tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77899933121115671002024-03-14T08:44:55.474+00:00a'spaidsearachd agus a'meòrachadh(wandering and wondering)direcleithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004025854623265304noreply@blogger.comBlogger686125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7789993312111567100.post-14712819796006087182024-01-12T20:25:00.000+00:002024-01-12T20:25:58.654+00:00The Paisley Sisters of Strond<p> Although one sees
many references to the ‘Paisley Sisters’ of Strond with regards
to the birth of the Harris Tweed industry there are relatively few
accurate references available online so I thought it timely to
explore their story in detail.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Marion MacLeod and
Christina MacLeod were two of at least three daughters born to Norman
MacLeod and his wife Christina MacSween.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">In 1851 the family
is recorded in Strond:</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>Christina MacLeod,
80, Widow</b></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>Marion MacLeod, 47,
Weaveress</b></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>Christina MacLeod,
40, Weaveress</b></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>Catherine Morrison,
7, Servant</b></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>Emily MacLeod, 40,
Visitor</b></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">It appears that
Christina MacLeod (M.S. MacSween) died prior to the introduction of
official records in 1855 and hence in 1861 the household comprises:</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>Marion MacLeod, 37,
Hand Loom Weaver (Wool)</b></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>Christy MacLeod, 30,
Hand Loom Weaver (Wool)</b></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>Catherine Morrison,
16, Scholar, Niece</b></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">There are two
interesting points to note. Marion’s birth year has shifted from
1804 to 1824 and Christina’s from 1811 to 1831 which is quite a
leap even by the standards of other census records that I have
previously researched. Secondly, we have confirmation that Catherine
Morrison is a niece, and that therefore a third MacLeod sister must have
been married to a Mr Morrison.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">By 1871 the census
records:</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>Marion MacLeod, 50,
Weaveress</b></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>Christy MacLeod, 40,
Weaveress</b></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>Catherine Morrison,
23, Weaveress</b></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">The sisters birth
years are now indicated to be 1821 and 1831, and their niece had left
school and joined them in their trade.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">The next record we
have for Marion is that of her death on 27<sup>th</sup> February 1880
in Strond. She is recorded as being a Weaving Mistress aged 67 and
the cause of death was Pleurisy. The informant was her nephew, Donald
Morrison, one of Catherine Morrison’s two younger brothers. This
record clearly pushes Marion’s birth back to 1813, some nine years
later than that recorded in the 1851 census but eleven years before
that recorded in1861!</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">In 1881 the
household in Strond had reduced to:</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>Christy MacLeod, 60,
Weaveress (Wool)</b></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>Kitty Morrison, 30,
Domestic Servant, Niece</b></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Remaining thus in 1891:</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>Christy MacLeod, 74,
Weaveress</b></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>Catherine Morrison,
40, Weaveress</b></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Christina MacLeod
died on 8<sup>th</sup> March 1893 in Strond at the age of 76,
suggesting a birth year of 1817 which is six years later than the
1851 figure and fourteen years earlier than that claimed in 1861! The
cause was ‘Senile Decay’ and, again, it was the nephew Donald
Morrison who registered the death.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">This, then, marks
the end of the official record regarding the Paisley Sisters, but
what of their sibling and mother of Catherine and Donald Morrison?</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Mary MacLeod was
born in 1811, the older of these three known sisters, married
Alexander Morrison (1805-1869) and gave birth to five girls and two
boys between 1836 and 1856. She died of old age on 28<sup>th</sup>
December 1907 at An t-Ob (Obbe) and it should come as no surprise
that it was her son, Donald Morrison, who registered her death just
as he had done for her two younger siblings.</p>direcleithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004025854623265304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7789993312111567100.post-4029076665952540292023-03-08T18:38:00.000+00:002023-03-08T18:38:34.643+00:00HEBRIDEAN RECOLLECTIONS by Rothes Goodall<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Occasionally, something rather wonderful happens as was the case when I was contacted by a reader regarding Scarista Manse. He, together with his sister and her husband, had compiled a document based upon a handwritten account of holidays in Harris written by their late father (and father-in-law) Robert Rothes Goodall.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In addition to the manuscript they also possess two collections of photographs, one of which contains images taken by Rothes whilst the other is an album of photographs that Rothes' mother, Margaret Goodall, had taken.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The family, headed by John Murray Goodall who worked for the Church of Scotland, took many holidays across the nation and its islands including both Lewis and Harris. Margaret records one stay in Harris in 1923, following several earlier holidays based in Lewis, and Rothes' own photos probably date from another stay in 1928.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What follows is a truly wonderful account, transcribed and assembled into a unique document that I have the great privilege of publishing for the very first time.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I am sure readers will find it a fascinating read and also enjoy the evocative images that bring to life, in particular, the Minister John Kerr and his wonderful wife Adèle.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">With grateful thanks to David, Alison, and John.</span></div><p><iframe allow="autoplay" gt="" height="870pxl" iframe="" lt="" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WfXaS3nO7ILTtG7XA_jSV45Eisyiotds/preview" width="100%">
