By James Singer
While researching pipers of the 1745 uprising for a speech, and particularly a lad by the name of James Reid, I came across an article by Thomas Pearston in the Piping Times of 1989. Pearston suggests that James Reid, who was hung for High Treason in 1746, should be commemorated in an appropriate way. On reading the Piping Times’ article, I was motivated to write to Bagpipe News to make readers aware that a small group of friends and I had been commemorating James and the other Jacobites who were hung alongside him at the Tyburn in York over many years.
As I made the speech at the Tyburn, I used many of the interesting facts that I had found while researching and shared them with those in attendance at the execution site on November 9th, 2025. Bagpipes have long since been instrumental in the history, culture and heritage of Scotland. This article will show how they had an association with battles as well as how they brought about the demise of James Reid, facts which people probably know very little about.
To begin with I give background of documented instances of how pipes were associated to battles even before the uprising of 1745.
The earliest Scottish record of pipers accompanying troops into battle are found in the archives of the Chiefs of Clan Menzies, they mention the McIntyres, who were the hereditary pipers of the clan, who accompanied their own pipers to the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. In fact, one of the highly prized clan heirlooms are a set of bagpipes used by one of their pipers on that day.
In 1396, at the battle of North Insch, Perth, Walter Scott describes a certain stage in the battle as the “Fight of the pipers”. As both sides set upon each other the pipers put aside their pipes and rushed at the opposition with daggers. A piper associated to Clan Chattan was almost instantly slain, but regardless of being mortally wounded he grasped his pipes and played the clan pibroch until his last breath, this inspired the others as they went onto win the battle. The Feadan Dubh or the Black Chanter, which he used was recorded to have been in the possession of Cluny MacPherson.
In 1411 a pipe tune was composed and is deemed to be one of the oldest, it is related to one of the bloodiest affairs on Scottish soil The Battle of Harlaw, the tune taking its name after the battle. Presumably a tune is being classed differently to a Pibroch.
In 1689 a poet who was present at the battle of Killiecrankie described the rally to the Standard of James VII: “Here the dread trumpet gave the signal for the battle, and the piper, calling to war with hoarse note, blew the swelling bag with inflated cheeks.”
From the skirl of the pipes at the gathering of the clans at Glenfinnan 1745, the pipes were a domineering presence in the uprising, although never really emphasized in history books. A little-known fact is that Charles Edward Stuart himself was a piper and an even rarer known fact is that Charles owned two sets himself. Providence tells us that a set of pipes belonging to the Prince was one of the items sold among his brother Henry’s effects in 1824 and another of his sets was known to be in the possession of James Skene of Rubislaw, Aberdeen. What happened to them or where they are now is unknown and could perhaps be a good project for research.
In W.L. Manson’s book of the Highland bagpipes from 1901, it states that Charles Edward Stuart would have 32 pipers playing before his tent at mealtimes. He also had 100 pipers lead the way on the triumphant entry into Edinburgh and again when the Jacobite army crossed the River Eden near Penrith on the way to London.
So closely were bagpipes identified with the Jacobite cause they were to become considered a powerful factor in the motivation of the Jacobite troops, they were later to be deemed an instrument of sedition. Thus, records tell us this was decided in an English court of law in York to be an instrument of war for the first time. A Jacobite soldier by the name of James Reid would find out to his cost, being the first piper to be found guilty of High Treason for carrying them in the 1745 uprising.
From that point unbeknown to him, his name would enter into the history books and numerous media publications until the present day. A couple of articles I discovered while researching and cross referencing stood out and are as follows:
In the Caledonian Mercury. A paper founded in 1720 in Edinburgh. A report given on the November 25th, 1746, ten days after the event. The following is the extract:
“Reid suffered death at York on November 15th, 1746. On Saturday the 15th James Reid was executed for High Treason at York. He was of the shire of Angus and a private in Lord Ogilvy’s regiment, Ogilvy being only 21 himself. They came under the Forfarshire regiment.”
The Scots Mag, November 9th, 1746: “The court observed… that any person who joined any set of people engaged in open rebellion, though they did not bear arms, were yet guilty of High Treason; that no regiments ever marched without musical instruments, such as drums, trumpets or the like; and that a Highland regiment never marched without a piper, and therefore his bagpipe in the eyes of the law, was an instrument of war”.
Bringing it forward to the 20th century and an article in the Piping Times in 1989 by Tommy Pearston states: “James Reid must be unique in piping history as the only one who lost his life because he was a piper.”
Tommy suggests in this article, it is time for pipers to commemorate Reid himself in an appropriate way.
In The Prisoners of the 45’ by Sir Bruce Seton and Jean Gordon Arnot there are several hundred soldiers named in Prince Charle’s army that were taken prisoner, but with regards to pipers there were quite a few, but the following are just a handful that I deemed the most relevant.
