The Sinister Piper

 

A sinister piper
does not imply a malevolent Scot,
though bagpipes are known for their very disquieting sound.
Here the adjective is used in an alternate definition.
Sinister: 
of or on the left side; left.
the opposite of dexter.

Traditionally the great highland bagpipes are held
with the three drone pipes over the left shoulder,
the air bag clasped under the left arm,

and the left hand uppermost on the chanter pipe.

 

 

Angel playing bagpipes in the Thistle Chapel, Edinburgh
Source: Wikipedia

 

 

 

This positioning of left fingers above
and right fingers below is the arrangement
on all modern woodwind instruments from flute to bassoon
as this places the usually dominant right hand, the dexter,
lowermost to control the lowest notes.

 

However this fine Scottish piper
broke the rules and reversed everything
by playing with his right hand atop the left
and putting the drones and bag on his right.
It's exactly what a sinister left-handed person
would find most comfortable,
but it is a very uncommon
accommodation to see in a piper.

 

 

 

This Black Watch Piper was featured in my story
from May 2019, Four Well-dressed Pipers.

Under the picture a message dated the postcard as Sept. 25, 1903.
At the time I speculated that his left-handed playing position
might be the fault of a sloppy printer reversing the image,
but all the other aspects of his uniform are actually correct.

And as proof I can now present him with his right-handed partner.

 

  

The previous photo of the Black Watch Piper was a sepia-tone photo, but there's no mistaking him as the left-hand piper in this colorized postcard captioned Highland Pipers. The duo wear matching green jackets, with red and black tartans, and white horsehair sporrans with five black tassels. On the grass before them are two pipe banners which are their regimental company colors.

The card was published by Valentine & Sons, at the time the largest British manufacturer of picture postcards. This printing company was established in 1851 by James Valentine (1815–1879) in Dundee, Scotland. They also published the first card but my scan cut off the top publisher's caption. The colorized card has a postmark of 12 VIII 1924 from Brussels, Belgium, a place that does have a folk music instrument called the Pipasso or Picardy bagpipes that is traditional to northern France and Belgium.

 

* * *

 

A second colorized postcard shows the same two pipers outdoors in a grassy woods, but only the sinister piper is playing. The other Scotsman is poised over a pair of swords with one hand akimbo and the other raised as he demonstrates the  "Ghillie Callum"—The Sword Dance. This ancient Scottish Highland dance dates back to the 1200s and involves a single dancer, male or female, making hopping steps around the X made by two basket-hilted broadswords. The name, "Ghillie Callum" means “Servant of Malcolm.” A ghillie was a term given to the young man or "lad" who would guide Highland chiefs on hunting and fishing expeditions.

 

The sword dance remains a popular entertainment at Scottish events and is even a performed by Highland Regiments. Here is a YouTube video of sword dancers from the 1st Battalion Scots Guards performing at the Military Tattoo in Perth, Perthshire, Scotland in 2016.

What's odd about the sword dancer postcard is that the pipers' tartans have changed colors. I don't think either postcard displays the correct pattern for a Black Watch tartan, which must have been a constant irritation for these two pipers whenever they saw themselves in a shop postcard display. This postcard, also produced by Valentine & Sons, was sent to Germany from Edinburgh on 13 June 1913. Someone saved the stamp.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

My last postcard shows a right-handed piper who was celebrated enough to have his name printed on the caption. 

Piper James Gray, R.A.O.B.
late of the Highland Brigade.

His uniform is very like the Black Watch piper but even though printed in monotone it's clear the pattern of tartan is different, as is his sporran. Like the first postcard this piper's picture demonstrates how Scottish pipers were first used to promote Scotland as a tourist destination even without color printing for their flamboyant uniforms. This card was sent on 20 August 1905 from the Channel Isle of Jersey, a place not known for bagpipes, to Mademoiselle Y. Graeber of Agnetz, a commune in the Oise department in northern France.

 

 

 

Since ancient times the evolution of musical instruments has always favored the prevalence of right-handedness in humans. Early keyboard instruments were designed with bass notes for the left hand and treble notes for the right because the stronger right hand could more easily play melodies that way. Today no manufacturer makes a reversed piano. 

