1897 – KILDARE BAGPIPER IN SCOTS GUARDS

IRISH PIPER IN THE ARMY

From ‘The Leinster Express’ 20 March 1897

 

Piper Jeremiah Murphy, now stationed with his regiment, the Scots Guards, at Richmond Barracks, Dublin, enjoys a unique distinction . He is the first and only Irishman who ever skirled pipes in that corps, in which he enlisted a little over four years ago at Preston, Lancashire. He is a muscular, well-set-up young Kildare man, whose bearing no less than his name tells of his nationality. He hails from Castlemichael, near Athy, and though he joined the corps as an ordinary private, six months afterwards he was selected as one of those who provide the ear-piercing music which is supposed to arouse the enthusiasm of the Scotch battalions. Twelve months’ tuition completed his education as a piper, and the forty or fifty Irishmen who serve in the same regiment have now the satisfaction of knowing when the martial strains of the pipes are being awakened that one of their own is taking a foremost part in the display.

Piper Murphy, it may be mentioned, is a member of the Gaelic League, and has become a student of the old tongue, in which one other member of the pipe band, a Highland Scotsman, also has some proficiency.