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Historical Context

 

Despite the population sparsity the north of Scotland has produced a high proportion of renowned pipers. In fact almost 40% of the pipers celebrated in ‘Notices of Pipers’ in the Piping Times have come from north of Inverness (Mackenzie, 1998).

 

Pipers have long been associated with the military, and demand for them grew during 1914-1918, as they suffered heavy casualties and also to help boost morale in the trenches. At the outbreak of the First World War pipers found themselves in the traditional role of fighting alongside their comrades and rallying and inspiring their fellow soldiers into battle. It is thought that more than 2,500 pipers served on the Western Front alone, suffering heavy casualties; one estimate suggests that over 1,000 pipers were to lose their lives during the conflict.

 

“The plea of not carrying arms and of merely being a musician is spurious and the case of armed rebellion against the Crown is proven, for, it’s in the experience of this court that a Highland Regiment has neither marched nor fought without a piper, and therefore the bagpipe in the eye of the law is an instrument of war”.

Judge at the trial of rebel piper James Reed following the Battle of Culloden 1746.

 

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