Set of Small pipes or chamber bagpipe

Set of Small-pipes or chamber bagpipe, Scottish, c. 1750, mouth blown with three drones set in a common stock. Consists of chanter, cylindrical bore, bass drone with two joints (the lower joint having been broken and repaired with a white metal sleeve) baritone drone with two joints, tenor drone with two joints and a single reed tuned with a small drone of resin wax on the tongue. The drone stock is mounted with an ivory ring inscribed 'HON. COL. MONTGOMERY 1ST HIGHLND BATTN. JANY 4 1757'. The blowpipe is bound with two metal rings and the mouthpiece is missing the blowstick stock is mounted with an ivory ring inscribed 'COLL. MONTGOMERY'. The pipes are made of fruitwood, laburnum and ebony and are mounted with an intricate double welt; it has a cover of red tartan.

The inscription on this set of Small-pipes associates them with the Hon. Archibald Montgomerie who succeeded his elder brother as the 11th Earl of Eglintoun in 1769. On the outbreak of war with France in 1756, he was commissioned on the instigation of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, to raise a regiment in the Highlands.

The date on the pipes, 4 January 1757, commemorates the date of Montgomerie's commission, and according to contemporary sources, his personable and high-spirited character and his family connections enabled him recruiting in the West Highlands to raise his regiment of 1,460 men including thirty pipers and drummers in a short space of time. The corps, generally referred to as 'Montgomerie's Highlanders', was numbered as the 77th regiment.

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