Square leather case – 4″ x 4″ – in dark brown leather and gold line near edges of top. Light blue silk lining in inside of cover and around inside bottom; purple lining inside bottom;  Gold lettering in banner shapes on inside cover lining – D. Cunningham, Medalist, Glasgow. (Note: brooch accessioned separately.)

Born in 1879 in Arbroath, Forfarshire, Scotland, Alexander Reid Keith served 18 months as a piper with the 2nd Battalion, Gordon Highlanders in South Africa and thirteen years with the London Scottish before immigrating to Canada in 1909. He served as a Colour Sergeant with the 97th Regiment( Algonquin Rifles) before transferring to the 48th Regiment (Highlanders) at the outbreak of the war in 1914. He attested into the 15th Battalion as a Sergeant Piper at Valcartier in September 1914 and assumed the position of Pipe Major which he retained for the duration of the war. Pipe Major Keith served with the battalion in every major engagement of the war including 2nd Ypres, Festubert, Mount Sorrel, The Somme, Vimy, Hill 70, Amiens and the 100 Days battles of the D-Q Line and the Canal du Nord. As well as his responsibilities as Pipe Major, Sgt Keith also cared for the battalion’s famous and much loved mascot Bruno.