Honoured military pipe-majors
Our readers are the most informed, knowledgeable and sharing in the piping and drumming world, and Aard Boode of Livingston, Scotland, is a great example.
Mr. Boode has been researching pipe-majors of the military worldwide, and so far he has tracked nearly 3,000 UK and Commonwealth country pipers who have achieved this official rank by completing the rigorous course at the Army School of Bagpipe Music & Highland Drumming in Edinburgh.
“As part of this research I have also produced a list of pipe-majors who were awarded a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), Member of the Order of the British Empire or Medal of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), or British Empire Medal (BEM),” he said in his correspondence, along with his list of 89 men (there are so far no females) who have been further distinguished for their services in the annual Honours List, traditionally issued on the monarch’s birthday or on New Years Day.
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire was started in 1917. There are five “classes”: Knights and Dames Grand Cross (GBE), Knights and Dames Commanders (KBE and DBE), Commanders (CBE), Officers (OBE) and Members (MBE).
We have marked with an asterisk those who have also achieved a Highland Society of London Gold Medal.
The list is not definitive. If you see a possible error or omission, please do contact us.
These honours used to be reserved primarily for those who served in the military. Over the last several decades, the MBE especially has been presented to civilians. Several non-military-serving pipers and drummers have received the honour, including Jeannie Campbell, Hugh Cheape, Jim Kilpatrick, Roddy MacLeod and Richard Parkes.
We hope that you appreciate the list, and we thank Aard Boode for sharing his research with pipes|drums readers.
| Name | Born | Died | Honour(s) | Regiment(s) |
| Adlington, Joseph | 1930 | BEM | Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers | |
| Aitken, David Waddel | 1934 | 2004 | BEM | Royal Highland Fusiliers |
| Allan, John Mackenzie | MBE | Queen’s Own Highlanders | ||
| Anderson, Andrew | 1902 | 1981 | BEM | 48th Highlanders of Canada |
| Anderson, James B. | 1932? | 2004 | BEM | Black Watch/Royal Air Force |
| Anderson, Thomas | 1931 | 2011 | BEM | Cameronians |
| Banks, James Milne | 1946 | MBE | Scots Guards | |
| Barron, Albert | 1926 | 1996 | BEM | Black Watch/Tayforth U.O.T.C. |
| Bisset, John | BEM | 71st Royal Engineers | ||
| Black, David Plunkett | 1936 | MBE | BEM | Royal Regiment of Artillery |
| Brown, Robert Urquhart * | 1906 | 1972 | MBE | Gordon Highlanders |
| Burgess, John Davie * | 1934 | 2005 | MBE | Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders |
| Carswell, James Robertson | BEM | Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders | ||
| Clement, William | 1923 | 2012 | MBE | Home Guard/Black Watch |
| Copland, John “Jock” | 1880 | 1966 | MBE | Essex Fusiliers/Essex & Kent Scottish Regt |
| Cornwall, Thomas Drysdale | 1955 | BEM | Royal Scots/Army Apprentices’ College | |
| Crabb, Robert | 1921 | 2009 | BEM | Scots Guards |
| Crease, Anthony James | 1946 | MBE | BEM | Royal Scots Dragoon Guards |
| Davidson, Alexander Hugh Ririe | 1944 | 2016 | MBE | Scots Guards |
| Dickie, Alexander W. | 1902 | 1974 | MBE | Gordon Highlanders |
| Dippie, Allan Thomas | 1942? | 2005 | BEM | Black Watch |
| Dodds, Norman | 1941 | MBE | Royal Irish Rangers | |
| Douglas, Walter | 1887 | 1960 | MBE | Queen’s Own Cameron Hldrs of Canada |
| Duncan, David | 1929 | 2003 | MBE | London Scottish/51st Highland Volunteers |
| Elder, Peter Wood | 1934 | 2017 | BEM | Royal Tank Regiment |
| Esson, Edmund | 1906 | 1981 | MBE | Seaforth Highlanders of Canada |
| Forsyth, George Sinclair | 1906 | 1983 | BEM | Royal Scots |
| Frame, William Edwin | 1937 | 2015 | BEM | Royal Highland Fusiliers/Glasgow U.O.T.C. |
| Franklin, John Richard | BEM | London Irish Rifles | ||
| Galloway, Archibald John Hepburn | 1910 | 1997 | BEM | Queensland Cameron Highlanders/2nd A.I.F. |
| Georgeson, Laurence | 1984 | BEM | Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders | |
| Gray, John Brockie | 1903 | 1972 | BEM | Royal Scots Greys |