John Sinclair – Piper in Ogilvy’s regiment as well as the town piper of Arbroath, so he must have known James. In the Rebellion he declares the rebels forced him to act as piper for them and that he deserted after having been kept by them 17 days. Imprisoned March 10th, 1746, Arbroath, Stirling and Edinburgh. Discharged March 4th, 1747.
John Ballantyne – Piper in Lord George Murray’s regiment, taken at surrender of Carlisle, along with James Reid. He was imprisoned in Carlisle December 30th, 1745 and tried at York on October 2nd, 1746. He showed that he had been forced out and was acquitted and released and was recorded to have been living in Dunkeld 1798.
Nicolas Carr – Piper in Glenbuchat’s regiment, origin Huntly, Aberdeenshire. He was shown on the list of those captured at Carlisle, but at his trial at York on October 2nd, it was proved that he had been forced into the regiment and that he had deserted at Carlisle Taken December 30th, 1745, he was imprisoned in Carlisle and York acquitted in October 1746.
He was evidently released as he was noted later as being a musician in the lady Stairs parish, Edinburgh and then being in the Parish of Bagheard, Drumblade about 10 miles east of Huntly in 1758.
Robert Jameson – Piper in the Duke of Perth’s regiment, captured at Carlisle and transported also must have known James.
James Campbell alias Macgregor – Piper Glen Gyles Regiment from Crieff, Perthshire. Pleaded guilty at his trial on September 9th, 1746 and was sentenced to death, he was however reprieved, imprisoned in Carlisle he tried to escape the night before he was transported November 21st, 1748.
Alan MacDougall of the Duke of Atholl’s and Lord Nairn’s Regiments, served as a blind Highland piper and was taken at Falkirk. Imprisoned January 12th, 1746 at Falkirk, January 20th at Leith and Edinburgh Jail, released under general pardon 1747.
It is believed that Alan McDougall is in the Old Parish Church Kilbride. Lorn, Argyle. Piper 1773. These details being on the headstone there.
James Reid piper in Ogilvy’s regiment executed in York on November 15th, 1746. The entry at the time states: “Reid James Piper in Ogilvy’s regiment taken prisoner December 30th, 1745, Carlisle. Then transported to Lancaster Castle, then to York where he was then tried. After 11 months of incarceration, he was executed November 15th, 1746.”
At the trial on October 2nd. It was declared that he was only a piper and was recommended for mercy by a sympathetic jury, but it was rejected by the Kings commission of Oyer and Terminer, headed by Lord Chief baron Sir Thomas Parker and was found guilty and the sentence of execution was given. The court had ruled no regiment ever marched without a piper and therefore his bagpipe in the eyes of the law, was an instrument of war, the first time the term had ever been used.
When it came to these Jacobite trials there were so many misfortunes, one being that these trials were ear marked for being held in Newcastle, but it was deemed at the time that the Geordies were presumably adjudged too sympathetic, so they took place in York instead.
On December 3rd, 11 men were captured at the skirmish at Lowtherhall, the property of Lord Lonsdale and brought to York. Among those was Sir George Hamilton of Redhouse, an aide to the Prince. Edmund Clavering and Frenchmen John Jelens and Louis Foure.
Following the skirmish at Clifton Moor, the Duke of Cumberland took 69 prisoners including 8 women. They arrived at York Castle on December 29th. They had walked through winter snow from Westmoreland and were in poor condition when they reached York.
After the capture of Carlisle on the December 30th, 1745, 193 Jacobite prisoners were sent to York. Instead of them being held in the new Debtors’ Prison, they were held in the ground floor of the Grand Jury Building instead, with numbers ever increasing, one hundred of them were transferred to Lincoln Castle in March. Considering Culloden was over by April 16th others were sent to York as well, so some were transferred to the Prison Chapel in August because of the overcrowding it was basically a state of chaos and turmoil.
Eventually there were 75 prisoners due to stand trial in York. The trials were to be held between 2nd and 8th October 1746. Of the 75 prisoners, 53 pleaded guilty and were not tried but just automatically sentenced to death, which left 22. They were tried and also found guilty with a sentence of death.
The executions were to be carried out in three batches, on November 1st, 10 executions were carried out, on November 8th there were 11 executions, which left four due to be carried out on the November 15th. Before sentence was carried out one man died and two others enlisted into the British Army and were reprieved, which only left one man remaining, James Reid. I suppose if being hung wasn’t bad enough, you can only imagine going through the experience by yourself.
The site at the Tyburn in York is marked with a similar plaque as the Tyburn in London, the gallows were a triangular structure and had three supporting beams. This is what was called a three-legged mare and had the design and purpose of hanging at least three at a time. James would have been hung alone from one of the lateral sides of the triangle.
