Bill Gilmour, 1937-2025
The prominent Canadian piper and pipe-major William John “Bill” Gilmour died on June 7, 2025, at 88.
Gilmour is one of the most accomplished pipers in Canadian history. In addition to serving with the Canadian military for decades, including as pipe-major of the Royal Canadian Air Force Pipe Band, one of the top groups of the last 50 years, Senior Pipe-Major of the Canadian Armed Forces for many years, he was one of the most formidable solo competitors of the 1950s and ’60s.
Gilmour was born and raised in Toronto. At age 10, he took his first lessons from Pipe-Sergeant Archie Dewar of the 48th Highlanders of Canada. He spent only four or five months on the practice chanter before progressing to a complete set of pipes.
He started competing at age 11 and, by 15, was playing successfully in Open and professional competitions around the Ontario games.
Gilmour would go on to receive instruction from the great John Wilson (Toronto/Edinburgh) M Archie Dewar and then by John Wilson, and would would win several North American Solo Piping Championships at the Glengarry Highland Games in Maxville, Ontario, as one of the most formidable solo competitors in North America in the 1950s and ’60s.
Gilmour was the first of five Canadian Regular Army pipers to earn the Piobaireachd Society panel’s acceptance into the British Army Pipe-Majors Course at Edinburgh Castle. The other four were Archie Cairns, Donald Carrigan, Hugh MacPherson and William Stirling.
He married Sheila MacNeil, an excellent piper and the daughter of the great Alex MacNeil.
On November 28, 2021, MacPherson organized an event at the Orleans Royal Canadian Legion Branch in Ottawa, where more than 70 friends, family and former military colleagues attended to celebrate Bill Gilmour. An impromptu band of 13 pipers and six drummers played, including Dr. George Fraser, former Pipe-Sergeant from Canadian Forces Europe Pipes & Drums, who started his career as Medical Officer with Gilmour’s 2nd Battalion The Black Watch (RHR) of Canada.
Despite his success and the respect he earned from his contemporaries, Bill Gilmour judged infrequently in Ontario. He was seldom seen around the games after he retired from the army and competing. Still, in 2021, he entered a composing competition sponsored by the Pipers & Pipe Band Society of Ontario.
We extend our sympathies to Bill Gilmour’s family and friends at this sad time.
‘A real gentlemen. Bill was a regular invited piping judge on the Atlantic Canada circuit through the 1970s.