Scotland the Brave
Scottish patriotic song
"Scotland the Brave" is a Scottish patriotic song, one of three often considered an unofficial Scottish national anthem (the others being "Flower of Scotland" and "Scots Wha Hae").
History
The tune probably originated in the late 19th century. The earliest known printing of the tune was in the Utah Musical Bouquet in January 1878, and the earliest known version printed in Scotland is in The National Choir in 1891.
The lyrics commonly used now were written in about 1950 by the journalist Cliff Hanley for the singer Robert Wilson as part of an arrangement by Marion McClurg. Another set of lyrics also often heard was sung by the Canadian singer John McDermott; they are closely based on the poem "Let Italy Boast" by James Hyslop, which was first published in 1821 in The Edinburgh Magazine. However, Hyslop intended his poem to be sung to the melody of Sir Walter Scott's "Boat Song" from "The Lady of the Lake" and not "Scotland the Brave".
"Scotland the Brave" is also the authorised pipe band march of the British Columbia Dragoons of the Canadian Armed Forces.
"Scotland the Brave" was played before matches involving the Scottish national football team at the 1982, 1986, and 1990 FIFA World Cups. "Flower of Scotland" was subsequently adopted by Scotland for use at FIFA-sponsored events, after its usage by the Scottish national rugby union team.
In June 2006 the song rated second in an online poll with more than 10,000 votes to determine Scotland's favourite unofficial anthem, losing to "Flower of Scotland".
“Scotland the Brave” enters the record as scottish patriotic song. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Scotland, Brave and Scottish can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Scotland the Brave” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Scotland, Brave and Scottish provides the most credible route into that argument.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q933313. VIAF identifies the subject as 307209745. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1878, 1891, 1950 and 1821.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Scotland the Brave” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.