By Tuck of Drum

 

   *By Ian Turnbull.

 

Throughout history, and without doubt before recorded history, the Drum has been used for many purposes. Its use in the military for encouraging soldiers to go into battle is well known, as is its part in adding to the dignity of royal occasions. The numerous other uses range over the gamut from the early, but sophisticated, African signaling, to the contemporary percussion sounds of the twenty-first century.

There is, however, one extremely practical use of the drum that appears to have escaped much notice, and that was as a kind of late-medieval alarmclock. In the fifteenth century, citizens in various parts of Scotland could rely on the sound of the pipes and drums to greet their morning.

  for hundreds of years the townsfolk of the burghs of Scotland were played to bed

each night by the skirl of the pipes and the tuck of the drum; and every morning

around the ungodly hour of four o/clock, they awoke to face a new day as the

burgh piper and the burgh drummer paraded the streets and closes sounding a

shrill reveille 1

 

This form of two-man time signal was a service other town councils would attempt to supply. The custom of appointing the borough [burgh] piper and drummer appears to have started in the fifteenth century. Records show that there were three pipers and drummers on the city payroll of Edinburgh in 1487. However, the records also indicate that on 12^th May 1568, their numbers were reduced to two.

The prowest baillies counsell and deikinis ordanis twa swechis to pas nychlie throch

the toun, baith Hie Street and Kowgait, at auchth houris at evin and siclyke at fyve

houris in the morning 2

( Translation: The provost, city magistrates, council and deacons authorize two drummers to pass nightly through the town, both High Street and Cowgate at 8 o’clock at evening and similarly at 5 o’clock in the morning. )

By 1660 however, Scotland’s capital city was reduced to just one piper and his duty was,

“ [ ....] to accompany the touns drummer, throw the Toun morning and evening.” 3 It is later recorded that, when the piper asked for a raise in pay, the city fathers determined that the pipers services were “neidles and unnecessar.” 4. He was dismissed and the custom continued with a single swasher. The terms swasher, sueschoour, suescher and swash, suesche, and swesche, to mean drummer and drum respectively, are extracts from the records of the Burgh of Edinburgh, published by the Scottish Burgh Records Society covering the period 1528- 1571. 5 However, the word swash does have other meanings: to bluster 6 strike violently 7 dashing or splashing of water 8

 

In the sixteenth century the position of Common Minstrel or Town Piper was that of a town officer and considered one of the more colourful appointments of the Crail City Council in Fife. On 13^th October 1568, the Town Council granted that, “ Charles Mercer, our Common Menstrall, shall play throughout the town, evening and morning ilk day.” 9 The office of town officer has survived and the list of his duties includes a statement that; “ The Officer (will) also beat the big drum through the burgh every morning at 5 from 1^st May to the end of October [...] 10 This was of course, in addition to his other duties and indicates that the role of a swasher experienced a certain elevation after the discontinuance of the piper. Far from merely rousing the citizens from their slumbers and signaling the curfew, he became Town Officer and Town Crier. Nevertheless, the current Edinburgh City Archivist, Richard Hunter, states that ;

 [...] historically there seem to be no figures in any Scottish Burghs (boroughs ) whose duties or appearances equates to the English West country tradition of the official Town Crier. The Town Council of Edinburgh has, over the centuries, employed a plethora of individuals to perform countless miscellaneous duties. Traditional appointments included town drummers … [T]hese individuals were a disparate, casual band of citizens who [...] could be hired for a consideration by anyone. Public announcements in Edinburgh, as elsewhere in Scotland, were signaled by tuck of drum . . . the drummers played upon side (snare ) drums to draw attention to themselves when making the public announcements. 11

