London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
Local Studies Information Sheet No. 45
THE DAGENHAM GIRL PIPERS
The Dagenham Girl Pipers were founded in 1930 as the first female pipe band in the
world. They are still a national institution. The founder, the Reverend Joseph
Waddington Graves, was born in 1881 at Deal in Kent. He emigrated to Canada in
1906 and served as a Padré with Canadian forces during World War One. He was
Warden of Browning Hall in Walworth for 10 years, before becoming Congregationalist
Minister at Osborne Hall in the newly-built Becontree Estate in Spring 1930.
Mr Graves later wrote that ‘During all of my life that I can recall, bagpipes have
fascinated me’. He chose 12 girls from his Sunday school, average age 11, and hired
G. Douglas Taylor, former Pipe Major to the King’s Own Scottish Borderers, to teach
them piping, drumming, marching and Highland dancing. The first practice took place
on 4 October 1930. Mr Graves remembered ‘Twelve small girls, all giggles, seated in
a semi-circle around the kilted Pipe-Major…Something really big happened in that
Thameside town that morning – the Dagenham Girl Pipers was born!’
After 18 months’ training, the pipers gave their first public concert to an appreciative
audience of journalists. They wore dashing uniforms of Royal Stuart Tartan. Bookings
were soon pouring in. By 1933 some band members had reached the school-leaving
age, which was then 14. Mr Graves decided to make the Dagenham Girl Pipers a fulltime professional organization, with the girls as paid employees and himself as
manager. He imposed strict rules, including no smoking, drinking, or make-up.
By 1937 they fulfilled 400 engagements a year, and at busy times had several
complete bands on separate tours. Two original members, Edith Turnbull and Peggy
Iris, were appointed Pipe-Major, the band’s highest rank. In 1937 the band performed
in Berlin before Adolf Hitler, who said he wished Germany had a similar organization.
As war loomed in 1939, one unit was performing at the World’s Fair in New York,
while another was touring southern Germany. Their return to the UK is a story in itself.
During the war, the band’s full-time activities were curtailed. Some girls joined the
Armed Forces, Fire, Ambulance or Nursing services, while others worked in factories
or the land. This allowed them to continue to give concerts at the evenings and
weekends, especially at Forces camps. Some girls worked in ENSA shows, and two,
Peggy Iris and Margaret Fraser, joined a concert party entertaining troops in Africa.
They gave over 1000 shows in three years, and were awarded the Africa Star.
After the war the band resumed professional status. They were as popular as ever. In
1951, for example, they fulfilled over 150 Festival of Britain engagements. In October
1955 the band celebrated their Silver Jubilee by marching through the City of London
to attend a Thanksgiving Service in St Paul’s Cathedral.
Mr Graves retired in 1948. He was succeeded by David Land, who ran a theatrical
agency in Broad Street, Dagenham, and had been associated with the band for some
years. Mr Graves retired with his wife May to his native county of Kent, where he died
aged 81 in 1962. As the 1960s wore on, maintaining a professional troupe of some 70
pipers became more and more expensive, and in 1968 the band reverted to amateur
status. In 1980 they celebrated their 50th anniversary with a concert at the Barking
Please turn over….
Assembly Hall, and in 1991 performed at the Royal Command Performance for the
first time since 1963. David Land, their manager, who had also nurtured the careers of
Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, died on Christmas Eve 1995 aged 77.
The Dagenham Girl Pipers today
The band is still active, although members are part-time, with performances mainly at
weekends. New members are always welcome. Recruits used to be Dagenham
residents only, but now the band accepts girls of 12 and above from all areas within
easy reach. Practice takes place on Wednesday evenings at Eastbrook School,
Dagenham Road, Dagenham RM10 7UR.
Contact for recruitment and bookings: Karen Mahoney (Agent), DGP Office, 10
Wyndham Place, London, WIH 2PU.
Phone 020 7723 2456
email: karenbldla@gmail.com
The Dagenham Girl Pipers Veterans Association and the Millennium Reunion
When former Pipe Major Edith Turnbull came on a visit from the USA in 1994, some
12 members of the pre-War band met and talked of setting up a formal society for
former band members. This brought about the formation of the Dagenham Girl Pipers
Veterans’ Association in 1998. Back in 1938, the girls had made a pledge to meet at
noon on 1 January 2000 on the steps at Dagenham’s Civic Centre, and the
Association took on the responsibility of organising this.
Accordingly more than 100 veteran pipers, some in their 80s, gathered on Millennium
Day. They were joined by the present band, who paraded and piped on the forecourt
of the Civic Centre. The event was broadcast live on television. Band members then
attended a service at Osborne Hall before going on to a party at the Dagenham Royal
British Legion. In March 2001 a plaque commemorating Mr Graves was unveiled at
the Dagenham Civic Centre.
The Dagenham Girl Pipers Veterans’ Association has an annual reunion, normally the
first weekend in October. To contact them, please e-mail dgpvets@mail.com
Honours
Two band members have been awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM). One is PipeMajor Peggy Iris, who served with the band for 57 years before retiring in the late
1980s. The other is the current Pipe-Major, Sheila Hatcher.
Primary sources in LBBD Archives & Local Studies Centre
Scrapbook of photographs, newscuttings and other material mainly related to wartime
and the early 1950s
Secondary sources in the Archives & Local Studies Centre
GRAVES, Rev. J.W: Confessions of a pioneer (8 pages, 1956)
HAYNES, Alfred H: The Dagenham Girl Pipers (Faber, 1957)
RHODES, Linda: The Dagenham Girl Pipers – an 80th anniversary celebration (2011)
Pamphlets: Piping through the war (1945); Dagenham’s piping ambassadors (1952);
Tartan and lace (c.1958)
A Topic Box of miscellaneous press cuttings and other material
Archives & Local Studies Centre, Valence House, Becontree Ave, Dagenham RM8 3HT
localstudies@lbbd.gov.uk / www.lbbd.gov.uk/archives / www.facebook.com/valencehouse 09.2014