipers in every battalion are players of "piobaireachd"; but any one with experience of regimental or garrison piping competitions knows how small is the number of men who enter for that class of event, as compared with performers of the march, strathspey and reel.

The explanation is simple enough—the men play what their audience demands, and "Leaving Glen Urquhart" or "Duntroon" appeals to more people, military or civil, than the finest piobaireachd. Pipe majors, even when themselves anxious to teach their pipers the higher class of music, recognise that to attempt to do so would often be wasted labour—men come to them too old to make piobaireachd players, and, in any case, the opportunities for playing it in the Army are too few to make it worth while trying to get men to go through the initial drudgery. Being human they naturally turn to march and dance music; and the result is that, except in the case of professional pipers who have enlisted, the soldier piper generally ignores altogether the classical side of his music.

This is a defect in military piping, and it should be remedied by insisting that, before promotion to pipe major, a piper should pass an examination in every branch of pipe music.

[70]

A school of piping.—The time has come to establish a school of piping for the army at which likely pipers could undergo refresher courses of instruction in all classes of pipe music, in the correct writing of music—a subject which is lamentably ignored, in the theory of music, and in methods of instruction of recruit pipers. In other words it should fulfil the same functions as regards the training of future pipe majors, and the improvement of the standard of playing in the army, that Kneller Hall does in the case of bandmasters and military musical education generally.

No piper should be promoted pipe major until he has undergone a complete course lasting at least six months, and has passed an examination at the end of it.

Such a school should be open to civilian pipers and should become the Macrimmon school of to-day.

The Piobaireachd Society have already decided to institute a memorial to fallen pipers which shall take this form, and to the necessary endowment the proceeds of this book will be devoted. But the army must contribute towards its maintenance.

[71]

REGIMENTAL RECORDS

These Records are not based on military returns, and are therefore not, in all cases, complete. They have been obtained by correspondence with commanding officers, pipe presidents, pipe majors and many others, but the exigencies of war have prevented the information so obtained being absolutely accurate.

In many cases, units, reduced by fighting to mere cadres, have been absorbed into other units and their pipers scattered; in others, the field records of the units themselves have been lost or have ceased to be available; and, in several, correspondence has been abruptly terminated by the correspondent himself being killed or wounded.

In the circumstances it is satisfactory that so much information has been obtained.

THE SCOTS GUARDS

1st Battalion.

During the first few months of the war there were very heavy casualties among the pipers, and the band soon ceased to exist in consequence. It was reconstituted in 1916, but was not again utilised in the front line.

2nd Battalion

There were heavy casualties in the Ypres fighting in Oct. 1914, and by the end of March, 1915, practically no pipers remained. The band was subsequently reconstituted, but like that of the sister battalion, was as far as possible saved from further decimation.

These two battalions, in the first year, had 7 pipers killed and 17 wounded.

THE ROYAL SCOTS

1st Battalion

In the capture of Karadzakot Zir, in the Salonika operations, the battalion was played to the attack by Pipers Collins, Clancy, Smart and Mallin, and the C.O. considers that their services on this occasion "were of inestimable value; it was largely due to the presence of the pipers with the leading wave that the enemy evacuated their trenches and retired in disorder." Besides their value on the march and in billets "they were invaluable in inspiring esprit de corps under fire."

Pipers were also employed as observers, messengers, scouts, etc.

2nd Battalion

The 2nd battalion took part in the original fighting of the war. During the retirement from Mons the pipers were chiefly employed as despatch-runners and orderlies. They went out with 16 pipers and lost 6 during the first few weeks. Four pipers, including Pipe Major Duff, were taken prisoner at Audincourt on 26th August, 1914.

During the Somme fighting they were employed as stretcher-bearers and suffered severe casualties. On one occasion they did invaluable service in bringing water up to the battalion. At Ypres in September, 1916, the pipers were carrying barbed wire up to the front when a shell wounded three. After that the band was withdrawn from the front line and employed in playing the battalion to and from the trenches. By the end of 1918 there had been 7 pipers killed, 16 wounded and 4 taken prisoner, and, to quote the pipe major, "I have seen 3 bands disappear and the fourth is now on German soil."

Apart from the difficulty of replacement of casualties one of the reasons why pipers were not used in attacks was because it was felt "when the men heard the pipes they would lose control of themselves and, in their eagerness to get forward would be apt to rush into their own barrage."

