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Highland bagpipe chanter

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by Henry Starck, Drummond Crescent, London, c. 1890

Highland bagpipe chanter
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Highland bagpipe chanter by Henry Starck, 31 Drummond Crescent, London, c. 1890. African blackwood; neck marked with a crown and 'MAKERS / HENRY STARCK / LONDON / NW1'; sole piece missing. Formerly stock of J. and R. Glen, Edinburgh, or from the collection of the firm's proprietors.

The firm of Henry Starck, Musical Wind Instrument and Bagpipe Maker, making Highland and Irish bagpipes, was founded in London in 1876. He went into a partnership with William Ross (1815-1891), Queen Victoria's Piper from 1854 and began making bagpipes, and Ross's name appeared on Starck's early work. Henry Starck introduced a new bagpipe about 1906 with a keyed chanter and bass, baritone and tenor drones set in a common stock. He took out a series of Patents between about 1906 and 1910 for 'Irish System' and 'Scottish System' War Pipes. The firm closed down in 1962.

This piece comes from the Glen and Ross Collection of musical instruments which were preserved in the shop of 'J & R Glen, Highland Bagpipe Makers' until it closed about 1978. This was the business founded in 1827 by Thomas McBean Glen in the Cowgate in Edinburgh, dealing in and repairing musical instruments. His brother, Alexander Glen, specialized in bagpipe-making and was succeeded by his son David. Thomas' sons, John and Robert Glen, succeeding to the business in 1866, probably did most to collect instruments and their antiquarian interests were carried on by Andrew Ross who acquired the business from the Glens in 1947. The National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland purchased the bagpipe collections from the family in 1983.

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