Roy Williamson
Roy Murdoch Buchanan Williamson (25 June 1936 – 12 August 1990) was a Scottish songwriter and folk musician, most notably with The Corries. Williamson is best known for writing "Flower of Scotland", which has become the de facto national anthem of Scotland used at international sporting events.
For the Anglican bishop, see Roy Williamson (bishop).
Roy Williamson
Roy Murdoch Buchanan Williamson
25 June 1936
Edinburgh, Scotland
12 August 1990 (aged 54)
Forres, Morayshire, Scotland
Musician, songwriter
Guitar, mandolin, bodhrán, combolin, English concertina, Northumbrian pipes, whistle,
1960s–1989
Scotdisc
Early life[edit]
Roy Williamson's father, Archibald Moir Macrae Williamson, was an advocate (a lawyer); his mother, Agnes Ethel Cumming Buchanan Williamson, was a talented pianist who frequently took her two sons, Robert and Roy, to musical events. As a schoolboy, Williamson learned to play the recorder by ear, pretending to read music. A teacher found out and banned him from music lessons. He went to Wester Elchies School, then Aberlour House and Gordonstoun in Moray. He taught seamanship and navigation at Burghead before going to Edinburgh College of Art. It was there in 1955 that he met Ronnie Browne, with whom he would team up in The Corries. The partnership lasted almost thirty years. Williamson and Browne also shared a passion for rugby, having played wing against each other for Edinburgh Wanderers and Boroughmuir, respectively.
Williamson's father committed suicide when his son was eight years old. Williamson had a brother, Robert Buchanan Williamson, two daughters, Karen and Sheena, and was married twice—first to Violet Thomson and then to Nicolette van Hurck, from Holland.
Personal life[edit]
Health problems[edit]
As a young man, Roy Williamson had played rugby for Edinburgh Wanderers,[5] the rivals of Boroughmuir, the team for which Browne had played. Williamson suffered throughout his life from asthma; he usually discontinued his asthma treatments before a show or a concert.[6] He continued performing until late in 1989, when his final illness became apparent.