During the Jacobite Uprisings there were various Acts that the Hanoverian regime put in place to try and quell the unrest in Scotland. Besides the Broadsword, the Targe, the Dirk and pistols or similar war like weaponry mentioned in the Disarming Act of 1715 or officially known as The Highland services Act or the Law which came into Act in November 1st, 1716 bagpipes were never mentioned. Those acts proved largely ineffective as many clans continued to use weapons and in fact acquired new ones. In response to the continuing unrest a subsequent act with new legislation with the aim of being more effective was introduced in 1725. Major general George Wade was instrumental in enforcing this and successfully confiscated a significant number of weapons. To strengthen this even further the Act of Proscription was introduced August 1st, 1746 following the Battle of Culloden, this was a bid to suppress and eradicate the Clan system and Highland culture to try and assimilate the Highlands into the British state.
The Act was eventually repealed in 1975. With regards to all these acts there was never any stipulation of bagpipes being specifically being named or associated to being an instrument of war.
If it had not been that lawyer, in that court room in York, defining them as such – as well as being adamant to see a rebel hang – James Reid may have never met the gallows.
The relevant decisions about hanging James Reid have been checked in the National Library of Scotland and in Kew, London and no one has yet found any government documents which show the decision that pipers should be hung because they were rebels. James Reid of course was not the only piper to be brought before the court; he was just the unlucky one as the rest were either let off or transported.
James Reid was tried after John Porteous. Witnesses for the crown plainly proved that James Reid had engaged with the rebels and to have acted as a piper to a rebel regiment, though it did not appear that he ever carried any arms, upon which he was recommended to mercy by the significant number of the jury. The court observed upon this but decided that every person who joined any set of people engaged in an open rebellion, though they did not bear arms they were guilty of High Treason. That no regiment ever marched without a musical instrument, whether it drums, trumpets or the like and that in a Highland Regiment there were no moving without a piper and therefore his bagpipes in the eyes of the law, was an instrument of war.
The jury upon this would have retracted their recommendation, but the court told them, it must not now be permitted and was judged guilty. The court was then adjourned, until the following day, Saturday before trying others.
It is funny to think the trial of James Reid 279 years ago would still have any relevance today, however not as long as 30 years ago it did.
In 1996 a man known as Mr David Brooks a self-styled cockney piper from 49 Grove Place, London, who’s home overlooked Hamstead Heath was taken to Magistrates court for playing his bagpipes on an open space on Hamstead Heath. He ignored numerous attempts to stop him after some residents’ complaints. He played the pipes every day for 15 years and had even been offered slots of an hour between 9 -10am on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the Parliament Hill bandstand, which he did for a further 24 years. The City of London cooperation even tried to move him 100 yards away from Boadicea’s Mound to a more isolated spot. Under a Victorian Act forbidding the playing of a musical instrument is banned.
Mr Brooks representing himself, then speaking outside the court, denied the charge that he had played a musical instrument and pleaded not guilty, by claiming the pipes were not a musical instrument, but a weapon of war, citing the case of James Reid in 1746 as a precedent. He claimed further that if the bagpipes were banned as a musical instrument in the insurrection after the 1745 rebellion, how could they be a musical instrument. Additionally, Mr Brooks who played the pipes in the 1996 film Loch Ness, as well as career playing and backing for numerous A list celebrities, originally had an agreement with the Greater London Council which used to control the heath. Mr Brooks said the corporation had a difficult job in handling complaints about his playing, but added there are worse things that go on such as aeroplanes, transistor radios, copulation, rape and the occasional murder. The playing of pipes is one of the lesser offences going on.
Despite widespread support and a 2,500 strong petition and apparently little opposition to his performances at the time, the verdict was unanimous and was ordered to pay £95 for his prosecution. The pipes were a musical instrument returning them from a weapon of war to its rightful place as a musical instrument, at least he didn’t meet the same fate as James Reid and end up on the gallows.
I took upon myself to track down Mr Brooks but discovered he had unfortunately passed away at his home on the May 8th, 2020 aged 72. His family are hoping to have a plaque installed on the bandstand at Parliament Hill and scatter his ashes over the heath. If anyone is in the vicinity of Hampstead Heath, a visit to the bandstand would be worth it, as would the Tyburn in York to commemorate James Reid himself.
I’d like to give special thanks to Kenny Borthwick for organising the commemoration and Topsy Vanheuverzwijn for preparing the wreaths and flowers, and to all those who were attendance – which makes the event worthwhile.
If any readers have further details about Piper James Reid – particularly his origins – I would be delighted to hear from you.
James Fraser Singer
Glen Tanar, Aberdeenshire