Sir Henry "Harry" Lauder


August 1870-26
February 1950
was a Scottish music hall and vaudeville theatre singer and comedian and a substantial landowner.

He was perhaps best known for his long-standing hit "I Love a Lassie" and for his international success.   He was described by Sir Winston Churchill as "Scotland's greatest ever ambassador!"   He became a familiar world-wide figure promoting images like the kilt and the cromach (walking stick) to huge acclaim, especially in America.   Other songs followed, including "Roamin' in the Gloamin", "A Wee Deoch-an-Doris" and "The End of the Road".

By 1911, Lauder had become the highest-paid performer in the world and was the first Scottish artist to sell a million records.   He raised vast amounts of money for the war effort during World War I, for which he was subsequently knighted in 1919.   He went into semi-retirement in the mid-1930s, but briefly emerged to entertain troops in World War II.   By the late-1940s, he was suffering from long periods of ill-health and died in Scotland in 1950.