</p><p>asaas</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></iframe></p>direcleithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004025854623265304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7789993312111567100.post-76257513131190971752023-03-05T17:25:00.003+00:002023-03-06T08:49:09.051+00:00A (Tall?) Tale of Two Hills<p style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span face=""Liberation Sans", sans-serif">It
has been some time since I blogged about placenames but one aspect
that particularly interests me is how taking a group of nearby names
into consideration, or even just a pair, can help reveal new
insights.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face=""Liberation Sans", sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif">The
example that I have been pondering recently regards the two hills at
the northern end of Berneray<span lang="gd-GB"> </span><span lang="gd-GB">which</span><span lang="gd-GB">
</span>are shown on the latest Ordnance Survey (OS) map as Beinn S<span lang="gd-GB">hlèibhe
(with it’s 93m trig point) and Beinn</span></span><span face=""Liberation Sans", sans-serif" lang="gd-GB"> Ghainche.</span><span face=""Liberation Sans", sans-serif" lang="gd-GB"> These are usually </span><span face=""Liberation Sans", sans-serif" lang="gd-GB">rendered in English as Ben L</span><span face=""Liberation Sans", sans-serif" lang="gd-GB">e</span><span face=""Liberation Sans", sans-serif" lang="gd-GB">va and
</span><span face=""Liberation Sans", sans-serif" lang="gd-GB">Sandhill, although Moor Hill is
also sometimes seen for the first of them.</span></div><p></p><p style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif"></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="gd-GB">At
the time of the first OS mapping of Harris in the mid 1870s the Name Books
provide us with an earlier name for Sandhill that came from</span><span lang="gd-GB"> Captain Otter's admiralty chart of 1857 and, more significantly, what they called the <i>’Old Map</i>’.
This is a reference to the wonderful work of William Bald performed
in 1804/1805 under the watchful eye of his master (the celebrated
mapmaker Mr Ainslie) on behalf of one ’Alexander Hulme’.</span></span></div><p></p>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif"><span lang="gd-GB">This was
Alexander Hulme MACLEOD, the anglophile son of Captain MacLeod
of Berneray who dumped his family name </span><span lang="gd-GB">such
was his</span><span lang="gd-GB"> ambition to remove </span><span lang="gd-GB">any
reference to </span><span lang="gd-GB">his roots from his personage. Th</span><span lang="gd-GB">is </span><span lang="gd-GB">attitude</span><span lang="gd-GB">
is important because it perhaps explains Bald’s anglicisation of placenames
on his otherwise astonishingly accurate map of the Estate of Harris.</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif"><span><span lang="gd-GB">The map title may be seen at:</span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif"><span><span lang="gd-GB"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><a href="https://maps.nls.uk/view/74400301#zoom=5&lat=11937&lon=2301&layers=BT" style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif;" target="_blank">https://maps.nls.uk/view/74400301#zoom=5&lat=11937&lon=2301&layers=BT</a></div>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span face=""Liberation Sans", sans-serif">The
earlier name referred to by the OS is <b>Green Hil</b>l and that name stuck until it was replaced
by Sandhill at some point during the two decades separating the 1857
chart and the 1876 map.</span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span face=""Liberation Sans", sans-serif">It stuck, but it was quite possibly wrong.</span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span face=""Liberation Sans", sans-serif">If
one looks closely at Bald’s map it is manifest that the name is
written as ’<b>Creen Hill</b>’. There are two examples of the capital
letter ’<b>G</b>’ in close proximity and the distinction between them and the
capital ’<b>C</b>’ is unequivocal. There is also a capital 'C' at the clachan of 'Crockgunne' for comparison and it is a perfect match. </span><span face=""Liberation Sans", sans-serif">Bald provided Moor Hill and Creen
Hill for his master's client and that is, I believe, no mistake: </span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><a href="https://maps.nls.uk/view/74400301#zoom=7&lat=2178&lon=4133&layers=BT" style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif;" target="_blank">https://maps.nls.uk/view/74400301#zoom=7&lat=2178&lon=4133&layers=BT</a></p>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span face=""Liberation Sans", sans-serif"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span face=""Liberation Sans", sans-serif">What
we have for sure is a big hill and an adjacent little hill. So what is the origin of
’Moor’ and ’Creen’, as rendered into English some two-hundred
and twenty years ago? My (very) tentative conjecture is that they could come
from Mor, meaning big, and </span><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif">Crìon
</span><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif">meaning “</span><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif">little
</span><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif">or </span><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif">diminutive”.
