Margaret M
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Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Does anyone know of research done into the Durness George McLeod (or George McLeods) the piper? It seems that there are problems in reconciling the dating of some of the events in his life, raising the question: are there two George McLeod pipers in Durness?
"George McLeod the piper" appears in well-known references in Rob Donn's poetry, in which he is a close friend of the poet. Ian Grimble (page 108) draws attention to Patrick Macdonald "seeking out the company of the piper and the bard" after he returned home in 1754.
Rob Donn gives an account of his friend marrying a Catherine Mackay who had previously had an illegitimate child by someone else. The second wife of Donald fourth Lord Reay also features in the story. Lord Donald died in 1757, and in the poetry there is no indication that this marriage occurred after his death. Lady Reay is not described as a widow or a dowager, and the account fits the general pattern of life at Balnakeil in the late 1740s and 1750s.
If the events in Rob Donn occurred in the 1740s-1750s, this would not fit in with references in the Durness OPR to the marriage of a George McLeod piper to a Catherine Mackay from Kinlochbervie in February 1775, and the birth of two children - a son John and a daughter Barbara - in February 1776 and September 1777, both in Sartigrim.
To add to the puzzle, there is also a George McLeod piper to Lord Eric (and subsequently the Staffords/Sutherlands) from 1797 to his death about 1854 in various locations in Tongue. Does he come from the same family as the Durness piper(s)? All we know is that he is almost undoubtedly the son of a Donald McLeod who was a tenant in one of the settlements at the foot of Ben Loyal before 1797. There is in addition a George McLeod, a tenant in Tongue in 1789, who would appear to be quite old, but there is no indication whether he was a piper or not.
What started this trail for us was that the John McKay Gow the Ground Officer of Tongue, mentioned in an earlier posting, was married to a Barbara McLeod. We began looking at McLeods in Durness, and came across what looks like an anomaly. Perhaps someone who knows about piping history can sort it out.
Margaret M
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