Background
He was born in Aberdeen on 11 March 1934, and first learned to play the practice chanter at the age of four from his father John, who was also a piper.
He was born in Aberdeen on 11 March 1934, and first learned to play the practice chanter at the age of four from his father John, who was also a piper.
John Doctorate. was educated Edinburgh Academy, and tutored by Pipe major Willie Ross of the Army School of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming at Edinburgh Castle.
The family moved to Edinburgh when the elder John took up a lecturing position at the Veterinary School. He did not play in the school band, for fear that it would damage his technique. He initially intended to pursue piping as a hobby, and follow his father into a career as an equine veterinary surgeon, but he went on a tour of Canada and the United States with Willie Ross in 1952.
Burgess was persuaded by Brigadier Alistair MacLean at the Castle to join the Queen"s Own Cameron Highlanders as a piper, and spent three years there, reaching the rank of corporal.
His choice of regiment did not please Ross, who wanted him to join the Scots Guards. Burgess then joined the Edinburgh City Police, and became pipe major of that band in 1957.
Between 1962 and 1965, he was pipe major of the 4th/5th Battalion Cameron Highlanders TA Pipe Band. He then moved to Invergordon in 1966, and played with the Invergordon Distillery Pipe Band for two years, until it was disbanded in 1967.
Burgess became a teacher and judge after retiring from competitive playing in around 1979, teaching in schools around Easter Ross.
He was awarded an Administration Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1988 for services to piping.
Lothian & Borders Police Pipe Band. Invergordon Distillery Pipe Band.