MacPherson, Hugh
Hugh MacPherson started an import business in St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada in the late 1920′s. After WWII, he moved back to Edinburgh and opened another shop, with his brother Dick remaining in Canada to run the St. Catherine’s shop. Hugh was not a pipemaker himself, but had MacPherson branded bagpipes made by William Sinclair & Son. Because of this, it is often difficult to tell the difference between a MacPherson and Sinclair bagpipe.
The following set was recently refurbished bu Thomas Doucet, hallmarked silver and ivory from 1975 –
Before -
And after -
The bagpipe below is a 1948 MacPherson that belongs to P/M Kevin MacIntyre. This bagpipe’s identification was confirmed by Alastair Sinclair in 2004 while Kevin was over in Scotland. Alastair Sinclair said it was a MacPherson made by Sinclair tools.
This set below came from Ontario and is now played by Chris Stanger of the Comox Valley Pipe Band.
This next set comes to us from Martha Yates of Santa Rosa, California.
Here is a bit of history on the set.
“Hallmark on silver on pipes: HM (Hugh MacPherson) Thistle, Castle, G: Edinburgh 1962
Hallmark on silver sole of chanter: FN , Anchor, Rampant Lion, L : Birmingham 1960
Top of Chanter under bell: MacPherson Edinburgh
Bottom of Chanter just above sole: Scotland
These pipes were made in 1962 by MacPherson (Sinclair) for Donald Shaw-Ramsay’s son-in-law, Robert Hankins. Bob Hankins was a police officer and a member of the SF Police Pipe Band. In 1994 DSR took the pipes back to Scotland to be refurbished by Sharpe Bagpipe Co., Bridge of Allan, Scotland. I purchased the pipes in 1995 from Bob Hankins through Donald Shaw-Ramsay. (I had been a student of his for a number of years) The pipes at that time had a Goretex bag and a new Naill ABW chanter. However, the purchase included the original chanter, and DSR added another chanter, an ABW P. Henderson, Glasgow. When telling me about the pipes, .Donald pointed out that the drones had been turned by Jimmie Tweedie who worked for MacPherson/Sinclair at the time. I got the impression that the Henderson chanter belonged to Donald and, perhaps, had been a band chanter for one of his bands. The MacPherson chanter, when properly reeded, will tune to a true Bb: 466.”
Gord…. my teacher, Dick MacPherson, Hugh’s brother…my upbringing in
Hugh MacPherson Imports
231 Lake Street,
St. Catharines, Ontario
My close friend…Willie Sinclair
After Dick died,in 1964, Hugh offered my wife and myself the Canadian half of the business…
Very close to home with this…. Alastair was still a boy …. my first set were imitation… then when Dick died i got his S/I 1947 set…. sold them to Dr. Henry Spangler of Topeka, Kansas a few years ago, who still has them….cheers, Ken