I have examined the Valuation Rolls to
see what information they might have to tell us about these places,
some of which were rented by various relatives of mine from the end
of the nineteenth century for a period of about eighty years.
I've put the known relatives in bold
for added clarity, but have also used italic bold for a
few whose identities I have yet to absolutely confirm!
1895 - Proprietor: The Trustees of The Earl of
Dunmore
House and Farm, Borve, Berneray,
Roderick Campbell, merchant, Strond, Obbe, Harris, £80
Lands, Island of Torogay etc, John
Campbell, Strond, Obbe, Harris £30
Lands, Islands of Killigray and Langa,
John Stewart, Ensay, £70
House and Farm, Rodel, Rod.
Campbell, merchant, Obbe, £98
Plantation Park, Rodel, John
Campbell, Strond, £12
This was the year before John Campbell
married my cousin Marion Kerr. Why they were wed in the Free Church
at Lonemore, Duirinish, Skye, rather than in Harris, isn't entirely
clear to me.
The Campbells were living in Strond at
this time and paying a total of £220 in rent, including £30 for the
use of the islands in the Sound of Harris off the coast of North Uist
which appear above as Ísland of Torogay etc'.
1905 - Proprietor: The Right Hon. Alexander
Edward Murray, Viscount fincastle.
Lands, Island of Torogay etc, John
Campbell, farmer, Rodel, £20
Lands, Islands of Killiegray &
Langa, Major William Stewart of Ensay, £70
House and Farm, Rodel, Rod.
Campbell, farmer, Rodel £98
Plantation Park, Rodel, John
Campbell, farmer, Rodel £12
House and Farm, Kylis, Roderick
Macdonald, Merchant, £30
House and Farm, Island Taransay,
John Campbell, farmer, Rodel, £150
House and Farm, Scaristaveg, Roderick
Macleay, £80
House and Farm, Scaristavore,
Roderick Campbell, £130
House and Farm, Borvebeg,
Roderick Campbell, £65
Land, Isle Sursay, Roderick
Campbell, £7
Estate Office, Obbe, Thomas Wilson,
factor, £8
Post Office, House and Land, Obbe,
Widow Mary Galbraith, £1 16s
By 1901 the people of Borve, Berneray
had finally been able to return to the land that had been taken from
them in the clearance of 1853. However, in 1905 John Campbell was
still renting the islands in the Sound and doing so for ten pounds a
year less than he had been paying a decade earlier! He and his father
were now paying £130 for the use of those islands and the farm at
Rodel, and an additional £150 for renting Taransay which John
Campbell now farmed.
What is not completely clear to me is
whether the Roderick Campbell paying £202 for the farms at
Scaristavore and Borvebeg (plus the island of Sursay) is the same
Roderick Campbell?
1915 - Proprietor: The Right Hon. The Earl of
Dunmore
Lands, Vaccasay etc, Reps of
Roderick Campbell, £10
Lands, Islands of Killiegray and Langa,
Donald Alexander Stewart of Lochdu, Nairn, £70
House and Farm, Rodel, Ken Campbell,
farmer, Rodel, £34
Plantation Park Lands, Rodel, Ken
Campbell, farmer, Rodel (£37 10s for)
Islands of Torogay, Opsay etc, Ken
Campbell, farmer, Rodel (both holdings)
Cottage and Farm, Island Taransay,
John Campbell, Taransay, £140
Cottage and Farm, Scaristaveg, Roderick
Macleay, £75
Cottage and Farm, Scaristavore,
Mrs Euphemia Campbell, £120
Cottage and Farm, Borvebeg, Proprietor,
£56
Land, Island of Sursay, Mrs
Euphemia Campbell, £7
John Campbell was now focussed entirely
upon Taransay, which he was renting for £10 less than he was paying
a decade earlier, whilst his younger brother Ken had Rodel and some
of islands in the Sound of Harris for which paid £71 10shillings.
Why 'Vaccasay etc' have been separated and are being rented by his
father's representatives is unclear, but I assume that the estate had
decided to split the islands into two groups?
A second point that I would like to
completely confirm at some point is whether Mrs Euphemia Campbell was
the second wife of Roderick Campbell, farmer at Rodel. If so,then
she was Euphemia MacLennan from Finsbay, Harris; and John Campbell
and Ken Campbell were her stepsons, having been born to Lizzie MacRae
whose father Kenneth MacRae came from Kintail in Ross-shire.
1920 - Proprietor: The Lewis and Harris
Welfare and Development Coy. Ltd.
Lands, Vaccasay, Hulmetray etc,
Mrs Euphemia Campbell, widow, £10
Lands, The islands of Killigray and
Langa, The Earl of Dunmore, £70
House and Farm, Rodel and islands,
Ken Campbell, farmer, Rodel, £71 10s
Cottage and Farm, Island Taransay,
John Campbell, £140
Cottage and Farm, Scaristaveg, Roderick
Macleay, £75
Cottage and Farm, Scaristavore,
Mrs Euphemia Campbell, £120
Land, Island Sursay, Mrs Euphemia
Campbell, £7
John Campbell continued to live in and
farm Taransay, his brother remained at Rodel and I think the fact
that some of the islands in the Sound ('Vaccasay, Hulmetray etc')
were being rented by (apparently) the same Mrs Euphemia Campbell who
continued to farm Scaristavore suggests that she was indeed their
stepmother. I imagine that the islands that Ken Campbell was renting
as part of 'Rodel and islands' were those in the vicinity of Torogay?
A century ago the Campbells were paying
nearly £350 in rent to the Earl of Dunmore, actively farming at
Rodel, at Scaristavore and in Taransay, and renting all the islands
in the Sound off the coast of North Uist.
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