William Lawrie

William Lawrie (1881–1916) was a Scottish bagpipe player, who was both an eminent solo competitor and a composer.

Life He was born in 1881, into a slate quarrying family in Ballachulish, Argyll and was the son of Hugh Lawrie (Eòghann Thomais Uilleam), who gave him his first lessons on the Great Highland bagpipes at the age of seven. He later received lessons from John MacColl of Oban. He was a friend and contemporary of G. S. McLennan, and they travelled to competitions together and shared prize money.

His bagpipes are now on display in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Regimental Museum in Stirling Castle, along with his service medals and the Gold Medals he won at Oban and Inverness.

Compositions He is remembered as a composer for the bagpipes although only around twenty of his tunes survive. Some of his compositions are: The Pap of Glencoe The Battle of the Somme – included on the 1976 album Battle of the Field Inveraray Castle Captain Carswell