Fàilte! (Welcome!)

Fàilte! (Welcome!)
This blog is the result of my ongoing research into the people, places and events that have shaped the Western Isles of Scotland and, in particular, the 'Siamese-twins' of Harris and Lewis.
My interest stems from the fact that my Grandfather was a Stornowegian and, until about four years ago, that was the sum total of my knowledge, both of him and of the land of his birth.
I cannot guarantee the accuracy of everything that I have written (not least because parts are, perhaps, pioneering) but I have done my best to check for any errors.
My family mainly lived along the shore of the Sound of Harris, from An-t-Ob and Srannda to Roghadal, but one family 'moved' to Direcleit in the Baighs...

©Copyright 2011 Peter Kerr All rights reserved

Monday 14 November 2011

A Note In The Margin


A recent exchange on a friend's blog occasioned me to revisit my post on the Hamlet of Limera where I had written that:

Secondly, we have the 8 men, each a ‘Fisher’, and ranging in age from 14 to 48. Whether this was their ‘permanent’ abode or they were merely making-use of the facilities whilst fishing the local waters I do not know. I do know that a group of, largely, such young men cannot have chosen to be living together in such circumstances if there were a more companionable alternative available.

Deciding to look at the original census return on scotlandspeople.gov.uk, I saw a note in the margin referring to these two groups of fishers:

‘The contents of schedules 22 & 23 are two fishing boats’ crews; they belong to other parts of this parish but have also houses here (Limera) as being an eligible fishing station: they were both at sea when their schedules were taken up. Their relation to one another or the  ‘Head of Family’ could not in every case be ascertained by R M Esq.’

‘R M Esq’ appears to have been Roderick MacKay, the Enumerator who also describes the location specifically as the ‘Station of Limera’.

The interesting pieces of additional information are that, whilst the two crews were indeed ‘making-use of the facilities...’ which I had suggested might be the case, the houses they inhabited were in fact occupied by them in what appears to have been a regular manner at this ‘eligible fishing station’.

Friday 11 November 2011

A Death in Stornoway Town Hall


It is 1:45 in the afternoon of Tuesday, the 19th of May 1904 and building work on Stornoway Town Hall has been brought to a halt. William J Macdonald, a 21 year-old House Carpenter originally from Avoch, a few miles North of Inverness, but currently living at 27 South Beach Street, has just died of a fracture of the skull.
His death was registered on Saturday, the 14th of June (the figure is a little unclear), the delay being occasioned because it was registered ‘on the information of the Procurator Fiscal’, the cause being derived ‘...per verdict of jury.’

I have not discovered any online references to this tragic event but no doubt some of the newspapers of the time will have reported upon it. Meanwhile we may catch a glimpse of William three years before his death when, at the time of the 1901 Census, he was an 18 year-old  ‘Carpenter Apprentice’, the eldest of the remaining six children of William Macdonald, a 50 year-old Baker, and his wife Catherine who was aged 44.

The family resided at 3 George Street, Avoch, Ross-shire and were affluent enough to employ a Cook.  A decade earlier they had been living at 20 & 21 Margaret Street and, as well as two fellow Bakers and an Apprentice Baker, the Macdonald household also included a General Servant (Domestic). The oldest child, 9 year-old Jessie Ann Macdonald, had been born in Avoch as would be the case with all of her siblings.

I stumbled upon this unusual death by chance when I saw the photograph of William Macdonald’s memorial here: http://gravestones.rosscromartyroots.co.uk/picture/number14047.asp . The phrase ‘accidentally killed at Stornoway Town Hall’ immediately grabbed my attention but what held it was the fact that this impressive memorial had been ‘Erected by his employer’.

Sadly, when William’s death was recorded in Stornoway, he was said to be 25 years old rather than his true age of just 21, for William James Macdonald had indeed been born in 1883.
His memorial also shows that a mere two years after his death the family suffered a second untimely death with the loss of Jessie Ann at the age of just 25...