</span><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif">There may well be
alternative manglings of Gaelic that lead to the anglicisation ’Creen’ </span><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif">but
this is one possibility that appears as if it might fit.</span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif">Oh,
and as ’sleibhe’ can mean a ’mountain of the highest magnitude’
</span><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif">(</span><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif">and
Beinn Shleibhe is indeed the highest peak in Berneray</span><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif">)</span><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif">
does that </span><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif">not also
</span><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif">add weight to the
suggestion that </span><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif">what</span><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif">
we may well have here </span><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif">is a</span><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif">
big/little pairing, </span><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif">rather
than a moor/green one? I think it's worth considering.</span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif"><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif">I’ll
leave </span><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif">what appears to
be</span><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif"> the relatively
recent adoption of Sand Hill for others to ponder, although the area is certainly susceptible to seasonal sand blow:</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif"><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijTCDXa6LlnmStA-J6X6xiPubU7VncQiLTTLpNmyRSrg2XVot_hf86yDMwMYstwfynKNx-LL37f51Ax53RP1_l0kdFHyZ6zHFKyNmkug97Kt8dpDMDC3Kclyt8zAwnlrPZ2r7dWYPLJR3qBNK2N7IP4gRjQVyig20SrD5z5HTx15LtIeiDmyEmVLPN8g/s2048/Sandhill.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijTCDXa6LlnmStA-J6X6xiPubU7VncQiLTTLpNmyRSrg2XVot_hf86yDMwMYstwfynKNx-LL37f51Ax53RP1_l0kdFHyZ6zHFKyNmkug97Kt8dpDMDC3Kclyt8zAwnlrPZ2r7dWYPLJR3qBNK2N7IP4gRjQVyig20SrD5z5HTx15LtIeiDmyEmVLPN8g/s320/Sandhill.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><p lang="gd-GB" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif"><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></p>
<p lang="gd-GB" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><br /></p>direcleithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004025854623265304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7789993312111567100.post-83536221994021631322022-11-20T12:21:00.000+00:002022-11-20T12:21:24.033+00:00MIGRATION OF WESTERN ISLANDERS<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV7HFabO8T4OeTT5T74VKfb1u269ySxeDnkBgVpoGqEqXQu_MErF0WRUqrsmO6NAGaWQWop3W-RnmUaUHI7CHmUUzLvylXozI0-3C9xdREuNsXchdC08YuRFIhwURiqDHBGLbQmRCRj_de-Xm45tJROLDNPPpeaQDd5RPCvpdIDxlFVzDpMYtCcvL3hQ/s610/Screenshot%202022-11-20%20114807.png" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="610" data-original-width="579" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV7HFabO8T4OeTT5T74VKfb1u269ySxeDnkBgVpoGqEqXQu_MErF0WRUqrsmO6NAGaWQWop3W-RnmUaUHI7CHmUUzLvylXozI0-3C9xdREuNsXchdC08YuRFIhwURiqDHBGLbQmRCRj_de-Xm45tJROLDNPPpeaQDd5RPCvpdIDxlFVzDpMYtCcvL3hQ/s320/Screenshot%202022-11-20%20114807.png" width="304" /></a></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left;"><br /></span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><i style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">There
is more than a local significance in the complete migration of the
inhabitants of the island of Boreray to a settlement provided by the
Board of Agriculture for Scotland on the mainland in North Uist.