[75]

[76]

4th Battalion (Queen's Edinburgh Rifles)

This battalion served in Gallipoli, and took part in the attack on Achi Baba on 28th June, 1915. On this occasion the Pipe Major John Buchan was killed when playing along the line as the regiment commenced their advance.

5th Battalion (Queen's Edinburgh Rifles)

During the Gallipoli fighting the whole of the pipers became casualties, some of them while acting as pipers, others while serving in the ranks. Shortly after the landing, 1235 Piper Sinclair gathered together some stragglers and successfully covered the retirement of his battalion at a critical period. He himself died of his wounds. The band ceased to exist until again started in 1916. Writing of their subsequent experiences the commanding officer says "they gloriously upheld the traditions achieved by their predecessors."

[77]

6th Battalion

Pipers were almost entirely employed behind the front line owing to the difficulty of replacement.

The battalion was ultimately merged with the 5th Royal Scots.

5/6 Battalion

7th Battalion

This battalion lost the pipe major and 2 pipers in a railway accident before going overseas. While in Gallipoli they were employed in the ranks. After the Gallipoli operations the band was brought up to strength and played the battalion into Palestine to the old air of "Blue Bonnets over the Border."

[78]

8th Battalion

At Festubert and elsewhere the pipers were employed as stretcher-bearers, and Pipe Major J. M'Dougall was awarded the D.C.M. "for gallant conduct under very trying circumstances." After the first two years it was decided to keep the band out of action as far as possible.

9th Battalion

The band was kept out of action as far as possible as it was regarded as an invaluable asset on the march and in billets.

11th Battalion

In spite of their frequent requests to be allowed to play in action the pipers were not permitted to do so, as the band was regarded as too valuable.

12th Battalion

During the advance of the 26th Brigade at Loos in September, 1915, the companies were played to the attack by their pipers, and suffered heavily.[80] Normally they were kept out of the front line owing to the difficulty of replacement. During the German offensive of 1918 they were in the ranks, and Pipe Major Colgan got the Military Medal "for good leadership and courage." The casualties among them were heavy, two having been killed and nine wounded.

13th Battalion

At Loos, 25th September, 1915, and in subsequent actions, the pipers were employed as bearers. There were heavy casualties among them in the last advance in 1918, when 2 were killed and 5 wounded.

15th Battalion

The battalion was played to the attack on Fricourt on the 1st July, 1916, by Pipe Major David Anderson, who was subsequently awarded the Croix de Guerre. Only one decoration was available for the Division, and his was considered the most conspicuous act of bravery.

16th Battalion

After suffering heavy losses this battalion was absorbed by the 9th Royal Scots.

17th Battalion

The pipers, when employed in action at all, went as bearers.

THE ROYAL SCOTS FUSILIERS

1st Battalion

The battalion was played to the attack on the German trenches at Hooge on 16th June, 1915, by the Pipe Major David Campbell.

[83]

2nd Battalion

After the first battle of Ypres only one piper remained, but a small band was made up from such acting pipers as could be spared from the trenches. Drafts from other battalions ultimately brought the band up to strength. The pipers who were taken prisoner, along with one of the officers, started a band in a German prison camp.

4th Battalion

Pipers in Gallipoli were originally employed as duty men in their companies, and in the action on 12th July, 1915, three of them were killed.[84] The band was gradually reduced to vanishing point, and was reconstituted in France in 1918 from men of the 7th R.S.F. In France they were kept out of the front as they were regarded as too valuable an institution to be lost again.

5th Battalion

In Gallipoli the pipers served in the ranks. The C.O. considers, however, their value in keeping the men cheery, and on the march, so great that they should not be allowed in the front line at all. "When the men were exhausted and inclined to straggle the effect of the pipes was most marked, the men at once pulled themselves together."

7th Battalion

When the battalion went out it was found necessary to put the pipers in the ranks. After the amalgamation of the 7th with the 6th Battalion they were kept out of the front line for a time.

6th and 7th Battalion.

The combined battalions were ultimately broken up, and the pipers transferred to the 4th Battalion, which had returned from Palestine with its pipe band no longer in existence.

[86]

8th Battalion

Owing to the difficulty of replacing casualties the pipers were not allowed to go into action.

11th Battalion

THE KING'S OWN SCOTTISH BORDERERS

1st Battalion

In the landing on Gallipoli the pipers of the battalion had to take their places in the ranks in the first line fighting; here they distinguished themselves. During the subsequent operations in the Peninsula the pipers were employed in miscellaneous duties behind the front line.

