The MacCrimmons (Gaelic: MacCruimein) were a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 family, pipers

Bagpipes

Bagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. Though the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe and Irish uilleann pipes have the greatest international visibility, bagpipes of many different types come from...

 to the chiefs of Clan MacLeod

Clan MacLeod

Clan MacLeod is a Highland Scottish clan associated with the Isle of Skye. There are two main branches of the clan: the Macleods of Harris and Dunvegan, whose chief is Macleod of Macleod, are known in Gaelic as Sìol Tormoid ; the Macleods of Lewis, whose chief is Macleod of The Lewes, are known in...

 for an unknown number of generations. The MacCrimmon kindred was centred at Borreraig

Borreraig

Borreraig is a crofting settlement in Duirinish, north-west of Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye. The MacCrimmon Piping Heritage Centre is based in the village....

 near the Clan MacLeod seat at Dunvegan

Dunvegan

Dunvegan is a town on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. It is famous for Dunvegan Castle, seat of the chief of Clan MacLeod...

 on the Isle of Skye. At Borreraig the MacCrimmons taught at one of the best known "piping colleges" in the Highlands of Scotland.

Over time many pieces of Pìobaireachd

Piobaireachd

Pibroch, Piobaireachd or Ceòl Mór is an art music genre associated primarily with the Scottish Highlands that is characterised by extended compositions with a melodic theme and elaborate formal variations...

(also known as Ceòl Mòr: "Big music") have been attributed to the MacCrimmons by popular tradition, yet the actual authorship of these cannot be verified. Popular lore has made the MacCrimmon pipers as one of the most famous families of hereditary pipers along with the MacArthur (pipers to MacDonald of Sleat), MacGregor (pipers to Campbell of Glenlyon), Rankins (pipers to the MacLeans of Coll, Duart and Mull). Even though the term hereditary is not a native Gaelic term, though in popular lore it has been used to imply an above average skill or special status. In the Scottish Highlands

Scottish Highlands

The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...

 and in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 itself until the Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...

 most positions were inherited

Inheritance

Inheritance is the practice of passing on property, titles, debts, rights and obligations upon the death of an individual. It has long played an important role in human societies...

, "from the chief down to the humblest cotter".

The origins of the MacCrimmons is debatable; even the genealogy of the pipers themselves is the subject of debate and speculation. In the 20th century the chiefs of Clan Macleod instated two MacCrimmons as hereditary pipers to the clan.

Origins

The origin of the MacCrimmons is vague and has long been debated. One fanciful theory originating from Captain Neil MacLeod of Gesto was that the MacCrimmons descend from an Italian from the city of Cremona

Cremona

Cremona is a city and comune in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po River in the middle of the Pianura Padana . It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local City and Province governments...

. Gesto was an intimate friend of Black John MacCrimmon (d 1822) the last hereditary piper to MacLeod, and it is reputed that from him Gesto received the "Cremona tradition". According to Gesto, the founder of the MacCrimmons was a priest from Cremona named Giuseppe Bruno, whose son Petrus (or Patrick Bruno) was born at Cremona in 1475 and later emigrated to Ulster

Ulster

Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial...

 in 1510. On Patrick's arrival in Ireland he then married the daughter of a piping family and Gaelicised his name. Gesto's origin for the MacCrimmons is not taken seriously today. According to Alastair Campbell of Airds the tradition was "fuelled by a non-Latinist finding the word 'Donald' in a 1612 Latin charter to Donald MacCrimmon, is that they were Italians from Cremona".

It is generally accepted that the surname

Surname

A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...

 may be of Norse origin. With MacCrimmon being an Anglicised form of the Scottish Gaelic Mac Ruimein meaning "son of Ruimean". Ruimean is possibly a Gaelic form of the Old Norse

Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....

 personal name Hroðmundr which is composed of the elements hróð (meaning "fame") + mundr (meaning "protection").

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 manrent

Manrent

Manrent refers to a Scottish mid 15th century to the early 17th century type of contract, usually military in nature and involving Scottish clans...

 of November 29, 1574 between Colin Campbell of Glenorchy

Glen Orchy

Glen Orchy is a long glen in Argyll and Bute in Scotland. It runs south-westerly from the Bridge of Orchy to Inverlochy following the River Orchy...

 and "John Tailzoure Makchrwmen in the Kirktoun of Balquhidder

Balquhidder

Balquhidder is a small village in the Stirling council area of Scotland. It is overlooked by the dramatic mountain terrain of the Braes of Balquhidder, at the head of Loch Voil. Balquhidder Glen is also popular for fishing, nature watching and walking...

 and Malccolme pyper Mackchrwmen in Craigroy", this reference being over ninety years before the MacCrimmons are found as pipers to MacLeod of Dunvegan in Skye. Another early reference is to a "Patrik Mcquhirryman, piper", mentioned in the Register of the Privy Council, vol.5 (1592–99), who is mentioned in connection with a crime in Perthshire

Perthshire

Perthshire, officially the County of Perth , is a registration county in central Scotland. It extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south...

. Alastair Campbell of Airds speculated that MacCrimmons were pipers to the Campbells of Glenorchy prior to the MacLeods of Dunvegan and Harris.

