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(Born, 1860, Pitlochry -
Died, 1925, Liverpool)
Composer of "Brother James' Air" for the 23rd Psalm, 'The Lord's My
Shepherd'
by John Henderson BA (Hons), D.P.E., of Stirling Scotland, and Paphos,
Cyprus
James Leith Bain was born
at his parents' house on Inverness Road, Pitlochry within the Parish of
Moulin, Perthshire on the 21st of November, 1860 to a John Bain
(Colporteur) and a Margaret Leith.
His parents had married
on the 1st of November, 1855 in Nairn Burgh, Nairnshire. James'
siblings, also born in Pitlochry, were a John Jnr.(10th August, 1856), a
Mary (9th October, 1858), and a Margaret ( 6th April, 1863).
John Bain Snr. had been
born in Edinburgh Parish on 20th October, 1826 to a John Bain
[Shoemaker] and a Mary Campbell, while Margaret Leith had been born on
1st July, 1833 at Boharm, Banffshire to an Isabella Leith.
By 1871, James Leith
Bain, aged 10 years, was a scholar living with his parents and siblings
at 1 Oakfield Terrace, Pitlochry. However, in the 1881 Census he is
shown to be a Student of Arts living in Jane Bow's Lodging House at 5
Glen Street, Edinburgh.
According to a young friend of his youth in Oakfield Terrace, John
Smeaton Smith (Vice-President of the Glasgow Orpheus Choir from
1926-51), James, before his student days in Edinburgh, had been a Pupil
Teacher in a Pitlochry school, and thereafter had attended both the
Edinburgh Free Church College and the Edinburgh Established Church
College, with a view to becoming a Minister of Religion. He gained
practical experience during this time by preaching in Argyllshire as
well as Pitlochry and neighbouring Blair Atholl. (Ref. 'Orpheus With His
Lute' (Roberton, H and K., 1963)
James' ministry calling took him to Liverpool over the next decade,
before going to London to work as a Spiritualist Minister. Indeed there
is strong evidence that this is true as he married an Elizabeth Parker
of Liverpool in Paddington in 1895.
Smith recalls that it was rumoured in Pitlochry that James had been
'adopted' by a 'lady of means' and eventually had inherited her wealth,
but whether that rich lady was his wife Elizabeth (Lillie), or a
benefactress of his bachelor days, is not known. At any rate the 1901
Census for 77 Warwick Road, Paddington, London indicates that the
married couple were able to afford a maid and a cook!
Lillie died in 1909 in
the Liverpool area, the place of her birth in 1881, and, from the
touching acknowledgement that James writes to her in his first published
work in 1909 ('The Christ of the Holy Grail'), it seems safe to assume
that he was with her then in Liverpool and working as a spiritualist
minister and author there.
Smith also recalls the
following ..... "He went to London, but occasionally visited Pitlochry.
His career in London was not known there in Perthshire, except that he
worked among the poor. He was a nature-lover, a wanderer among woods and
hills, a shade eccentric perhaps, author of a number of books, mainly
religious, and added Macbeth as another middle name for these
publications. I can recall only two incidents involving James and myself
..... Once when he was on his way to fish in the Tummel, he asked me to
accompany him. He had not long started when his cast caught in a branch.
He climbed the tree to dislodge the cast and, much to his annoyance, he
accidentally broke the branch. I asked him why he was annoyed. Man, he
said, Ive just lost a real good friend. Many a fine cast have I found
on that self-same branch.' Later in life when I enquired of a lady who
had lived next door to him in Oakfield Terrace as to whether she knew
James to be musical, I was told that she did not think he played any
instrument, but he was aye hummin'." (Ibid.)
This last remark makes the composition of the musical work, "Brother
James' Air" by James Leith MacBeth Bain all the more remarkable, but
probably accounts for its beautiful simplicity.
BrotherJamesAir.wav
James Leith MacBeth Bain
- Bibliography:
Christ of the Holy
Grail, 1910
Corpus Meum: This Is My Body, 1911
The Lady Sheila And Other Celtic Memorabilia from Stronaclachan, 1911
The Barefoot League (London: Theosophical Publishing Company, 1914)
The Great Peace, 1915
Jesus-Healer, 1919
Christ of the Healing Hand
The Great Peace. A Mosaic of Unrhymed Song
In the Heart of the Holy Grail |
