Sutherland, Harold

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In 1940 Alex W. Sutherland moved from his home in Earltown, Colchester County, to the small town of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. According to his recollection, he was the only resident piper in Dartmouth at that time. This soon changed as Mr. Sutherland taught his children to play the Great Highland Bagpipe. They, in turn, taught their children and other relatives. His son, Gordon Sutherland, had three sons as well as nephews learning the pipes, so he formed a small pipe band. Gordon’s younger son later became a drummer in the band.

Bagpipes marked “Sutherland , Nova Scotia” were not made in Nova Scotia, but most likely in Pakistan as far as I know. These pipes were a bit better quality than the run of the mill sets you see Ebay most days.

Harold Sutherland was a talented piper from Pictou County, NS, who ran The Scotia Highland House in Alma for many years. He died in the late 1970s or early 1980s. He bought up a lot of the old pipes throughout NS in the 1950s and 60s and refurbished them selling them to patrons across North America. Harold was quite a character according to accounts. He wrote Country and Western songs and even played his bagpipes at the Grand Old Opry in Nashville, possibly the only piper ever to do so.

As far as the Sutherland pipes go, a few pipers went to visit Harold at his home one evening, and when they arrived he was in his basement stamping these imported pipes with the ‘Sutherland Nova Scotia’ Stamp. A few of these sets are still played in the Heatherbelle band of Pictou County which Harold started back in the 1950s or 60s. Occasionally you will see practice chanters also come for up auction with the same stamp. An interesting piece of folklore.

Nova Scotia did have a small bagpipe making cottage industry in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but Sutherland wasn’t one of them. This information came through Barry Shears, who is a wealth of knowledge regarding early pipes from Cape Breton and Canada’s east coast.