Origins of the Royal Naval Pipers' Society
This following transcript is a direct copy of a hand-written introduction to the original records of the Royal Naval Pipers' Society:
"Between 1947 and 1949 there were serving in the East Indies Station the following Officers :-
-
Lieutenant Commander D B N Mellis, HMS Norfolk
-
Surgeon Commander M A Russ Gunn, RN Hospital Trincomalee
-
Lieutenant J D G Davidson, HMS Wren
All
three were pipers and Mellis and Davidson had their pipes in the
Station. At various times
the suggestion was mooted between them that it might some day be worth
starting a Naval Piping Society.
In
1951 when serving in HMS Dryad, Mellis recurred to the idea on finding
another piper, Lieutenant I S S MacKay, had joined HMS Dryad, and it was
discussed at Oak Lodge (Southwick).
John MacFadyen, later Secretary of the College of Piping in
Glasgow, had been introduced to MacKay and was present at this
discussion, and expressed a favourable opinion of the project.
Within
a day, or two, Mellis received a letter from Davidson suggesting that a
Society be started, and this seemed too strange a coincidence to be
ignored. Accordingly,
Mellis and Davidson met at the United Services Club a week or two later
and drew up the proposal which was sent to those officers in the Navy
who were known, or thought likely, to be interested.
At the same time it was decided to ask certain distinguished senior officers to accept the offices of President and Vice President. The Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Cunningham of Hyndhope, Commodore The Duke of Montrose RNVR and Vice Admiral The MacKintosh of MacKintosh were asked in turn and each was kind enough to accept despite the fact that at that time the Society itself had not come into existence".
Stewart Bankier writes:
The crest is an adaptation of the Cunningham clan crest by the addition of a naval crown for Admiral Cunningham and the motto "over fork over" is taken directly from the clan crest. Research through the RNPS records indicates that according to legend the motto is the result of an occasion when a Cunningham sheltered King Malcolm III (1058 - 1093) by covering him with hay. It is believed however that the most likely explanation is that a Cunningham was a master of the Kings Stables.
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