 

With early string instruments the right hand held the bow because is was considered the more rhythmic arm. Modern string players continue playing with that technique because it works regardless if you are left or right-handed. There are some exceptions for left-handedness, largely for players of guitar and other plucked strings, where the instrument can be restrung and the right fingers change chords on the fretboard while the left does the strumming or picking.

In the 19th century when brass instruments first acquired valves the makers designed the keys for the dominant right hand. Generally this still works for left-handed people, though very occasionally some players will modify a trumpet to suit their preference. There is one exception, the French horn, which is my instrument. It has valve keys for the left hand, unlike all the other brass instruments. But the reason is because the modern horn is a descendant of the early valve-less natural horn in which the player placed their right hand, the dominant one, into the bell in order to manipulate the pitch and produce other notes outside of the natural harmonics. 

Early woodwind instruments of the medieval and renaissance eras were often made with finger-holes that would allow a player to put either hand at the top. This could be easily done with simple open hole instruments like flutes and shawms, and with bagpipes too. It was only when advancements in key mechanisms were invented that modern woodwind players developed a universal consensus to put the left hand above the right hand.

 

I have never seen any modern flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, or saxophone made to accommodate a sinister left-handed bias. Good players just learn to be ambidextrous and overcome any difficulties their weaker fingers might encounter. With determination and dedication anyone can master a musical instrument, even the great Highland bagpipes. All you need is lots of practice. Preferably outdoors and far away. 

 

 

Rather than illustrating this post with videos of 11 pipers piping, I've chosen two videos of solo pipers. Here is Piper James Cooper, Pipe Major of Ballater & District Pipe band, playing The Sleeping Tune by Gordon Duncan within the Tomnaverie Stone Circle above Tarland in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.The tune is a modern composition.

 

 

 

 

In conclusion I offer this last example of the power of Scotland's musical heritage. Here is a lone piper playing the lament, "The Flowers of the Forest", on 9 September 2022 at the Memorial and Thanksgiving service for the late Queen Elizabeth II that was held at St. Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh in preparation for her final journey to London.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where the Firth of Forth
is not the same as a Fifth of Scotch

A Scottish Orchestra

Harwich- The Low Lighthouse and Beacon Hill, c.1820
John Constable (1776 – 1837)
Source: Wikimedia

The world is connected by an infinite network
of unexpected lines of coincidence.
One thing links to another
though the fateful magic of pure happenstance. 

The Old Harbour Light, North Queensferry, 1909
Martin Hardie (1875 – 1952)
Source: Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts

Most of the time these lines are hidden.
But occasionally, if you look very closely,
you can find a link that accidently connects two places. 
In this case, it's a line drawn invisibly on a postcard
that goes from an English lighthouse
to a Scottish lighthouse.

The postcard photo shows a small orchestra
posed outside a doorway to an unknown building.
Seated in the center is the conductor holding his baton,
and around him are 16 musicians, mostly string players.
But there are two flutes, one piccolo, two cornets, 
and a piano player who stands on the right holding a roll of music.
Nearly all the gentlemen wear fine three-piece dark suits. 
With their thirteen mustaches,
it seems fair to date them to pre-World War One
and possibly even the years of King Edward VII.

The connecting line
is found on the back of the postcard.

          Carlingnose Barracks

          North Ferry   
            Queensferry
          Fifeshire

Dear Mr. Ward

      You will see that I have just got into Scot-

land and and (sic)  amongst the 'Reet tha noo'. Now
this is the small reproduction of the one you       
saw. I hope you are quite well. I am in the best    
now. I am in a little village about the size of Shotley
I had awfully railway journey starting 7 oclock     
last Saturday morning arriving here Sunday morning
9 oclock. I will write in my letter about this little   
place.                                                           
Yours truly
                                           Herbert     / one of the old 'uns
sincere remembrance
to the wife                    

The writer, Herbert, gives his address as Carlingnose Barracks. This was a coastal defense installation that guarded the Firth of Forth, that is the estuary (firth) of the River Forth just north of Edinburgh, Scotland at the river crossing of the aptly named, North Queensferry. Above this village is a high bluff where an artillery battery was built in 1779 following a threat on Edinburgh from the celebrated (or notorious) American naval commander, John Paul Jones. The Carlingnose point offered a strong position for a concrete artillery emplacement overlooking the river. It remained in continuous use until after WW1 when it was closed. In WW2 it was reopened as an anti-aircraft battery. The Carlingnose Barracks closed permanently in 1957.

