‘WULL I GIE THEM WUND’: THE MEANING OF BAGPIPE MUSIC ON THE WESTERN FRONT
When eighteen-year-old piper Jimmy Richardson asked his company sergeant-major ‘Wull I gie them wund?’, they were in the middle of trying to cross no-man’s-land during the battle of the Somme in October of 1916. They were hunkered down in a big shell hole, their major had just been killed, and the barbed wire in front and to the left of the battalion had not been cut. Sergeant Makie had asked Richardson why he was not playing his bagpipes and Richardson told him that Major Lynch had ordered him to be silent. Seeing the desperateness of the situation, Richardson knew that his fellow soldiers needed the inspiration and encouragement of the music and would be uplifted by the spirit of a song. Not all the men would see him play, but it was just as important that they would hear him play. The bagpipe music would be the wind at their backs and inspire them to push forward.
Piper Richardson played for ten minutes, marching up and down in front of the barbed wire while the two companies of 16th battalion got over the wire. His heroism earned him the Victoria Cross, but posthumously, as he was killed just a few hours later. The martial significance of the piper, and all that he symbolised to his fellow warriors, has been explored and recognised for more than 400 years, but what of the music? Can we understand the meaning of the bagpipe music to the soldiers of the First World War? These were men from different parts of the world, and from different classes, who shared a collective symbolic interpretation of the significance of the music. Using our understanding of symbolism and cultural history methodology the music of the pipes can be seen to unite those of differing cultures, both class and international, and to even cause a symbolic reaction to those on the opposing side.
Significance of past pipers
Exploring the significance of bagpipe music to, and on, the soldiers must recognise the intimate connection between the importance of the piper himself and what. It is unknown, and still debated to this day, when and how bagpipes made their way to Scotland.