| Gray, Michael James | 1966 | MBE | Highlanders | |
| Groves, Harold Francis | MBE | Irish Guards | ||
| Harden, Michael John | 1947 | BEM | Royal Tank Regiment | |
| Hitchings, Bruce James | 1955 | MBE, BEM | Queen’s Own Highlanders | |
| Kerr, Joseph | 1940 | BEM | Gordon Highlanders/Scottish Division | |
| Kilgour, Robert Liddle | 1924 | 2017 | MBE | Seaforth Highlanders/Scots Guards |
| Knox, James | 1958 | MBE | Royal Irish Regiment | |
| Lambert, Arthur Peter | 1924 | 2000 | BEM | Royal Regiment of Artillery |
| Law, Charles Nicol | 1900 | 1971 | BEM | Black Watch |
| Lland, Henry Frank | 1924 | 2008 | BEM | Q.O.C.H./R.A.S.C./R.C.T. |
| Lyons, William | 1940 | BEM | Irish Guards | |
| MacAulay, Angus | 1902 | 1995 | MBE | Lovat Scouts |
| McBurnie, Arthur | BEM | Royal Ulster Rifles | ||
| McCallum, Ronald * | 1905 | 1986 | MBE | Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders |
| MacDonald, Alexander Roderick | 1900 | 1992 | BEM | Scots Guards |
| MacDonald, Angus * | 1938 | 1999 | MBE | Scots Guards |
| MacDonald, John * | 1865 | 1953 | MBE | Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders |
| MacDonald, John Morrison | 1899 | 1965? | OBE | Rhodesia Regiment |
| McIntosh, Farquhar Allan ** | 1929 | 2010 | MBE | Trucial Oman Scouts |
| McIntosh, James Haddow * | 1925 | MBE | Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders | |
| MacKenzie, John MacLean | 1922 | 1996 | BEM | Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders |
| MacLellan, John Archibald* | 1921 | 1991 | MBE | Seaforth Highlanders |
| MacLennan, Duncan Munro | 1904 | 1979 | MBE | Victorian Scottish Regiment |
| MacLennan, Lewis | 1910 | 1995 | BEM | Pacific Islands Regiment |
| MacLeod, David W. | BEM | Royal Air Force | ||
| MacLeod, Donald * | 1916 | 1982 | MBE | Seaforth Highlanders |
| McNicol, John | 1913 | 1988 | BEM | Black Watch |
| Macrae, Evan * | 1925 | 1991 | BEM | Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders |
| MacTaggart, William Keith | 1929 | 2019 | CBE, MBE | Aberdeen Universities O.T.C. |
| Matheson, John McLean | BEM | Cameronians | ||
| Montgomery, Desmond Alan Dill | 1916 | 2003 | CBE, MBE | Queen’s University Belfast O.T.C. |
| Motherwell, James Craig Whyte | 1960 | BEM | Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders | |
| O’Brien, Patrick | 1998 | MBE | London Irish Rifles/Royal Ulster Rifles | |
| Pryde, James | 1929 | 2009 | MBE | Royal Scots Greys |
| Rafferty, Joseph Cooper | 1945 | BEM | Black Watch | |
| Ramsay, Donald Shaw | 1919 | 1998 | BEM | Highland Light Infantry |
| Riddell, Donald | 1908 | 1992 | BEM | Lovat Scouts |
| Robertson, James Blair | 1905 | 1988 | MBE | Scots Guards/London Scottish |
| Roe, John Sidney | 1920 | 1994 | MBE, BEM | Scots Guards |
| Roe, Kenneth Gordon | 1921 | 1976 | BEM | Scots Guards |
| Ross, William Collie * | 1878 | 1966 | MBE | Scots Guards/Lovat Scouts |
| Roy, Robert | 1909 | 1960 | MBE | Black Watch |
| Samson, Stuart Douglas * | 1962 | MBE | Gordon Highlanders | |
| Small, Steven George | 1964 | MBE | Black Watch | |
| Smith, Edward Kenneth | 1901 | 1951 | BEM | King’s Own Scottish Borderers |
| Smith, John Arbuckle | 1912 | 1990 | BEM | Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders |
| Stewart, William Rennie | 1917 | 2007 | OBE | St. Andrews University O.T.C. |
| Stoddart, Gavin Neil Macleod * | 1948 | MBE, BEM | Royal Highland Fusiliers | |
| Stoddart, George | 1912 | 1990 | BEM | Royal Scots Fusiliers/Parachute Regt |
| Stuart, Rene Michael | 1947 | MBE | Royal Air Force | |
| Tamang, Meharman | MBE | 7th Duke of Edinburgh’s Own Gurkha Rifles | ||
| Thomson, Kenneth William | BEM | Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders | ||
| Tiuamoa, Lewereka | MBE | Pacific Islands Regiment | ||
| Turrell, Lewis Arthur * | 1935 | 2011 | MBE | Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment |
| Weatherston, John Carlton | 1917 | 2003 | MBE, BEM | Highland Light Infantry/Royal Artillery |
| Whitecross, James G. | 1928 | 1994? | MBE | Pacific Islands Regt/R. Australian Regt |
| Wilson, Andrew | 1931 | 1997 | BEM | Royal Ulster Rifles/Queen’s U.O.T.C. |
* Highland Society of London Gold Medallist
** Later changed name to McIntyre, Susan.
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