MacCrimmon (piping family)
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The MacCrimmons (
Over time many pieces of
Since 1967, the MacCrimmon Memorial Piobaireachd Competition has taken place every year at Dunvegan Castle where players complete to win the 'silver chanter'. Competitors only play tunes attributed to the legendary MacCrimmon family.[5][6]
The origins of the MacCrimmons has been speculative as little in the way of written history exists. In the 20th century the chiefs of Clan Macleod instated two MacCrimmons as hereditary pipers to the clan. Recent YDNA tests indicate that these two pipers (Canadians by birth) are connected to the MacCrimmons of Borreraig since at least 1770.[7]
Origins
The origin of the MacCrimmons is vague and has long been debated. One theory originating from Captain Neil MacLeod of Gesto was that the MacCrimmons descend from an Italian from the city of
It is generally accepted that the surname may be of
While this name origin would seem to tie in with the MacCrimmons' association with the MacLeods and the Isle of Skye the earliest references to a MacCrimmon (who were also pipers) appears in Campbell lands. The earliest reference is found in a bond of
By the mid-1690s the MacCrimmons are confirmed to have been located in the
Hereditary pipers
Though much has been written about the MacCrimmon pipers to the MacLeods of
Donald Ban
During the Jacobite Rising in 1745 the chief of Clan MacLeod supported the Hanoverians against the Jacobites.[15] As MacLeod's piper, Donald Ban MacCrimmon (Dòmnhall/Dòmnhull Bàn MacCruimein – bàn meaning fairhaired cf Duncan Ban MacIntyre) took an active part in the conflicts against the Jacobite forces. Donald Ban was captured on December 23, 1745, following the Hanoverian defeat at the Battle of Inverurie (1745). During his captivity, the pipers in the Jacobite army went on strike, refusing to play while the "King of Pipers" was held captive. According to popular tradition, Donald Ban wrote his well-known lament, Cha till, cha till, cha till, MacCruimein (meaning literally "MacCrimmon will not, will not, will not return." it has been variously titled "No more, no more, no more, MacCrimmon", "MacCrimmon shall never return", "MacCrimmon's Lament" among others) with an intimation of his fate.[16][17]
Donald Ban was eventually killed during the so-called "
Red Donald and Black John
Red Donald
The MacCrimmon of whom there is the most reliable information is Red Donald (Dòmhnull Ruadh) (d July 31, 1825). Red Donald held tacks at Borreraig and Shader, and at Trien in Waternish, and also a farm at Glenelg. In the early 1770s he left Scotland and settled in North America in what is now North Carolina. He was away from Scotland for about seventeen years (1773–1790), though there is no record of him associated with his involvement with the pipes in any way. He settled in Anson County (located in what is now North Carolina, US). He took part in the American Revolutionary War as a Loyalist, raising troops for the British forces and served as a lieutenant. He claimed to have been present at the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge in 1776. He eventually lost an eye. Red Donald evidently evaded capture by the Americans at Yorktown in 1781. After the end of hostilities he spent seven years as a Loyalist in Shelburne County, Nova Scotia, (located in what is now Nova Scotia, Canada).[1]
He returned to Scotland in 1790, at the insistence of the Highland Society of London which defrayed the cost of MacCrimmon, his wife, and three of their four children's journey back to Scotland.[1] In 1808 the Highland Society of London proposed that a College of Piping be re-established at Fort Augustus, and that Lt. MacCrimmon should supervise instruction. This proposal was declined though, causing Red Donald "disappointment and mortification".[19]
According to
Red Donald's decision not to pass his knowledge of piping on to his sons seems to be related to the massive emigration of the MacLeod estates in the 1770s, in which he himself gave up Borreraig and sailed for North America. Even in 1799 after his return to Scotland Macleod put many substantial tacks up for sale around Dunvegan. In his later life, he is associated with Glenelg, which MacLeod sold in 1798 and subsequently re-sold in 1811, 1824, 1837, further forcing the poorer Highlanders to emigrate to North America.[1]
