Obituary: LtCol Brian MacKenzie CStJ; Military officer with a lifelong love of playing, teaching and researching bagpipes

Born: 15 May, 1920 in Nablus, Palestine. Died: 7 September, 2012, in Perth, aged 92.

Lieutenant-Colonel Brian (Boru) Mackenzie CStJ, Royal Engineers, of Cromwellpark, Perth, who passed away at the grand old age of 92, was a piper and long-standing member of the Royal Scottish Pipers’ Society (RSPS), who will best be remembered in piping circles for his historical research into the life and works of Major-General CS Thomason, who, like Brian, had been an officer in the Royal ­Engineers, as well as an early member of the RSPS.

Aside from his piping interests, Brian had a fascinating life. He came from a proud family of Scottish and British war heroes from Sir Kenneth Mackenzie, tutor of Kilcoy, who commanded at Antwerp during the Battle of Waterloo and Major-General Sir Archibald Campbell, victor of the Second Burmese War, to his father Daniel Barton Mackenzie, who fought in both World Wars.

That history of military service was mirrored on his mother’s Irish side, the Mathews.

Born in Nablus, Palestine in 1920, and baptised there with water from Jacob’s Well, he was educated at Winchester College, whose motto, “Manners makyth man”, was epitomised by this very courteous gentleman, whose faith, family and humour were at the core of his very being.

He graduated with a BSc from the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. Commissioned into the Royal Engineers, he was one of the last to leave Dunkirk, rowing out to HMS Halcyon using helmets and rifles while under constant fire, and was awarded a mention in Dispatches in 1940.

For the rest of the war he was in the field, doing everything from clearing minefields to building bridges. During his subsequent career as a military officer most of his happiest times were spent in field jobs in Libya and Hong Kong.

Brian’s love of piping was evident throughout his life. He taught piping at Ardvreck School, Glenalmond College and privately to young and old. His star pupil was his grandson Errol, in Canada.

Under the auspices of the Order of St John, with a small band of faithful pipers, over 16 years Brian helped to raise more than £22,000 for the Children’s Hospice at Rachel House, Kinross, playing at Scone Palace and Kinross Show – only handing over the organisation of this when he turned 90. He was made a Commander of the Order of St John in 1996 and supported its work in its Eye Hospital in the land of his birth in Jerusalem and Gaza. Brian remained very active and in 2011 he composed a tune, Variations on the Earl of Mansfield, to mark the opening of the refurbished Pitcairngreen Village Hall by the Countess of Mansfield.

It was in large part due to Brian’s historical work on Thomason’s contribution to piobaireachd and the publication of his book Ceol Mor in 1900 that there has been a revival of interest in Thomason’s contribution to collecting and recording piobaireachd on paper. Ceol Mor, subtitled A New and Abbreviated System of Musical Notation for the Piobaireachd as Played on the Highland Bagpipe, became a stimulus for the foundation of the Piobaireachd Society and the subsequent publication by Archibald Campbell of his Kilberry Collection.

Brian first researched Thomason’s work in 1982 for a chapter in the centenary history of the RSPS (The First One Hundred Years) and then gave a paper to the Piobaireachd Society conference in 1983 on The Life and Work of General Thomason. One of Brian’s last outings was to the Piobaireachd Society’s celebration in 2011 of the centenary of the death of Thomason, at the cemetery in Grantown-on-Spey where he is buried.

He will also be remembered for witty and incisive letters to The Piping Times. His last was about the modern way of wearing the Glengarry bonnet square rather than the “proper way” at an angle, or, as pipers say, cocked.

Brian was a long-standing member of the Royal Company of Archers, the Queen’s Bodyguard for Scotland, and took great pleasure in its archery competitions, being a winner of the Queen’s Prize.

With his love of craftsmanship and engineering, he was never happier than disappearing down to his workshop, which was the envy of many; and he was a keen and active member of the Scottish Model Engineering Trust. Like his father, he worked at silversmithing, fashioning quaichs, silver salvers, bowls, mugs and jewellery for his wider family to mark births, weddings and anniversaries.

At Brian’s memorial service Errol played Iain Ruaidh’s Lament; and at his request a group of his piping colleagues played Oft in the Stilly Night and Brian Boru, in honour of his Irish heritage, followed by Colonel Brian Mackenzie’s Welcome to Rosebroom, composed for him by the late Pipe Major Bert Barron BEM.

Brian’s wife Eileen passed away some years ago and he is survived by his three daughters, his grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Robin Webster