Robert Reid

Who was Robert Reid?

Robert Reid is widely acknowledged as the creator of the modern form of the Northumbrian Smallpipes. He lived and worked at first in Newcastle upon Tyne, but moved later to the nearby town of North Shields at the mouth of the Tyne, probably in 1802. North Shields was a busy port at this time. The Reids were a family with a long-standing connection to piping; Robert's father Robert Reed, a cabinet maker, was a player of the Northumbrian big-pipes, while his son James continued Robert's pipemaking business. Robert died in North Shields in 1837, and is buried there in the graveyard of Christ Church.