The Stonehouse Pipe Band is a

pipe band A pipe band is a musical ensemble consisting of Bagpipes, pipers and drummers. The term pipes and drums, used by military pipe bands is also common. The most common form of pipe band consists of a section of pipers playing the Great Highland b ...

from Stonehouse in the

South Lanarkshire gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Deas , image_skyline = , image_flag = , image_shield = Arms_slanarkshire.jpg , image_blank_emblem = Slanarks.jpg , blank_emblem_type = Council logo , image_map ...

region of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

History

The band was formed in 1899 under the leadership of

Pipe major The pipe major is the leading musician of a pipe band, whether military or civilian. Like the appointment of drum major, the position is derived from British Army traditions. During the early twentieth century, the term sergeant piper was used ...

Hector McIness, and grew steadily during the pre-war years at the beginning of the last century. In 1909

Harry Lauder Sir Henry Lauder (; 4 August 1870 – 26 February 1950)Russell, Dave"Lauder, Sir Henry (1870–1950)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, online edition, January 2011, accessed 27 April 2014 was a S ...

suggested a competition for civilian bands at the Cowal Gathering. He had been a miner and knew that many mining villages had pipe bands which would struggle to compete against the military bands in the Argyll Shield. So the civilian contest for the Sir Harry Lauder Shield began. The Argyll Shield is now the award for Grade One at Cowal, while the Sir Harry Lauder Shield is the award for Grade Two. In 1909 Stonehouse Pipe Band won the civilian contest and went on to retain it in 1910 and 1911. The band won the Argyll Shield in 1909 as well.Gibson, John G
''Traditional Gaelic Bagpiping, 1745-1945''
Montreal: MQUP, 1998. The band original wore the McGregor

tartan Tartan ( gd, breacan ) is a patterned cloth consisting of criss-crossed, horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours. Tartans originated in woven wool, but now they are made in other materials. Tartan is particularly associated with Sc ...

but this was changed to the Hamilton dress tartan in the 1930s after it was donated by Mrs. Janet Millar of Tinto View, Stonehouse. The band began to break up around 1939-40 due to increasing pressure and competition from other bands, although the junior band continued into the 1970s. A band by the name was reformed in 2007 with the intention of teaching a complete new band of beginners on both pipes and drums.

References

{{reflist Pipe bands Organisations based in South Lanarkshire