It is curious that only one of the musicians is dressed in the uniform of a British soldier, so I think the man holding a violin and seated to the right of the orchestra's conductor is Herbert. I also think he doubled on the euphonium at his feet, probably his main instrument as a bandsman assigned to Carlingnose. It seems most unlikely that any conductor would have the dexterity to play such large (and loud) bass instrument and still wave a baton at the same time.

Herbert's note was an added bonus to this photo, as my real interest was focused on an unusual instrument. The two flutists have instruments made in contrasting materials, blackwood on the left and silver on the right, which is interesting but not unusual for an ensemble of this era. But the two cornets are subtly different too. The one on the right is a standard cornet, but seated to the left of the conductor is a musician who stands out with a fancy white waistcoat. He is holding an Echo Cornet, just like the instrument used by Monsieur Gouget in my story from this September, Les Gougets - The Fantastic Horn Duo. 

The echo cornet is not an instrument called for in any orchestral music that I know, as it was novelty instrument of the late 19th century devised to produce a special effect typically found in solo pieces. To demonstrate this unusual cornet here is a solo rendition of  the 'Tit Willow' song, from The Mikado (1884-85) by Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900). It is played by Crispian Steele-Perkins on an Echo Cornet in C, made be F. Besson & Co, London, c.1875. The echo bell is the muffler-like appendage which uses a 4th valve to instantly redirect the cornet's sound from the main bell into a muting device. This particular tune would not be out of place on the program for this orchestra. The gentleman in the white waistcoat may have been a featured soloist on a program performed by Herbert's Fifeshire orchestra.

The postcard was sent to a Mr. Ward, who presumably lived near the village of Shotley which Herbert mentions. In the 1911 Census for the village of Shotley, there was a baker & grocer named Alfred Ward, age 52, who lived there with his wife Charlotte Ward, age 58, and two children, Beatrice E. Ward, age 29, a school teacher, and Fred H. Ward, age 28, a carpenter.

Shotley is situated on a peninsula between the River Stour and the River Orwell in the county of Suffolk, England. The two rivers converge at Shotley and flow into the North Sea between Harwich and the Port of Felixstowe. On the Harwich coastline, just two miles or so as the seagull flies, is a low lighthouse that was constructed in 1818 as one of a pair of leading lights to aid ship navigating into the port.

In this vintage postcard of the Promenade at Harwich, the low lighthouse is at the end of the boardwalk. The photographer took the photo in about the same position as the 1820 landscape by John Constable (1776 – 1837) which I used to begin my story. Today the stone lighthouse has been preserved as a maritime museum and park attraction.  

In a geographic straight line 340 miles northwest of Harwich is another small lighthouse. The Harbour Light Tower marks the ferry landing in North Queensferry. It was built in 1817, a year before the Harwich Low Lighthouse and in 1909 inspired the artist Martin Hardie (1875 – 1952) to make the etching which I used as my second image for this story. At the time it may have outlived its useful purpose as it was then overshadowed by a better way to cross the River Forth. 

When Herbert made his long railway journey north to Fifeshire, he would seen the light from high above the river on the great cantilever Forth Railway Bridge. This amazing structure is the world's second-longest single cantilever span, with a length of 1,709 feet (521 m). The track is 150 feet (45.72 m) above the water level at high tide. The three four-tower cantilever structures are 361 feet (110.03 m) tall, with each tower built on a separate granite pier. It is one of the marvels of the great age of British engineering, and one that surely took Herbert's breath away when his train crossed over it into the North Queensferry station.  

The little Habour Lighthouse at North Queensferry has been preserved and tourists can climb all 24 steps and see the restored functioning light. But they will be turning their cameras to more than the Forth Railway Bridge from its stubby tower. There are more engineering marvels in the opposite direction.

The Forth Road Bridge opened in 1964 and at the time was one of the longest suspension bridges outside of the United States. It spans 8,241 ft (2,512 m) and the towers are 512 ft (156 m) above the river. To the west is the Queensferry Crossing which carries the M90 motorway. It is a a three-tower cable-stayed bridge with an overall length of 1.7 miles (2.7 km) and with towers that stand at 679 ft (207m) tall. It was opened by Queen Elisabeth II on 4 September 2017. I wonder if she has a favorite bridge. My favorite is the first Forth bridge.