There were nineteen families on the island, which is situated in the
Sound of Harris, about two miles from the larger island of Berneray,
and something like the same distance from the Board of Agriculture's
estate of Newton, where the islanders have found a new home.</i></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">It is worth reminding ourselves that Boreray is the exception to the fact that the islands in the Sound of Harris belong to the Parish of Harris which is why, to this day, sheep from Berneray, Harris are grazed on some of those islands.</span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">This
uprooting of a race of hardy independent people from the place of
their birth has been brought about by the force of modern economic
circumstances; they found it impossible any longer to eke out living
in their cherished isolation from the ordinary haunts of men. The
evacuation of Boreray the first definite indication of an inevitable
process of decay which has set in amongst the more isolated outer
islands of the Hebrides as they are now known. The stream of
immigration from the outer isles, such as St Kilda and Berneray, has
been growing in volume from year to year, and has now reached serious
proportions. Since last year the population of St Kilda has dropped
from 72 to less than 40, and the same tale has to be told of
Berneray, while several other islands in the group are also feeling
the pinch of modern competition.</i></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Within five years of this article St Kilda would be evacuated, but Berneray still survives and thrives.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif;"><b>Causes
of Decline</b></i></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><span><i>The
principal causes of this decline of these once virile island
communities may be summarised as follows:</i></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><span><i>(1)
The failure of the fishing industry owing to isolation from the
world's markets;</i></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><span><i>(2)
the low productivity of the soil, which is for the most part peaty;</i></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><span><i>(3)
the inability of the islanders to compete successfully in the
manufacture of Harris tweeds owing to the introduction of modern
methods on the mainland; and</i></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><span><i>(4)
the disinclination of the younger to follow the rough-and-ready life
led by their forefathers.</i></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><span>An interesting list, the third of which is a reminder that the status of 'Harris Tweed' was still in a great state of flux during the interwar period. There is some wonderfully productive machair land, as well as the predominant peat, and commercial fishing has always been subject to periods of boom and bust. What is incontrovertible is the significance of the final cause which remains the greatest challenge almost a century after the article was published.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif;"><i>The
last reason the most potent cause of all of the changes which we
overtaking the western island peoples. The introduction of modern
education has brought about a metamorphosis in the outlook the
younger generation. Whereas the older islanders were content to go
about their simple rural tasks and converse in Gaelic, which was the
only language known to them, the younger people have had instilled in
them broader ideas of the purpose of life, and at an early age seek
the greater attractions of city life or the more spacious atmosphere
of life in the Dominions.</i></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><span><i>Present
indications, says the Observer, are that within the next few years
many of the islands of the oft-sung Outer Hebrides will become but
relics of history. </i></span></span>
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Source: <a href="https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000563/19251012/031/0003"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000563/19251012/031/0003</span></span></a></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Dundee
Evening Telegraph-Monday 12 October 1925</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a name="newspaperCopy"></a>
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><span>Image
© D.C.Thomson & Co. Ltd.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><span>Image
created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.</span></span></p>direcleithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004025854623265304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7789993312111567100.post-53767124376527402932022-11-20T10:56:00.000+00:002022-11-20T10:56:17.061+00:00WEATHER THE CAUSE OF DISTRESS<p style="text-align: center;"><b><i> <span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Poor
Crops in Hebrides</span></i></b></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><i>SERIOUS
EFFECT ON SOCIAL LIFE OF PEOPLE</i></b></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><i>A
memorandum has been prepared and issued by the Office of Edinburgh at
the joint request the Board of Agriculture, the Board of Health, and
the Fishery Board showing the abnormal weather conditions experienced
in the Hebrides last year, together with statement by the Board of
Agriculture regarding the effect of the weather on the crops in Skye and
the Outer Hebrides.</i></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><i>The
memorandum concludes as follows:</i></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><span><i>There
no doubt that in the Hebrides and the north-west of Scotland the six
months' period from May to October, 1923, was exceptionally wet and
stormy. The persistence of the rainfall was abnormal, and apparently
unprecedented. The exceptional character of the month June in respect
to sunshine must have been a factor of great importance.</i></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><i>In
the course of its statement the Board Agriculture states that Skye
and the Outer Hebrides extend altogether area of 1,145,000 acres, or
