Kennedy, William

From Uilleann Wiki

William Kennedy

William Kennedy (1768 - 1834), the famed blind pipemaker of Tanderagee, is one of the most remarkable figures in the history of Irish traditional music. Though totally blind from infancy, after having learned carpentry and undertaking the study of music, he went on to become a maker of both clocks and union pipes, and a skilled repairer of other musical instruments. According to his own account as published in the Belfast Monthly Magazine, after having made his own set of pipes in early adulthood, he began making pipes in earnest in 1793, and made 30 sets between 1800 and 1808. (It is not known how many sets he made prior to and after those dates). At least two sets of his make are known to be in existance and in working order.

Famed in his own lifetime for his remarkable mechanical achievements without benefit of sight, he is credited with a number of innovations in the union pipes. Unfortunately, as the records are rather equivocal, it is not known with any certainty what those innovations were. One plausible theory is that he invented the drone stop switch.

More of his story can be found, including an account in his own words, at the Pipers' Review site [1], in articles from the Belfast Monthly Magazine Sept-October 1808 and in his obituary in the Newry Telegraph, Nov 11 1834 [2].