The Northumbrian Small Pipes Society was founded in 1893, by members of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne to promote interest in, and playing of Northumbrian smallpipes, and their music. As it only continued in existence for seven years, it is now regarded primarily as a short-lived precursor to the Northumbrian Pipers' Society. However, despite its short life, it played a significant role, publishing the first tutor for the instrument, J. W. Fenwick's Instruction Book for the Northumbrian Small-Pipes (1896), holding regular meetings, and organising annual competitions. In 1894 and 1896-7, the society published Transactions, as well as publishing an account of their Annual Meeting of 1897. As well as Members, who paid an annual 5s. subscription, there was a category of Honorary Playing Members. Since the society's records include the names and addresses of all members, of either kind, they have listed the names and addresses for 37 known pipers. Two articles in the Newcastle Courant, in April 1900, gave an account of their Annual General Meeting, at the Literary and Philosophical Society, and referred to the society as flourishing, with 200 members, of whom almost half were pipers. Officers were elected for the following year; however there is no subsequent record of any formal activity of the society, such as meetings or competitions. In 1906, when the Cloughs played for King Edward VII at Alnwick Castle, an account of this in the Berwickshire News stated that the Northumbrian Small Pipes Society had done some good work in reviving interest, but that 'seven winters had passed without it giving any signs of life'. This suggests that the society had been largely inactive for some time before its final AGM.
The same week as the final meeting, a group of pipers, including Henry Clough and Richard Mowat, organised a gathering of pipers and their friends at The Black Horse in Monkseaton, showing that pipers themselves had begun to organise events in parallel to the society; the 1900 meeting was chaired by Walter Corder, secretary of the NSPS. This was the second such meeting, the first having been the previous May. These events were described as 'annual', but there are no subsequent newspaper accounts of these until an informal gathering there in 1906.
Historical context
The late 19th century in Northumberland was a period of growing interest in Northumbrian music in general, and the music of the Northumbrian smallpipes in particular. In the 1850s, the Society of Antiquaries had started to collect tune and song manuscripts, and their Ancient Melodies Committee continued its work over the subsequent years. In the 1870s, that Society organised annual piping competitions, both to encourage pipers, and to reward the ablest among them. In 1882, the Northumbrian Minstrelsy was published, placing some of their researches before a wider public, and the second part of this book was devoted specifically to smallpipe tunes. So by 1893, the intellectual climate was ripe for the foundation of a society specifically devoted to the Northumbrian Smallpipes themselves.
Membership
A large group of the 26 Committee members, only one of whom, J. W. Fenwick, was an Honorary Playing Member, were related to one another, being members of the extended group of Foster, Spence, Corder, and Watson families; a significant group of these were close neighbours in or near Rosella Place, a short Georgian terrace in North Shields. This Quaker family were descendants of Robert Foster, a close friend of Thomas Bewick. Although there is no direct evidence, it is very likely that Robert would have heard the piping of Thomas's son Robert Bewick, and the family's interest in piping, apparent across several generations, may well date from this time.
One significant member was the artist Joseph Crawhall II (1821–1896), who had a deep interest in the culture and music of Northumberland, and had published A Beuk o' Newcassell Sangs in 1888. He had compiled a tunebook for the use of pipers, containing tunes copied from the William Vickers manuscript, as well as tunes from oral tradition, some otherwise unknown. Parts of this are now on the FARNE archive. He corresponded with his friend and collaborator, the illustrator Charles Keene, who was also a Northumbrian piper - letters surviving from Keene to Crawhall confirm that both of them had had dealings with James Reid, the son of Robert Reid, whose business he continued. In one of these letters, Keene refers to seeing the pipes of Tommy Hair, on sale in Reid's shop in December 1873.