By the mid 1690s the MacCrimmons are confirmed to have been located in the Hebrides

Hebrides

The Hebrides comprise a widespread and diverse archipelago off the west coast of Scotland. There are two main groups: the Inner and Outer Hebrides. These islands have a long history of occupation dating back to the Mesolithic and the culture of the residents has been affected by the successive...

 and appear to have been recognised as masters of their craft. An order from John Campbell

John Campbell, 1st Earl of Breadalbane and Holland

John Campbell, 1st Earl of Breadalbane and Holland , son of Sir John Campbell of Glen Orchy, and of the Lady Mary Graham, daughter of William Graham, 1st Earl of Airth and 7th Earl of Menteith, was a member of Scottish nobility during the Glorious Revolution and Jacobite risings and also known as...

, Earl of Breadalbane to his chamberlain

Chamberlain (office)

A chamberlain is an officer in charge of managing a household. In many countries there are ceremonial posts associated with the household of the sovereign....

, Campbell of Barcaldine reads: "Give McIntyre ye pyper fforty pounds scots

Pound Scots

The pound Scots was the national unit of currency in the Kingdom of Scotland before the country entered into political and currency union with the Kingdom of England in 1707 . It was introduced by David I, in the 12th century, on the model of English and French money, divided into 20 shillings...

 as his prentises(hi)p

Apprenticeship

Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships...

 with McCrooman till May nixt as also provyde him in what Cloths he needs and dispatch him immediately to the Isles". The order seems to relate to a statement written by the mentioned earl of Breadalbane on April 22, 1697 at Taymouth in Perthshire: "Item paid to quantiliane McCraingie McLeans pyper for one complete year as prentyce fie for the Litle pyper before he was sent to McCrooman, the soume of £160" (modern translation: "Item, paid to Conduiligh Mac Frangaich [Rankin], MacLean's piper, for one complete year, as apprentice fee for the Little Piper before he [the Little Piper] was sent to MacCrimmon, the sum of £160"). The MacCrimmon instructor that is referenced to may well be Pàdraig Òg.

Hereditary pipers

Though much has been written about the MacCrimmon pipers to the MacLeods of Dunvegan

Dunvegan

Dunvegan is a town on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. It is famous for Dunvegan Castle, seat of the chief of Clan MacLeod...

, there is little reliable information on them. The genealogy of the "hereditary pipers" has also been the subject of debate and speculation. The MacCrimmon of whom there is the most reliable information is Red Donald (Dòmhnull Ruadh) (d July 31, 1825). Red Donald held tacks

Tacksman

A tacksman was a land-holder of intermediate legal and social status in Scottish Highland society.-Tenant and landlord:...

 at Borreraig and Shader, and at Trien in Waternish

Waternish

Waternish or Bhatairnis/Vaternish is a peninsula approximately long on the island of Skye, Scotland, situated between Loch Dunvegan and Loch Snizort in the northwest of the island, and traditionally inhabited and owned by Clan MacLeod whose clan seat is at the nearby Dunvegan Castle. The current...

, and also a farm at Glenelg. Red Donald's older brother was Black John (Iain Dubh) (d 1822), who also held the Boreraig tack. Interestingly the MacCrimmon brothers had their most formative years during the Disarming Act

Disarming Act

After the Jacobite Rising of 1715 ended it was evident that the most effective supporters of the Jacobites were Scottish clans in the Scottish Highlands and the Disarming Act attempted to remove this threat....

. Today it is accepted that these MacCrimmon brothers were sons of Malcolm (Calum), son of Pàdraig Òg, who were both pipers to the chiefs of MacLeod and who also held land from them. Red Donald and Black John's father and paternal uncle (Donald Ban) both piped for the Government forces in the 1745-46 Jacobite Rising.

Donald Ban

During the Jacobite Rising in 1745 the chief of Clan MacLeod supported the Hanoverians against the Jacobites. As MacLeod's piper, Donald Ban MacCrimmon (Dòmnhall/Dòmnhull Bàn MacCruimein - bàn meaning fairhaired cf Duncan Ban MacIntyre

Duncan Bàn MacIntyre

Donnchadh Bàn Mac an t-Saoir is one of the most renowned of Scottish Gaelic poets and formed an integral part of one of the golden ages of Gaelic poetry in Scotland during the 18th century...

) took an active part in the conflicts against the Jacobite forces. Donald Ban was captured on December 23, 1745 following the Hanoverian defeat at Inverurie. 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.

Donald Ban was eventually killed during the so-called "Rout of Moy" when on February 18, 1746, with the Jacobites marching on Inverness

Inverness

Inverness is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland...

, Lord Loudoun led 1,500 men in an attempt to capture Charles Edward Stuart

Charles Edward Stuart

Prince Charles Edward Louis John Casimir Sylvester Severino Maria Stuart commonly known as Bonnie Prince Charlie or The Young Pretender was the second Jacobite pretender to the thrones of Great Britain , and Ireland...