[87]

Of the 10 pipers who landed only 4 remained to accompany the battalion on its evacuation.

In France they were employed in any and every capacity; "as bearers and ammunition carriers they had tasks to carry out that were almost superhuman, but as a band they ceased to exist until May 1917, when they were reconstituted. It was then decided to keep them out of the front line altogether."

The opinion of the officers is that pipers are far too valuable an institution to be employed in action in any capacity. The C.O. considers the band "plays no inconsiderable part in promoting the efficiency of a fighting force."

2nd Battalion

The officers of the battalion regard the pipers as a most necessary adjunct to a unit on active service, but consider that owing to the difficulty of replacement they should not be employed in action.

4th Battalion

In Gallipoli the pipers were principally employed as messengers and bearers, and most of them became casualties. When the band was reconstituted the pipers were kept out of the front line.

5th Battalion

In Gallipoli the pipers were mostly employed as stretcher-bearers, and nearly all of them became casualties.

6th Battalion.

In the attack on the Hohenzollern redoubt in September 1915 the battalion was played over the top by the Pipe Major, Robert Mackenzie. The casualties in this action, 4 killed and 3 wounded, resulted in the temporary disappearance of the band. At Arras, Ypres, and in later engagements, the men were employed as bearers.

[90]

7th Battalion.

Just before the attack at Loos when there was a very heavy bombardment and gas discharge, Piper Daniel Laidlaw got up on the parapet and played the men over the top and continued until he fell wounded. For this act he was awarded the V.C. Another piper, Douglas Taylor, who had been wounded in the hand and could not play, went out and brought in several wounded men who had been gassed; he continued until he was dangerously wounded.

During the first eighteen months of the campaign the whole of the pipers were wounded.

The enormous value of pipes to a battalion returning from the front line is recognised by all ranks.

8th Battalion

This battalion, on account of its losses, was absorbed into the 7th K.O.S.B The casualties among the 23 pipers of the two battalions were heavy, viz. 4 killed and 10 wounded.

THE CAMERONIANS (THE SCOTTISH RIFLES)

1st Battalion

During the early part of the campaign the casualties among pipers were so heavy that it was found necessary to keep them as much as possible out of the front line. By the end of 1915 the band had practically ceased to exist. Of 25 pipers who have served during the war 3 have been killed and 9 wounded.

[92]

2nd Battalion

Pipers during the first part of the war were chiefly in the ranks, and the casualties among them were so heavy they had to be withdrawn. The band was reconstituted, and the pipers were then kept out of the front line. In March 1918 they again had to be employed as rifles.

5th Battalion

The original pipers served in the ranks and became casualties, and from early in 1915 to the end of 1916 the band ceased to exist. Since the reconstitution the men have been employed behind the front line as far as possible.[93] In April 1917 they played the battalion back out of the Hindenburg line which had just been captured. During the last phase of the war they had to be employed in the ranks.

6th Battalion

This battalion was merged into the 5th in July 1916. The pipers were employed in the ranks.

[94]

7th Battalion

In the Dardanelles and Palestine the pipers were employed as bearers and suffered heavy casualties. It was then decided to keep them out of the front line.

8th Battalion

Pipers were principally employed, when in Gallipoli, as bearers, and suffered very heavily. On the 28th June, 1915, three were killed, and from Jan. 1916 for a year only one piper remained. There were also heavy losses in Palestine. They were chiefly employed in the ranks.

9th Battalion

The whole band went into action at Loos, and suffered so heavily it took months to restore it. In a daylight raid at Arras in February 1917 Corpl. Whitelaw and Piper M'Gurk played their companies over the top.

During the Somme fighting pipers were employed in bringing up ammunition.

10th Battalion

The pipers were used as stretcher-bearers. Pipe Major M'Coll won the Military Medal when in charge of the stretcher party on the Somme.

[96]

11th Battalion

Pipers were frequently employed as runners, orderlies, and to bring up stores and ammunition.

THE ROYAL HIGHLANDERS (THE BLACK WATCH)

1st Battalion

During the opening stages the pipers were necessarily mostly employed in the ranks, and, within the first three months, practically the whole of the 13 pipers were casualties. During the Somme fighting the companies were repeatedly played to the attack by their pipers; on one of these occasions the pipe major, M'Leod, was killed. At Rue des Bois in May 1915, when the battalion attacked the German positions near Festubert, every company was played up, and Pipers Stuart and Wishart distinguished themselves, and Stuart was awarded the D.C.M.