Though the drummers may not have actually been appointed as Town Criers by the Edinburgh Council, it would not be a stretch of the imagination, in the view of this author, to consider them as such. It is known that the tradition of town crier started in ancient Greece, when heralds were used to announce the severing of relationships which preceded an official proclamation of war. The position of Town Crier in Scotland was not exclusively one of male preserve, however, for in 1693, in Dalkeith, there was Beety Dick, who did not use a drum, rather a large wooden trencher (serving platter ) which she struck with a spoon. Beety was succeeded by a Peggy Haswell and then a Grizzie Brown who used a handbell, but the Magistrates decided that “ [...]  the use of a Drum would be more dignified, although much more expensive at 18 pence per announcement.” 12

In 1768, the Crail Council agreed that one John Woodstock “ [ ...] should have Five Shillings Sterling yearly and One Pair of Shoes, upon condition that he goes regularly at FIVE in the morning and SEVEN at night through the Town each day with the DRUM.” 13 Then again in 1780, the Council ordered, “[...] to be advertised through the Town by TUCK OF DRUM, that every inhabitant who keeps Swine, to keep them in and not allow them to go on the Public Street.” 14

On the 15^th day of January 1857, James Milne was elected Town Officer in Crail; and among his many duties there was the following; “[...] You are to keep the drum in good condition, and you are not at liberty to put any necessary repairs on the drum, without orders from the Magistrates [...] your emoluments for advertising are as follows, All inhabitants being Freemen advertising goods with the Bell to pay three pence each time, and with the Drum – sixpence each time.” 15

 

The use of a drum, by the Town Crier, continued through into the twentieth century in Crail, and the obituary page on the 23^rd May 1912 edition of the East of Fife Record, records as follows:

A well known figure has passed away in the person of Robert Kirkcaldy, late Postman,

Church Officer and Town Crier at age 84. He was quite a character in many respects,

and nothing awakened Robert’s sense of greatness more than when out with his Drum. 16

(

Presently, in the City of Kirkwall on the somewhat remote Scottish northern islands of Orkney, the Town Crier, Charles Millar B.E.M. performs the annual Proclamation of the Riding of the Marches and St. Magus Fair, accompanied by a drummer. The drummer is 72 year old Philip Stout, a member of the Kirkwall Pipe Band for over fifty years and accompanist to the Town Crier for the last twenty three years. 17

Today, we have access to many different types of electronic communication, yet there is still a place for communicating with a human face. Town Criers are still used to lead parades with or without a drum. They attend official functions and act as ambassadors of good will on any occasion where a flamboyantly dressed character needs to be employed to draw attention to a ceremonial or social event .

The swash continues to play a large part in the social history of Scotland, by Tuck of Drum.

References:-

1. With Pipe & Swash – The Scots Magazine January 1971. (page 308)

2. Personal correspondence with Richard Hunter, Edinburgh City Archivist.

3. With Pipe & Swash – The Scots Magazine, January 1971. (page 308)

4. ibid.

5. Personal correspondence with Richard Hunter, Edinburgh City Archivist.

6. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary on line.

7. The Concise Oxford Dictionary 1964

8. Webster’s New Standard Dictionary 1943

9. Crail Burgh Records, 13th October 1568.

10. ibid.

11. Personal correspondence with Richard Hunter, Edinburgh City Archivist.

12. Town Crier History – John Smith – Scottish Town Crier. 2000.(Website)

13. Minutes of the Town Council of Crail 1768. *

14. ibid.

15. Instructions & Regulations for Crail Town Officer, 15^th January 1857 *

16. East of Fife Record 23^rd May 1912 *

17. Personal correspondence with Charles Millar, B.E.M. August 2003.

( * All items courtesy the Curator, Crail Museum Trust.) *

[ Ian Turnbull is a former Military Percussionist, Percussion Instructor to the Faculty of Music at The University of Western Ontario, Principal Percussionist with the (then) London Symphony Orchestra (Ontario), member of the Percussive Arts Society (PAS) Board of Directors. He is also the inaugural recipient of the PAS “Outstanding Chapter President Award” and the first non-American to receive the PAS prestigious “Outstanding Service Award.” ]WE welcome him to the  pages of WORLD OF MILITARY BANDS

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