Also Known as:- "Athol Highlanders Jig," "Gathering of the Grahams", "Duke of Atholl's March ," "Highland Fabrick," "Lord Athlone's March," "Three Sisters (The)" (Shetland).
The name Athole (or Atholl) derives from the Gaelic 'ath Fodla,' generally translated as 'New Ireland.' The tune is dedicated to the private army of the Duke of Atholl, the last private army still legally existing in the British Isles. The Atholl Highlanders wears the Duke's tartan of Murray of Atholl.The original Athole Highlanders associated with the tune were the old 77th Highland Regiment, raised in 1778 and commanded by Colonel James Murray. The 77th served in Ireland and was not engaged in active service, though its garrison services were apparently useful in freeing other units for the conflicts with America and France. They were disbanded in 1783.
The tune was later taken up as a march past by the 2nd Battalion of the Cameronians, the 90th Light Infantry. When pipers were introduced in 1881 they recollected their Perthshire origins and chose to play "The Atholl Highlanders" (also known in pipe music as "The Gathering of the Grahams." The tune is associated in modern times with the dance called "The Duke of Gordon's Reel," so much so that Scottish dance musicians will sometimes call "Atholl Highlanders" by the name "Duke of Gordon's Reel." The early printing of the tune in Jane Morison's Highland Airs and Quicksteps, vol. 1 (No. 19), where it appears as "Duke of Atholl's March" An even earlier version of the melody appears as "Highland Fabrick" in Henry Colclough's tutor for the uilleann pipes (c. 1830).
The tune is attributed to William Ross. William Ross (no relation to 'Willie' Ross) was born in 1823. He was a Scottish Piper and pipemaker. He was PM of the 42nd Highlanders andretired from active duty in 1883. He was also piper to Queen Victoria from 1854 until his death in 1891. William hired Henry Starck to make bagpipes, who continued to make pipes after Ross' death.