This came to me from the descendants of brothers, John William Sutherland and Donald Sutherland. I knew nothing of John William Sutherland and was later to learn that he was a private and quiet man. His brother, Donald, (1888-1963) published a collection of tunes in 1960 with Hugh MacPherson, Edinburgh, the publisher of the Edcath collections.
The bagpipe came to me in difficult condition.
The chanter was marked “Chisholm” which was interesting. I still have not proven or disproven Chisholm ever made bagpipes. We know he was a silversmith and that both Lawrie and later Robertson made bagpipes for Chisholm. Setting any prejudice aside, I dove deeper into the set hoping to uncover its true origin.
The pages above are from John Williams writings, entitled The Bagpipe in the Sutherland Family, A Few Early Recollections. Very interesting.
No, I couldn’t save the bag. It was in pretty rough shape. The bagpipe was found to have been made of ebony with two-piece celluloid fixtures throughout, except for the rings and bushings which were made of elephant ivory. In consultation with John William’s granddaughter, we decided to restore the bagpipe as an artifact rather than as a playable musical instrument.
Where it is not all that unusual to find projecting mounts in two pieces, this is the first time that I’ve encountered two-piece ferrules which leads to much speculation and no help in determining its origin. According to John Dally’s excellent book, The Northwest Collection of Music for the Scottish Highland Bagpipe, Donald Sutherland made at least three bagpipes. He also learned his bagpipe making skills from Tom Mor MacRae, who learned from Donald MacPhee, a maker of great skill and reputation.
In doing research on this bagpipe and on both John William and Donald Sutherland, other information came to me.
William Sutherland was born 1844 in Airdrie. He was thought to have been taught piping by Donald Galbraith. He had two sons, William (Piper in Royal Scots) and John, a joiner in Airdrie and Coatbridge. Both were pipers and dancers. William Sr. died in 1903.
This bagpipe, pictured below, is an obvious heirloom with shields commemorating prizes at contests in the 1870s and 1880s. Although no maker’s stamps was found, I have a sense that this bagpipe was made by John Center in Edinburgh. Of course, no hard evidence of this has been found.
William Sutherland Jr., son of above, was born Clarkston, Airdrie. Died 1944 at Plean, near Stirling. He served with Royal Scots 1897, Burma 1898, India 1901, 1902, PM 1902-4. He won many piping prizes, including Championship of India 1901 & 1902. Many prizes USA and Canada. His bagpipe is seen below and we believe that there is a biological connection with John William and Donald Sutherland.
