With Murray's lead about W. McCombie Smith, I was able to find, in various sources, a bit of information about him via Google.
...Composed by J. Scott Skinner, dedicated to "W. McCombie Smith, F.S.A., Schoolhouse, Persie, by Blairgowrie." William McCombie Smith was an author, among other things, whose works include Memoir of the Families of M'Combie and Thomas (1890) and The Romance of Poaching in the Highlands (1904). Smith also prolifically wrote about and participated in Highland Games, where he competed as a heavy athlete, although his performance has been described as "mediocre". In fact he was far outshadowed by his brother-in-law, Donald Dinnie, called the greatest Highland champion in history, who took home a reputed 10,000 prizes and victorites in his long career that included wrestling tours and appearances as a strongman. It perhaps does Smith no credit that he is recorded as having "never missed an opportunity for criticizing Donald." Regards, Andrew Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
