Another Jock McLellan, Dunoon discovery, as 150th birthday celebrations get more colour

August 8, 2025, is the 150th anniversary of the birth of John “Jock” McLellan of Dunoon, Scotland. Events are planned to pay homage to one of Highland piping’s greatest composers and leaders.

Already, two never-before-published compositions by the creator of such classics as “Lochanside,” “Southall,” and “The Road to the Isles” have been uncovered in the form of “Lady Inverclyde” and “Dunan Hill,” both 3/4 marches in McLellan’s inimitable style.

The latest Jock McLellan find is an original silver engraving for the printing of his delightful two-part 2/4 march, “Bonnie Dunoon.” Wrapped in 100-year-old brown grease-proof paper tied with fraying string, the engraving was discovered by McLellan’s grand-nephew, Duncan “Duggy” MacGregor, in the archives of Dunoon’s Castle House Museum. MacGregor has been spearheading events to honour the sesquicentennial year of his great-uncle’s birth.

“It was exciting to reveal the contents in those packages. It was like discovering a long-lost treasure.”

“It was exciting to reveal the contents in those packages,” MacGregor said. “It was like discovering a long-lost treasure.”

As with “Lady Inverclyde,” it is unknown why McLellan had the engraving plate for “Bonnie Dunoon,” but both might have been part of a special commission.

The Burgh Hall in Dunoon will host the Pipe-Major John McLellan DCM Photographic Exhibition from July 31st to August 30th, 2025. New images of the notoriously little-photographed piper will be on display.

At the exhibition’s launch on July 31st, the Dunoon Players drama group will perform an original 15-minute playlet based on McLellan’s life. The piece will feature three of McLellan’s tunes played by pipers from the Dunoon Argyll Pipe Band and a fiddler from the Cowal Fiddlers Workshop.

After the launch, guests will be invited to attend a brief concert at the McCellan memorial plaque at the Castle Gardens in Dunoon. The Cowal Gaelic Choir will join the pipers and fiddlers.

Another performance and commemoration will take place at Castle Gardens on August 8th.

Dublin’s Ronan Maguire was an early adopter of computer colourization of old images, and he has worked to further enhance the most famous photo of McLellan. pipes|drums featured Maguire’s work in 2020, and we’re pleased to include his latest image here.

You can acquire a manuscript and recording of “Bonnie Dunoon” at BagpipeMusic.com, Jack Lee’s archive of more than 11,000 Highland piping compositions.