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The Johnston Traveller family; a Johnston piper.

Track Information

Original Track ID

SA1975.10

Original Tape ID

SA1975.010

Summary

The Johnston Traveller family; a Johnston piper.

There are Johnstons in Perthshire and Argyll, but they were traditionally supposed to have come from the islands. Peter Cooke remarks that a John Johnston from Coll was piper to the [Rankines?] of Mull. Betsy Whyte says the Johnstons were good pipers. Her Uncle Johnny [Bryce Whyte later refers to him as Jimmy] was photographed beside President Roosevelt when he was playing the pipes in the street in Glasgow or Edinburgh. Betsy contradicts Bryce when he says it was at the Braemar Games. That was a different occasion, when the piping judge Willie Ross called for her uncle to be brought to the stage to play, though he was not a competitor. He was a great piper, but drink was his ruin.

Betsy Whyte's mother was a Johnston and her mother's mother was a Reid.

Item Subject/Person

Johnston Traveller family; Johnston, John

Language

English, Scots

Genre

Information

Collection

SoSS

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good