Muckle Jock Milburn dating history

Details

John Milburn (1754 – 1837), known as Muckle Jock ('muckle' is Northumbrian for 'big', 'large', 'great'), was a player of the Border pipes, from near Bellingham in Northumberland. His pipes, which survive, are in the Cocks collection at the Morpeth Chantry Bagpipe Museum; his family referred to this set as the 'half-long' pipes. Some more detailed photographs of this set of pipes, taken by Anita Evans, are at. Tradition states that this instrument was given to Muckle Jock in around 1772 by Col. Reid of Chipchase Castle; Milburn would only have been about 18 at the time, if this tradition is correct. The museum catalogue entry for his pipes states that they subsequently belonged to his grandson Lewis Proudlock. The statement is incorrect in detail, for while Proudlock's mother was a Milburn, she was not Muckle Jock's daughter; it seems almost certain that they were related, however. Although Muckle Jock's pipes survive, unfortunately there is no direct evidence of the music he played on them.