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

Sunday, 8 January 2012

Isabel Frances Grant (1887-1983) in 1891


I am intending writing a short piece on ‘Highland Folk Ways’, the book published in 1961 which remains perhaps the best single-volume introduction to the history of Scottish Gaelic culture in all its guises.

However, whilst I was undertaking some background research regarding the book’s author, Dr I F Grant, I discovered that at the time of the 1891 Census she was living in a particularly interesting household:

The three year-old is found with her paternal grandparents, Sir Patrick Grant and Frances Maria Grant, in the 'Chelsea Hospital' in London. Sir Patrick was a Field Marshall and Governor of the Royal Hospital Chelsea until his death in 1895.

Dr Grant was to found the Highland Folk Museum , and in 2008 her account of that work was published.

A more detailed biography may be read on Am Baile but I thought it worth noting the little girl’s presence at an institution which included many Highlanders & Islanders amongst its in-patients and out-patients as demonstrated in this brief entry regarding Chelsea Pensioners found in Harris.

A slight diversion from my original intention, but one that I thought worth sharing!

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