1887 Living model illustrating principle of the Forth Bridge.
Source: Wikimedia

In 1887 the two designers of the Forth Railway Bridge, English engineers Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker, made a photo to demonstrate the strength of their cantilever bridge. Their design followed a principle used for thousands of years in bridge construction where a cantilever beam supports a light central girder. To illustrate the use of tension and compression in the bridge, they positioned Japanese engineer Kaichi Watanabe on a center beam supported by Fowler and Baker sitting in chairs representing the cantilevers, with their arms in tension and sticks they are holding under compression. One either end are cast iron bricks representing the cantilever end piers. Public anxiety over bridges falling down, especially railway bridges, was a very real fear in the 19th century. I've written about this concern before in Marching to the Sound of a Silent Drummer. This clever photo by Fowler, Baker, and Watanabe served to reassure the public that the Forth Railway Bridge would be safe.

One of the reasons I collect photo postcards like Herbert's Fifeshire orchestra is because I enjoy discovering the geography and history that is associated with them. It is pure coincidence that I could pick this card and be able to connect it to two lighthouses that match the Sepia Saturday theme image. It's a weekly game I continue to enjoy and learn from. Thanks, Alan,

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where everyone has seen the light.

Four Well-dressed Pipers

The highland bagpipes are not an instrument
for a person of shy temperament
or overly cautious nature.

A piper must be brave, brash, even brazen
because you can not play it softly
and you can not hide the sound.

It requires a strong breath,
nimble fingers,
and a stout heart
to stand alone and make the bagpipes skirl.

So to play a highland bagpipe,
either nicely or badly,
you must expect to always be
the center of attention,
therefore you might as well look the part
with a dress that catches the eye.

* * *

The first highland piper is posed in a studio
with a vaguely plaid linoleum floor
and a cheap theatrical backdrop.
He is dressed in full Scottish kit
with tartan kilt, cloak, sporran,
buckle shoes and flat side cap.

He is definitely Scottish
but his photograph is not from Scotland.
It was taken by:

W. Stringer,
Photographic Artist,
8, hart St.
Off London Road
Liverpool.

In the 1881 Kelly's directory of Liverpool,
there were six businesses on Hart Street:
a tool maker, a trunk maker, a painter, two joiners,
and at No. 8, William Stringer - hair dresser.

Thirteen years later in 1894,
more tradesmen had established shops
on the other side of Hart street.
Now there was a plumber, a furniture painter,
an engineer, two tailors, a cabinet maker,
a joiner, a trunk maker, a blacksmith,
a bill poster, a coach builder, a picture frame maker
and at No. 8 Hart St,
William Stringer - hair dresser & photographer.

I would date the style of this cabinet card photo
to around 1885-1890.

* * *

The second piper is also easily recognizable
as from Scotland
with a very similar Scottish uniform
of kilt, cloak, belt, and cap.
But his instrument has been abandoned
on the floor by his feet.
Perhaps its bag has burst
which might account for the young lad's sad expression.
Sepia tone is never trustworthy for color hues
but I'd bet that the boy's hair is bright red.

The photographer of this cabinet card was:

Alexr. Macintyre
Portrait & Landscape
Photographer
Bonnar St.
Dunfermline

In the 1896 directory for Dunfermline, of Fife, Scotland
Alexander Macintyre was one of five photographers in the city.
His business was in the 1890 directory
and continued at that address until 1911
when his occupation was listed as "retired."
The building illustrated in his photo's backstamp
is Dunfermline Abbey.
Once a large medieval Benedictine abbey
founded in 1128 by King David I of Scotland,
it is now a Church of Scotland parish church.
Alexander Macintyre's studio is only a short walk from the abbey.

* * *

My third piper was a member of the Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland. Back in 2013 I posted a story on the Bandsmen of the Black Watch which featured a collection of colorized postcards of the celebrated Royal Highlanders Regiment. This postcard is from the same time period before the First World War, but is just a sepia photo print so we can't see the brilliant colors of the piper's tartan kilt and cloak.