2nd Battalion

At Neuve Chapelle, March 1915, and at many other subsequent engagements, the pipers lost heavily. At Mauquissart on 25th September, 1915, when the companies were played to the attack, one piper, Robert Johnstone, played on until he fell gassed; and another, Armit, on reaching the enemy trenches, started bombing. On the same occasion, Pipers David Simpson and A. Macdonald stood on the parapet under very heavy fire playing their[98] company over; Simpson was killed and Macdonald, who lost his leg, received the D.C.M. The pipers were also employed as bombers, and in this capacity Lance-Corpl. Peter MacNee obtained the D.C.M. at Neuve Chapelle.

On another occasion Pipers Gordon and Crichton played from one end of the line to the other out in the open, and similar feats were subsequently performed by other pipers.

While the battalion was in France, out of 22 pipers 4 were killed and 13 were wounded, during the first year of the war.

The battalion subsequently went to Mesopotamia. Here again the pipers were employed, sometimes in miscellaneous duties in the ranks, sometimes as pipers. The pipe major, John Keith, was awarded the D.C.M. Piper Pratt was promoted and given the D.C.M. for "high capacity in leadership" when acting as sergeant.

4th Battalion

The pipers were employed principally as bearers, and were highly complimented for their gallantry at Neuve Chapelle in March 1915; at Loos they were similarly employed, and Piper M'Leod was awarded the Military Medal for gallantry in bringing in his colonel, who was mortally wounded, under very heavy fire. On 3rd September, 1916, the battalion was played in to the attack, but, as a rule, they were kept back behind the front line. Pipe Major Alex. Low got the D.C.M. for attending wounded, and Piper M'Leod got a bar to his Military Medal.

[100]

5th Battalion

Pipers were employed, during the trench fighting, as observers, messengers and stretcher-bearers, and in the ranks, and suffered heavy casualties. The battalion was subsequently merged into the 4th Black Watch.

[101]

6th Battalion

Pipers were employed in many ways, but chiefly as stretcher-bearers. The band was regarded by the men as the best stretcher-bearers they came across. At High Wood in July 1916 the battalion was played over by Pipers Pirnie, Forbes, Mapleton and Tainsh.

Since September 1916 they have been kept out of the front line as far as possible.

In December 1917 four pipers were killed and one wounded by a bomb during an aeroplane raid at Fromicourt.

7th Battalion

The pipers were employed in the ranks, as despatch runners, etc. Piper G. Galloway was awarded the Military Medal for performing this most hazardous duty under heavy fire during the Somme fighting; and Pipe Major Thomas Macdonald and Pipers Swan and Hands were rewarded with the same distinction.

Latterly the pipers were trained as anti-aircraft Lewis gunners, and proved extremely successful.

8th Battalion

The battalion was played into action at Loos and in many of the Somme engagements. After 1916, on account of losses among them, they were kept out of the front line as far as possible.

The band headed the State Entry of King Albert into Brussels in November 1918.

9th Battalion

The pipers played the battalion into action at Hill 70, and the whole band, except one man, was killed or wounded.

The battalion was ultimately absorbed into the 4/5th Black Watch.

[105]

THE HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY

1st Battalion

During the first six months of the war 7 pipers were killed, 8 were wounded and 2 were taken prisoner. These casualties mostly occurred at Festubert in December 1914, and later at Neuve Chapelle. They were then withdrawn from the front lines. Subsequently they were employed as bearers, ammunition carriers, etc.

[106]

2nd Battalion

Of the original band of thirteen men all but two were killed or wounded in the first few months of the war. While they lasted they acted as pipers as well as in the ranks. From May 1915 to May 1916 there was practically no band, and, when reconstituted, the men were kept out of the front line as far as possible.

[107]

5th Battalion

In Gallipoli, in 1915, practically all the pipers became casualties within a very short time, and, until the end of 1916, there was no band at all. It was then decided to keep the band out of the firing line as far as possible.

6th Battalion

The pipers were employed in the ranks while the battalion was in Gallipoli, but, in attacks, the pipers played their companies. On 12th July, Piper M'Niven was killed while playing the charge, in an attack on the Turkish forts. Most of the original band were killed or wounded on the Peninsula, and, when reconstituted, it was decided to keep them out of action as far as possible.

