News extracts: July 29, 1828: Course of the unnamed piper through the north of Ireland
Alison Kilpatrick
Telegraph newspaper, by permission of The British Library:
A Scottish piper, reported (we will not say how truly) to be an
eminent sporting character--a Gentleman, forsooth! in disguise,
attracted considerable attention, last week, in Newry, Armagh, and the
neighbouring towns and villages. He was meanly dressed--and is said to
be making the circuit of this country, in the character we have
mentioned, for a wager. Be this as it may, we can only say that the bait
has taken most admirably with the good people of Ireland. Cash was
pouring in on this most unfortunate piper from every quarter--and it is
calculated he has received not less than from ten to twelve pounds per
day! But, then, it is no matter--it has been well bestowed--for he is
not a common stroller--oh, no!--he has the honor to be a Gentleman
vagabond. We only wish that the money thus lavishly and, we will add,
shamefully, thrown away on a nameless wanderer had been appropriated to
the relief of our wretched countrymen in Paisley, or to some other
equally benevolent purpose. Pro pudor!
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Transcribers' note: The following URL should direct subscribers'
browsers to the January - June 1850 compilation of Chambers's Edinburgh
Journal (new series, Nos. 314-339, pp. 87-90), published by William and
Robert Chambers, Vol. XIII:
http://books.google.ca/books?id=H7gCAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA87&dq=piper+1828+ireland
... to an article entitled, "Modern Myths - The Gentleman Bagpiper".
Here, clues were given as to the identity of the "certain half-pay
Captain", who was mentioned in a recent posting of a similar newspaper
article to this newsgroup on July 18. [The article in Chambers's is an
extract from "Tour of the Wandering Piper Through Part of Scotland and
Ireland, Written by Himself", pub. 1833, Portland, Maine, USA]. The URL
for that earlier posting is:
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.genealogy.britain/browse_thread/thread/49675ea8b1633272?hl=en#
... or that URL, processed by TinyURL into:
http://tinyurl.com/62fck3
Chambers's cites the following clues for the identity of the "Gentleman
Bagpiper" who, according to that article, was:
- a retired officer, who had served in the Peninsular war and sold his
commission after the battle of Waterloo
- educated at the same school in Scotland as Count Bender (the other
party to the dispute and subsequent wager mentioned in the contemporary
Irish newspaper articles posted to this newsgroup)
- an excellent musician
Also found via Google Books is the book entitled, "Thomas Hardy's
'Facts' Notebook, a Critical Edition" (ed. by William Greenslade (2004,
Ashgate, Aldershot, Surrey), which provides another clue. Citing the 13
May 1830 edition of the Dorchester County Chronicle, Hardy stated that
the "Gentleman Bagpiper" called himself Capt. Barclay, or Col. Stewart
(p. 210).