Contributed by Edie Dippel

Is there another wounded stone in Scotland? I think one should have been carved into a likeness of Sir Harry Lauder long before now. Long before plans were being made for statues of 'Scots that made a difference' for the new Scottish Parliament Building.

I've spent countless hours researching this man for my website, paying tribute to him. One thing I keep seeing repeated is, "Harry Lauder gave Scots a negative image". I say 'hogwash'. If you think that, then you are judging him on his 'stage gimmick' - something that Americans understand as a part of show business. I do not know of anyone who has a negative image of Scotland or of the Scots. Harry Lauder loved Scotland and its people. The wearing of his kilt in every country he visited was a proclamation of, "I'm a Scot and damn proud of it!"

Yes, I've heard of the stories of him being 'tight fisted, stingy, penny pinching' - call it what you will - but I have also heard a second part of that which apparently not all of you have. When it seemed that Sir Harry had slighted someone on a gratuity, etc, apparently you haven't heard that he always, ALWAYS!, sent a spokesman around to over compensate for the slight in preservation of his "stage gimmick" and receive a promise of secrecy.

I have also heard the stories of people asking him for support and being refused, when suddenly a third party was giving those people weekly cheques for their support. While the recipient was telling the world that "Harry Lauder was a selfish, uncaring man," they never knew those cheques were coming from Harry Lauder.

Does that sound like the act of a selfish man? He brought his brother's mother in law to live at Lauder Ha' for the remainder of her life, following his brothers death. Does that sound like the act of a selfish man in a world where not many men are willing to support their own mother-in-laws?

Many successful Scots moved to other parts of the world, not Harry Lauder. He brought his money home to benifit the Scots.

And let me say one more thing on this subject before I go on to his 'neglected image': Harry Lauder did not teach me that Scots were frugal with their possessions, I learned that as a child from my Stewart grandmother. She lived by the theory 'waste not, want not': when others have squandered what they have, the Scots will still have theirs. That is not a vice, it's a virtue.

When Sir Harry visited his only child, a son, Capt. John Lauder prior to being shipped to France in World War One, he asked every man he met on that military installation, "What do you need? What can I get for you?" The majority gave the same answer, "More men". Sir Harry went home and hired one hundred pipers at his own expense to march and play the pipes through the length and breadth of Scotland, recruiting 'more men'. It depleted an alarming amount of the fortune he had earned, which is why the bulk of the British forces in The Great War were Scots.

And I might add that the enemy was terrified of them and referred to them as "The Ladies From Hell" wearing their kilts, brandishing their bayonets reminiscent of ancient Scots with their claymores and the gaelic war cries.

When his son died on a battlefield in France, Harry Lauder was devastated and could have just curled up and resigned from life. Instead, he went on with his tour to keep many people from losing the salaries they earned from his performances and so badly needed. It is my understanding that he sang as the last song of the evening, "Keep On To The End Of The Road" and when the curtain went down, he fainted. It takes a real man to laugh and joke to benifit others while his own heart is breaking. It took a Scot.

Weeks following his son's death, Harry Lauder tried to enlist into the British army and was refused due to his age. He then came up with another plan, which is still practiced by nearly all countries. He begged permission to be allowed to entertain the troops on the battlefield. It had never been done! But he wanted to give the men a few minutes of respite from hell on earth. He didn't want to entertain safely behind enemy lines but in the trenches and after weeks of talking to the War Office, he was given permission.

The word had spread before he ever set foot in France that "Auld Harry, is coming to see us" and the troops were not disappointed. He entertained the men in burned out barns, neglected mansions and in the trenches, where the enemy objected to his performances with live ammunition. If he saw a soldier walking on the road he was travelling, that soldier got a Harry Lauder performance.

When he began to see returning wounded or disabled members of the military, he was heartbroken. He knew that the Government allowance wasn't enough to support them in the dignity they deserved and he didn't want them to be objects of charity, reduced to selling pencils on the street corners. He used his performances to establish "The Million Pound Fund" for their benefit. If you still think he was selfish, or that he doesn't belong with the 'Scot's that made a difference' , ask any one of these men. Do you still think he gave Scots a negative image? I don't think so and I hope that you do not either.

I ask again, "Where's Sir Harry's statue?"

by Edie Dippel

Special Note: The Portabello Community Council is proposing to raise funds for a statue of Sir Harry Lauder. If you want to know more about the proposed statue or make a donation to the fund, contact:

Mrs. Patricia Ralph
May Rise
13 Duddingston Ave
Edinburgh, EH 15 1SJ.
Scotland, UK
Tel No. 0131 669 7578

Or send an E-Mail to the Sir Harry Lauder Statue Fund

Images by permission of the Scottish Theatre Archives Special Collections, Glasgow University Library.

Links:

Sir Harry Lauder Famous Scot

Edie Dippel's website www.sirharrylauder.com

Scottish Theatre Archives