What is particularly unusual is that he is a left handed piper. The modern technique for all woodwind instruments puts the left hand in the upper position on the finger holes or keys with the right hand below. This is because the lower tone holes are used more often, so the right dominant hand is usually in control. And for bagpipes that also places the bag under the left elbow. But here this man has everything reversed. Initially I thought the printer had flipped the image negative, but the piper's shoulder belt passes over his right shoulder just like the other pipers' uniforms. Likewise his cap is tilted to the right like theirs and the button seam of his jacket shows the buttons in the correct place for a man's garment.

It's a peculiar playing position that I can't recall seeing in a modern bagpiper. With drones over his right shoulder he would stand out rather awkwardly in a parade march where all the other pipers had drones over their left side. Conveniently this postcard was mailed from Scotland in 1903.

Black Watch Piper

Oban Scotland              Sept 25, 1903
Dear Friends. We are with you in mind quite
often this wk.  We are both well & enjoying ourselves
immensley   We are half way between Oben & Fort
Williams with mountains all around us. Most
beautiful  sceinery    Mrs T  A  Smith

The back of the card is postmarked September 25 1903 sent from Fort William
and then received 10 days later in Beloit, Wisconsin on October 5, 1903.
It was addressed to Mrs Prof Pearson of Beloit, WS.

I was curious who Mrs Prof Pearson was
and wondered if Mrs. T. A. Smith might be the wife of a "Professor" too.
A quick search on the internet found
Beloit College, a small private liberal arts college.
In its 1903 college bulletin, the faculty list had:

Thomas A. Smith, Ph. D.
Hale Professor of Mathematics and Physics

and three names down:

Calvin W. Pearson, Ph. D.
Harwood Professor of German Language and Literature.

Professor Smith's wife was named Martha Jane Smith
and Professor Pearson's wife was Marthanna T. Pearson.
They lived just three short blocks from each other in Beloit.

1903 Beloit College bulletin
Source: Archive.org

* * *

My last piper is dressed in a mostly khaki uniform of the British army which I believe dates from 1814-1918. His sporran matches the five tassels of the Black Watch piper so I  think he is a piper in the Black Watch Regiment too. His belt has the same broad buckle but his gaiters are olive drab color and not white. This photo postcard was never posted and has the look of a private printing, perhaps by a photographer taking pictures of individual soldiers before they shipped out.

* * *

The sepia tone of these portraits of pipers
of course can not show
the true splendor of the patterns in Scotch plaid.
Nonetheless they were still considered collectable images.
The success of Scottish tourism is partly due
to the attraction of the highland bagpipes.
 
Yet photos of these musicians
fail to demonstrate the thrilling sound of the instrument.
Fortunately in the 21st century we have YouTube for that.
Here is a talented young lad named Brogan Townsley
busking with his bagpipes in Perth, Perthshire, Scotland.

***

***

And for good measure here is one more,
a piper leading a wedding procession
through Kenmore Highland in Perthshire, Scotland.

***

***

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where you never know where Wallace is hiding.
Can you find him?

The Piper and the Auld Brig o'Earn

What makes Scotland such an inspiration to artists, poets, and of course, photographers? Is it the rugged wild landscape? The colorful eccentric people? The brilliant  balmy weather? I think it is the evocative sound that accompanies any view of Scotland — the mellifluous voice of the bagpipes played by a Highland Piper.


This photograph has a caption, A Highland Piper, 524, with the initials AI, and may resemble a postcard, but is actually a large format  photo (8"x 5.25") mounted on an old album page of  heavy card.

I believe he is a pipe major of the Gordon Highlanders, as his sporran has the same black tassels on white as the pipers of that Scottish regiment. 

Source: Tuckdb.org

I have been unable to identify the photographer, but the number with the initials AI would likely be the mark of a large studio that produced picturesque photos for the tourists.

The same piper shows up in a sepia photo postcard published by Raphael Tuck's Postcards in 1906, but without the AI. It must have been popular and was printed again in the 1920s in a colorized painting for Tuck's Scottish Life Oilette Series, which had a set of six scenes of Scotland. 

