Annotation:Millbank Cottage

Back to Millbank Cottage

MILLBANK COTTAGE. Scottish, March (2/4 time). A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCCDD (Brody): AABB'CCDD' (Martin). "Millbank Cottage" is the best known composition of Pipe Major William Dumbreck (1866–1935) from Linlithgow (although often listed as "traditional"). Dumbreck, according to his obituary, was "pipe-major of the 1st Black Watch, to which, when he was appointed, was the youngest pipe-major in the British Army." The melody was composed in 1887 and was dedicated to his sister who had moved into a newly constructed house, 'Millbank Cottage', on Station Road in the town of Uphall, Midlothian. The march is favored at pipe competitions and was played at Dumbreck's funeral.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; p. 188. Glen (David Glen's Collection of Highland Bagpipe Music, Book 11), c. 1893?; p. 40. Martin (Ceol na Fidhle, vol. 2), 1988; p. 6. Norris (Glendaruel Collection of Bagpipe Music), 1951; p. 3. Ross (Ross's Collection of Highland Bagpipe Music, vol. 4), c. 1893. Scots Guards: Standard Settings of Pipe Music, vol. 2, 1981.

Recorded sources: Beltona SBE162, Jimmy Shand – "Happy to Meet" (1967). Olympic 6151, The Angus Strathspey and Reel Society – "Scottish Traditional Fiddle Music" (1978). Philo 1042, Boys of the Lough – "Piper's Broken Finger" (1976).

See also listing at:
Hear the march played by Pipe Major John MacDonald at Tobar an Dualchais [1] [2] (followed by "Pipe Major John Stewart").