Black John
The last MacCrimmon to be hereditary piper to MacLeod of MacLeod (until the modern era) was Black John MacCrimmon. According to tradition in 1795 Black John decided to emigrate to America, though only got as far as Greenock, before making up his mind to stay on the Isle of Skye, where he died in 1822 aged ninety-one.[15]
Modern Appointment of Hereditary Piper of MacLeod
The MacCrimmon piping dynasty is honoured in the form of cairn built in 1933, at Borreraig. This cairn, which overlooks Loch Dunvegan 8 miles distant from Dunvegan Castle, was paid for by clan societies and donations from around the world and is credited to the foresight of Mr. Fred MacLeod. The Gaelic inscription on the cairn reads in translation as: "The Memorial Cairn of the MacCrimmons of whom ten generations were the hereditary pipers of MacLeod and who were renowned as Composers, Performers and Instructors of the classical music of the bagpipe. Near to this post stood the MacCrimmons' School of Music, 1500–1800".[20]
In the last century, with a revival in clan interest, the modern chiefs of Clan MacLeod have instated two MacCrimmons as hereditary pipers to the chief. Malcolm Roderick MacCrimmon, a
In 1942, Malcolm was the first MacCrimmon piper to play in the Great Hall of Dunvegan Castle in over 100 years and was verbally appointed by Dame Flora MacLeod of MacLeod (28th Chief of Clan MacLeod) as the ninth "hereditary piper" to the Chief of Clan MacLeod. In 1978, John MacLeod of MacLeod, 29th chief of Clan MacLeod, while visiting Calgary, Alberta, Canada, formally made Malcolm's son, Iain Norman MacCrimmon, the tenth hereditary piper to the Chief of Clan MacLeod.[7] In 2020, JB McCrummen, FSA Scot, a noted genealogist and historian has proven, through YDNA testing that Malcolm MacCrimmon's family is descended from the MacCrimmons of Borreraig.
Fictional MacCrimmons
A fictional member of the Clan is Jamie McCrimmon, a piper to "Clan MacLaren" in the television series Doctor Who, although in reality the MacCrimmons are pipers to Clan MacLeod. Much of the genealogical information for the family is fictional, for example, Finlay of the White Plaid, claimed as a MacCrimmon, by Dame Flora MacLeod and others, was always, in the oral traditions of Waternish, a celebrated Macleod.
Footnotes
- ^ a b c d e f Gibson, pp. 127–135.
- ^ Collinson (1966), pp. 174–198.
- ^ a b Gibson, pp. 138–143.
- ^ Gibson, pp. 13–14.
- ^ Bagpipe Journey bagpipejourney.com. Retrieved on 2013-09-20.
- ^ 'The Silver Chanter MacCrimmon Memorial Piobaireachd Competition' thetimes.co.uk. August 12, 2008. Retrieved on 2013-09-20.
- ^ a b The Family Tree of Piping Archived 2009-08-09 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 2008-02-09
- ^ Collinson (1975), p. 144.
- ^ a b c Campbell, p. 273.
- ^ McCrimmon Name Meaning and Origin Retrieved on 2008-02-05
- ^ Gibson, p. 336.
- ^ MacLellan, Captain John. "The History of Piping - The Hereditary Pipers - The MacCrimmons" (PDF). piobaireachd.co.uk.
- ^ a b Gibson, p. 154. Rory Halford MacLeod dates the first quotation at 1698, however Keith Sanger gives 1697 referencing Breadalbane accounts dated 1697 ("Item sent with John MacIntyre the pyper at your Lordships desyre to be given McCrooman pyper in the Isles, £40")
- ^ Gibson, p. 69.
- ^ a b Adam & Innes, pp. 167–168.
- ^ a b Campbell, p. 137.
- ^ Eyre-Todd, pp. 223–228.
- ^ Gibson, p. 90. from the narrative of John William O'Sullivan (one of the Seven Men of Moidart)
- ^ Collinson (1975), pp. 193–195.
- ^ The MacCrimmon Memorial, Borreraig, Dunvegan, Skye Retrieved on 2008-02-15
- ^ Malcolm MacCrimmon Retrieved on 2008-02-17
References
- Adam, Frank & Innes, Thomas. The Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands 1934. Kessinger Publishing, 2004. ISBN 1-4179-8076-1.
- ISBN 0-7486-1790-6.
- Collinson, Francis. The Bagpipe: The History of a Musical Instrument. Routledge, 1975. ISBN 0-7100-7913-3.
- Collinson, Francis. The Traditional and National Music of Scotland. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1966.
- Eyre-Todd, George. The Highland Clans of Scotland: Their History and Traditions. Charleston: Garnier & Company, 1969.
- Gibson, John G. Old and New World Highland Bagpiping. MacGill-Queen's University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-7735-2291-3.