As a bonus, pasted on the back of the album page with the piper's photo were two artistic landscapes of Scotland. The largest photo (8"x 5.25") shows two ruined arches of a medieval bridge and is captioned The Auld Brig o'Earn, 184.  J.V. This photographer was easier to find, as his collection is in the digital archives of the University of St. Andrew. The Auld Brig o'Earn was taken by James Valentine (1815-1879) sometime around 1878 and shows the Old Bridge across the River Earn. The bridge was built in 1330, and had become a ruin by 1592. A Scottish village still carries the name  Bridge of Earn  but has lost the tourist traffic as the old bridge was demolished in 1976.

Unfortunately the second landscape photo was cut, but the caption was saved. Birnam Falls, 426. J.V.  This is another photo from James Valentine, who was one of those prolific photographers responsible for thousands of beautiful photographs of Scotland. Many of these artful images were turned into postcards by his publishing company, but in the decades before postcards, I believe they produced these as souvenir photos for visitors who wanted to remember wild Britain.

All three photographs are very nicely made and carefully cut and mounted to the board, so I think they were all printed at the same time. As the piper major's photo is at least earlier that 1906, and these date from 1878, I think he was likely photographed in the 1880s -1890s.

So where is this lovely pool of water? Only about 18 miles to the north of the Auld Brig o'Earn. Another early Scottish photographer, George Washington Wilson, set his camera up on the same rock as Valentine and captured a nearly identical mist of the Birnam waterfall.

Handbook for Travellers in Scotland, 1906

Birnam Falls, by George Washington Wilson
Source: National Galleries Scotland

Piper

by J. K. Annand

The hielant piper in his braws

Heedrom hodrom hi

Pluffs his rosie cheeks and blaws

Heedrom hodrom hielantman.

He gie's his oxtered bag a squeeze

Heedrom hodrom hi

And oot the bonnie music flees

Heedrom hodrom hielantman.

Fingers on the chanter prancin

Heedrom hodrom hi

Gar a bodie's feet gae dancin

Heedrom hodrom hielantman.

Some can pipe and some can sing

Heedrom hodrom hi

But I can dance the Hielant Fling

Heedrom hodrom hielantman.

Now let's have some Hielant music while you re-read that poem out loud.

> <

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The is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where you will never ruin your weekend.

The Sutcliffe Family Pipe Band

The national costume of Scotland must be the most distinctive fashion ever made into a brand name for a country. Plaid says Scottish even in sepia tones, so this photo postcard of seven Scots almost sparkles in the color of their tartan kilts and cloaks as they line up in ascending height with their pipes and drums.

This set of postcards came with no identification but I have discovered that they are the Sutcliffe Family Pipe Band, a traveling vaudeville troupe that was popular in the early 20th century.

Their formal pose and polished smiles set them apart from ordinary tourist postcards or photos of town bands. They may be Scottish but they are not in Scotland because in the lower corner of the photos is a signature of Apeda, NY which was the Apeda Studio of New York City. This photography studio, which first opened in 1906, had several locations in the city and specialized in producing promotional postcards and  photographs for the entertainers of the Broadway theater world.

This third photo has the seven men holding bagpipes and centered between drums and crossed swords. When I acquired the cards I could tell they must be a professional musical group, but I had few clues for identification. Though they wear uniforms similar to military units like the Black Watch pipe bands , the clear focus on the individuals in the second photo was not typical of photos of Scottish regimental bands of this era.

So who were they? The letter S on the pipe banners was one clue, and another was found on the bass drum. The words SUT__FF_ FAMILY are painted on the drum shell but are partly obscured by the rope tensioners.

Several weeks later I found a fourth card that had the answer to their name. This photo card has a caption of   (SUTCLIFFE FAMILY) but unlike the other postcards, this postcard is printed in Britain. The two tallest pipers are easily recognized by their mustaches, but though the group still has seven performers in full Scottish garb, a woman has taken the place of one of the men. This photo includes bagpipes, drums, and swords along with a shield festooned with medals, and looking closely at the bass drum one can see the identical insignia of SUTCLIFFE FAMILY as in the other photo.

I found the name of the Sutcliffe Family first mentioned in a Boston Globe report of December 1893 as one of the groups scheduled for a Boston celebration of Scottish heritage. In the December 24, 1899 edition of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle there was a report of the acts appearing at the Cook Opera House in Rochester.