7th Battalion

On several occasions in Gallipoli the battalion was played to the attack by pipers. Piper Maclennan was awarded the D.C.M. Piper Macfarlane had the drones blown off his pipes. The acting pipers served in the ranks or as bearers. Piper D. Cameron was mentioned in despatches for conspicuous bravery in playing his company over the top, and right on to the enemy trenches. These men also did great work in bringing up water for the wounded under heavy fire, and ammunition.

8th Battalion

The battalion was disbanded early in the war, and the pipers were distributed to other units.

9th Battalion

At first pipers were used as orderlies, ammunition carriers, and similar duties; and, after active operations, as bearers. As far as possible they were, however, kept out of the front line, as being too valuable to lose. On[109] one occasion, when the battalion had to make a demonstration to test the strength of the enemy, pipers were sent up to the front line to play. Pipe Major MacDiarmid was awarded the Military Medal.

10th Battalion

Pipers were occasionally employed as bearers, but were usually kept out of the front line. Nearly all the original pipe band were killed or wounded at Cambrai on 25th September, 1915.

[110]

12th Battalion

During trench warfare the pipers acted as orderlies, stretcher bearers and the like; in engagements, however, they took part as company pipers. So many casualties occurred in the Loos action in Sept. 1915 that there was only one survivor. The band ceased to exist until the following spring, and it was then decided to allow only half of the pipers to go up into the line or into action.

During the battles of the Somme, 1916, and Arras, 1917, the companies were played into action by one piper each; casualties occurring among them, it was decided again to withdraw them from the front; and they took no part in the fighting at Ypres, 1917.

During the last phase of the war, the attack in Flanders on 28th Sept. 1918, the pipers played their companies throughout their triumphant attacks on the Germans.

The C.O. of the battalion says: "I cannot speak too highly of the work done by the pipers of this unit. There is nothing I can think of which has added more to the esprit de corps of the men, which has enabled them to put up with misery and discomfort and which has given them the[111] inspiration necessary to accomplish what had appeared at first sight an impossibility."

14th Battalion

Pipers played their companies into action on the Somme and at Bourlon Wood.

[112]

15th Battalion

At Thiepval and Beaumont Hamel the pipers lost very heavily when leading their companies, and, as a consequence, it was found necessary afterwards to keep them in the reserve line. In April 1918, on account of heavy casualties in the battalion, they had to be employed in the ranks, and suffered very heavily; of 20 pipers all but 3 became casualties, mostly through being gassed at Ayette. Within a month, however, the band was reconstituted.

16th Battalion

The pipers were employed chiefly as bearers.

On 1st July, 1916, at Thiepval the pipers played the battalion over with the loss of two killed and two wounded. The band was then withdrawn[113] as far as possible from the front, except occasionally as stretcher bearers. It was felt by all ranks that pipers were too valuable an institution to lose.

17th Battalion

In the attack on the Leipzig Redoubt on 1st July, 1916, when the battalion had to hang on unsupported to a part of the captured Leipzig Redoubt, the pipers played and did an immense deal in keeping the men's spirits up. Pipe Major Gilbert on this occasion won the Military Medal. The casualties in this attack put the pipe band out of action, and the pipers were thereafter kept, as far as possible, out of the front line. The battalion was subsequently merged in the 15th H.L.I.

[114]

THE SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS

1st Battalion

The casualties among the pipers of this battalion have been very heavy. At Richebourg in November 1914, 2 pipers were killed and 6 wounded, and the pipe major, Matheson, was awarded the D.C.M. for great gallantry in carrying messages. In December 1914, and again at Neuve Chapelle in May 1915, 3 more were killed and 4 wounded. Some of them were employed as pipers, others as bearers and in the ranks. At Neuve Chapelle the companies were played into action in May 1915, and Piper Pratt was killed while playing.

The battalion went to Mesopotamia, and in the action at Sheikh Saad on 7th January, 1916, Pipe Major M'Kechnie played the regimental charge at a most crucial moment and continued until he fell wounded. In this and other subsequent engagements pipers played their companies into action. Some of them did excellent work bringing up ammunition, and 529 Piper Colin M'Kay was specially promoted for this. This duty was particularly dangerous as the Turkish barrage was generally late.

The casualties continued to be heavy. Altogether 11 pipers have been killed.