. When the Government troops advanced upon Moy

Moy, Highland

The village of Moy is situated between the villages of Daviot and Tomatin, in the Highland region of Scotland. It sits beside Loch Moy and used to have a railway station on the Inverness and Aviemore Direct Railway.-History:...

 in the dark they encountered a watch made up of only a handful of Mackintoshes

Clan MacKintosh

Clan Mackintosh is a Scottish clan from Inverness with strong Jacobite ties. The Mackintoshes were also chiefs of the Chattan Confederation.-Origins:...

. In the encounter a single shot was fired and Donald Ban was instantly killed. With the death of their piper, panic quickly spread and Loudoun's forces fled in the "Rout of Moy". According to John William O'Sullivan's narrative, "McCloud had his Piper killed just by his side, & was very much laughed at when he came back".

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 anyway. He settled in Anson County

Anson County, North Carolina

-See also:*National Register of Historic Places listings in Anson County, North Carolina-External links:*...

 (located in what is now North Carolina, USA). He took part in the American Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

 as a Loyalist

Loyalist (American Revolution)

Loyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War. At the time they were often called Tories, Royalists, or King's Men. They were opposed by the Patriots, those who supported the revolution...

, 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

Shelburne County, Nova Scotia

Shelburne County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.-History:Shelburne County was founded in 1784 shortly following the influx of Loyalist settlers evacuated from the newly independent United States of America...

, (located in what is now Nova Scotia, Canada).

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. In 1808 the Highland Society of London

Highland Society of London

The Highland Society of London is a charity registered in England, with "the view of establishing and supporting schools in the Highlands and in the Northern parts of Great Britain, for relieving distressed Highlanders at a distance from their native homes, for preserving the antiquities and...

 proposed that a College of Piping be re-established at Fort Augustus

Fort Augustus

Fort Augustus is a settlement in the Scottish Highlands, at the south west end of Loch Ness. The village has a population of around 646 ; its economy is heavily reliant on tourism....

, and that Lt. MacCrimmon should supervise instruction. This proposal was declined though, causing Red Donald "disappointment and mortification".

According to J. G. Lockhart

John Gibson Lockhart

John Gibson Lockhart , was a Scottish writer and editor. He is best known as the author of the definitive "Life" of Sir Walter Scott...

's biography of Sir Walter Scott: "MacLeod's hereditary piper is called MacCrimmon, but the present holder of the office has risen above his profession. He is an old, a lieutenant in the army, and a most capital piper, possessing about 200 tunes and pibrochs, most of which will probably die with him as he declines to have any of his sons instructed in the art. He plays to MacLeod and his lady, but only in the same room, and maintains his minstrel privilege by putting on his bonnet so soon as he begins to play".

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.

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

Greenock

Greenock is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in United Kingdom, and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland...

, before making up his mind to stay on the Isle of Skye, where he died in 1822 aged ninety-one.

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 across to Dunvegan Castle, was paid for by clan societies and donations from around the world. 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".

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 Canadian born in 1918, started piping at the age of eight. With the start of the Second World War he joined the Calgary Highlanders and subsequently joined the pipe band

Pipe band

A pipe band is a musical ensemble consisting of pipers and drummers. The term used by military pipe bands, pipes and drums, is also common....

. At some point in time he wrote to Dame Flora MacLeod, chief of Clan MacLeod, asking for approval and support of his decorating his bagpipes in the MacLeod tartan. The chief then wrote to the regiment's Commanding Officer

Commanding officer

The commanding officer is the officer in command of a military unit. Typically, the commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitude to run the unit as he sees fit, within the bounds of military law...

 and permission was granted. In 1942, MacCrimmon is said to have made a verbal agreement with the clan chief and became the ninth "hereditary piper" to the Chief of Clan MacLeod. MacCrimmon claimed there was proof of his descent from the MacCrimmons of Borreraig, and as such, that he was a descendant of the hereditary pipers to the Chief. In 1978, John MacLeod of MacLeod, 29th chief of Clan MacLeod

John MacLeod of MacLeod

John MacLeod of MacLeod, born as John Wolrige-Gordon, was the 29th chief of Clan MacLeod. Faced with the need for expensive repairs to the clan's seat at Dunvegan Castle on the Isle of Skye, his proposed methods to raise funds caused considerable controversy...

, while visiting Calgary

Calgary

Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...

, Alberta

Alberta

Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

, Canada, formally made Malcolm's son, Iain Norman MacCrimmon, the tenth hereditary piper to the Chief of Clan MacLeod.

Fictional MacCrimmons

A fictional member of the Clan is Jamie McCrimmon

Jamie McCrimmon

James Robert "Jamie" McCrimmon is a fictional character played by Frazer Hines in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A piper of the Clan McLaren who lived in 18th century Scotland, he was a companion of the Second Doctor and a regular in the programme from 1966...

, a piper to "Clan MacLaren

Clan MacLaren

Clan MacLaren is a Highland Scottish clan.-History:-Origins:The origins of the clan are uncertain, but by tradition the MacLarens are descended from Loarn mac Eirc of Dál Riata, who landed in & settled Argyll in 503 A.D. The clan name is supposedly derived from Lorn ; these variations are all...

" in the television series Doctor Who

Doctor Who

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...

, although in reality the MacCrimmons are pipers to Clan MacLeod.