Rochester Democrat & Chronicle DEC 24, 1899

A novelty in acrobatics will be offered by the Sutcliffe family of four performers. They are Scotch and appear on the stage in kilts, to the accompaniment of bagpipe music, to which they dance Highland flings. These performers are now making their first tour of this section of the country after five years spent in South America. Their act includes aerial somersaults from shoulder to shoulder and pyramid falls and leaps, the acrobatics interspersed with music and comedy in a manner that is said to make the act quite different from the average run of acrobatic exhibitions.

One can only imagine the Sutcliffe's version of the Highland Fling. Their dance styles must have been as much a novelty as the music of pipes and drums. I can say from experience that the sound of pipers playing indoors in a theater can be very intense, even deafening. With the many new immigrants to America at the turn of the 20th century, Italian, German, Hungarian, and other national themed bands were proving very popular in theaters.

The Lowell Mass Sun APR 16, 1912

Vaudeville was a very competitive business and weekly newspaper reports on local theaters might mention dozens of performing artists and groups. Photos were not common, so it was a great surprise to find this report from April 16, 1912 of the Sutcliffe Family when they played Keith's Theater in Lowell, Massachusetts. There at the top of the report is the same Apeda photo of the 7 smiling pipers.

The Sutcliffe Family were not the only Scottish band in vaudeville, but they certainly played more places than most groups. I would expect that their circuit included Canada and other parts of the British Empire.

A great resource for showbiz research is CircusHistory.org. They have made a transcription of the Billboard weekly magazine from this period and this snippet comes from the January 9, 1915 edition.

Letter from Alfred Sutcliffe, of the Sutcliffe Family, from Grimsby, England: "We spent seventeen years in America in the circus business, five years with Sells Brothers, and seven with the B. & B., LaPearl and other shows.
Now our country with others are at war. As we all cannot go to the front, we are doing our little bit a home. When not on the stage we are out with our bagpipe band recruiting. I don't know when we shall return to America again, as our King and country may need us."

During the war years, I found notices for the Sutcliffe Family playing in Shoreditch and other music halls in Britain. Did they have the same novelty appeal in England as they had in America? How many young men joined their parade to the recruiter's office?

Livonia NY Gazette AUG 3, 1923

After the war, the Sutcliffe family returned to the States and the vaudeville circuit, but by the times were changing and they were no longer the headline. That position was now taken over by a cinema title. The era of film would forever alter the world of music hall and vaudeville entertainers.

Scottish pipe bands are a natural for outdoor events and the Sutcliffe's turned to performing at county fairs. Their name shows up on advertisements and announcements like this 1923 ad for the Tri-County Fair in Caledonia, NY. The band continued playing until 1930 when their name disappears. After almost 40 years of marching around the world acting as ambassadors of Scottish culture, it was time to give the pipes and drums a rest.

Did they stay in America or return to Scotland? After so many years of touring the world could any one place be their home again?

UPDATE 1

Thanks to a comment from Piper Sean Folsom I looked up the Victor 78 record that he has with the Sutcliffe Troupe. It's available at the Encyclopedic Discography of Victor Recordings at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library. The Sutcliffe pipe and drums made 4 recordings on July 5th, 1912 (not 1926 as printed on the later release label).

We can actually hear them courtesy of the Library of Congress. Here is the
Scotch medley march (B-12157)
Reels: The Glendarual highlanders ; The cock o' the north ;
Comin' through the rye ; Miss McLeod

It's a shame we still have to imagine their acrobatic Highland flings.

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UPDATE 2

Unfortunately the embedded player above
doesn't seem to work on Blogger anymore,
however we can still hear the Sutcliffe Troupe on YouTube
in "The 79th Highlanders Farewell To Gibraltar”,
a recording made on the same day, 5 July 1912,
for the Victor Recording Company.
 

UPDATE 3

A few years after I wrote this story, I acquired another postcard of the Famous Sutcliffe Family. In this photo the seven musicians are dressed in a different tartan and with white jackets. The youngest boy is standing precariously on the edge of the upturned bass drum. (Warning, Kids, don't try this at home!)

 

This card has a clear postmark of Edinburgh 10.30 AM, September 20, 1917. It was sent to miss G. Morris, of Pembrokeshire, South Wales. The message reads:

Dear G
Hoping you are A 1
as it leave me the same
will have a letter on
Saturday thanks
much for the box.
George

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where you can admire the fine art of turtle painting this weekend.