George Smith Morris, ''The Buchan Chiel'', was born in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

in 1876 and died in 1958. He is best known as a singer and writer of

Doric Doric may refer to: * Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece ** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians * Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture * Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode * Doric dialect (Scotland) * Doric ...

comic songs. His father was a farrier with his own business and in due time George too became a blacksmith. In 1912 he married Agnes Kemp, the sister of

Willie Kemp Willie Kemp, ''King of the Cornkisters'' (born 1888 in Oldmeldrum – 1965) is best known as a singer and writer of Doric comic songs. His family owned a hotel in Oldmeldrum, formerly Kemp's hotel, now Morris's and at an early age Kemp star ...

, the ''King of the

Cornkister A cornkister is a Doric song, generally a comic song, written during the late nineteenth or early twentieth centuries, in the tradition of the bothy ballads. The name refers to the (corn chest) used to measure oats sufficient to feed a plough h ...

s'', and moved to

Oldmeldrum Oldmeldrum (commonly known as Meldrum) is a village and parish in the Formartine area of Aberdeenshire, not far from Inverurie in North East Scotland. With a population of around 2,187, Oldmeldrum falls within Scotland's top 300 centres of popu ...

in 1919 where the Kemp family ran a hotel business. During his time in Oldmeldrum he started performing and writing. By 1930 he came to the attention of the Beltona record label and during the following decade he recorded more than 40 pieces, either

bothy ballad Bothy ballads are songs sung by farm labourers in the northeast region of Scotland. Bothies are farm outbuildings, where unmarried labourers used to sleep, often in harsh conditions. In the evening, to entertain themselves, these bothy bands s ...

s or cornkisters, for them, some of which he composed himself or in collaboration with Willie Kemp. His best-known composition, still popular in Northeast Scotland today, was ''A Pair o Nicky-tams'' but he wrote many others, the most notable of which were ''The Buchan Bobby'', ''Aikey Brae'' and ''A New Lum Hat''.

Sources

A Salute to Doric Heroes
1876 births 1958 deaths Musicians from Aberdeen Scottish entertainers People from Oldmeldrum {{Scotland-musician-stub