1800 square miles. But of this great area only 80,000 acres, or one
in fourteen, are under crops and permanent grass.</i></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><b><i>Rough
Pasture</i></b></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><i>There
are 850,000 acres of rough glazings, and the remaining area mainly
accounted for by deer forests in Lewis and Harris, extending to over
100,000 acres.</i></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><i>Of
the farm and croft land, 32,000 acres are arable and 48,000 acres are
under permanent grass. This land is divided into 7700 holdings, of
which 99 per cent, are under 50 acres and about 3600 do not exceed
five acres. The rough grazings, which extend more than ten times the
area of the farm and croft land, carry a stock of about 100,000 ewes,
the total sheep stock in June being about a quarter million.</i></span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The article proceeds with the following tables:</span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih6Ip5IDZruN3YdzKnGRlLT7Y_24DBcqjA0DWgrPCXt7Gm4N2aAz1KgesGzc-pDgsWLJNIPgqIW1b5jSblTBtGJRpgDn1XGih0yIZTXt08Ih95hu3C3-qkuLRmq7fJcWX-cus4RTu8bXfmUVd37WwkqAPC3PSLTkubL7SlSbtnyjTavfLrgzg6E5LJGA/s601/Screenshot%202022-11-20%20100128.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="601" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih6Ip5IDZruN3YdzKnGRlLT7Y_24DBcqjA0DWgrPCXt7Gm4N2aAz1KgesGzc-pDgsWLJNIPgqIW1b5jSblTBtGJRpgDn1XGih0yIZTXt08Ih95hu3C3-qkuLRmq7fJcWX-cus4RTu8bXfmUVd37WwkqAPC3PSLTkubL7SlSbtnyjTavfLrgzg6E5LJGA/s320/Screenshot%202022-11-20%20100128.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT42DdzB_5iCTmFY0woaER8ROebkL6HI99tXlurGEd_5V14aBfwaLJXyjt7ysH3WlTOWDy2sUEo48_XK4NnGTnIV8_KApCjsC9d0z9-c_DtR-B8c2ef0cr3V6aquREOJFXNCWcRqLGi1EziyKxo2VhWpDVIlMPogt8kABB8GaG87085WJoyZb2fbWS-w/s682/Screenshot%202022-11-20%20100352.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="607" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT42DdzB_5iCTmFY0woaER8ROebkL6HI99tXlurGEd_5V14aBfwaLJXyjt7ysH3WlTOWDy2sUEo48_XK4NnGTnIV8_KApCjsC9d0z9-c_DtR-B8c2ef0cr3V6aquREOJFXNCWcRqLGi1EziyKxo2VhWpDVIlMPogt8kABB8GaG87085WJoyZb2fbWS-w/s320/Screenshot%202022-11-20%20100352.png" width="285" /></a></div>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The
meteorological conditions prevailing during the period May to
October, 1923, give the reason for these startling figures. The total
rainfall during these six months was not the largest on record, nor
was the total deficiency of sunshine. But the uniform occurrence of
these phenomena throughout the summer and autumn, without relief, was
unprecedented, and fully accounted for the poor crops of cereals and
potatoes that were obtained. Turnips and hay, on the other hand,
thrive better in a damp season than cereals and potatoes. The
cumulative effects of the failure in varying degrees of crops,
fishing, peat-digging, and kelp-burning on the social and economic
life these districts, where at the best there is but a poor living to
be won from the land or the sea, are indeed disastrous.</i></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Percentage Deficiencies for each Crop by Location</b></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> <span> </span></span>Oats<span> </span>Barley/Bere<span> </span>Potatoes</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Skye<span> </span><span> <span> </span></span>57% <span> <span> </span></span>n/a<span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>73%</span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Lewis<span> </span><span> <span> </span></span>56%<span> </span> <span> <span> </span></span>50%<span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>81%</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Harris
etc<span> <span> </span></span>37%<span> <span> </span></span>40%<span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>57%</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Overall the deficiency in 1923 was 73%, almost three-quarters of the total.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Source:
</span><a href="https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000577/19240117/100/0008" style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000577/19240117/100/0008</a></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><b>Aberdeen
Press and Journal - Thursday 17 January 1924</b></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><span>Image
© D.C.Thomson & Co. Ltd</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><span>Image
created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD</span></span></p>direcleithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004025854623265304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7789993312111567100.post-83622286760777089572022-09-07T12:42:00.000+01:002022-09-07T12:42:07.994+01:00Civil Parish of Harris - Population 1801 - 1931<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> I have extracted data from an official publication that had been created following the 1931 Census and which tabulated the population by all the Civil Parishes in Scotland.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The graph shows (apologies for the lack of labels on the x-axis!) how the population of the parish fluctuated over that 130-year period. All the islands that had once been in the domain of the MacLeods of Dunvegan and Harris are included which is why these figures may not always tally with those seen elsewhere.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As we draw close to the 100th anniversary of the start in 1923 of the mass emigrations of the 1920s, evoked in particular by the names 'Metagama' and 'Marloch', we can clearly their impact on the population of Harris.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnCrOhEzsHc6XaP4Q8m-FAiE9Y8TkFcEljZKR79F3ZiMAUueROE8hJLNL3D7f_poTIyFSeB66-ltjsWtLVm89FCU2JohztJbS3DDxl8qVbry9ZQG75pInPQWPgSVji8zQ9XbgykQBmsWmM3EBAufgwcK_ZirYsLt3itVfjXIURB72AVWFM4Quj8zGREg/s963/Civil%20Parish%20of%20Harris%20-%20Population%201801%20-%201931.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="963" data-original-width="790" height="581" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnCrOhEzsHc6XaP4Q8m-FAiE9Y8TkFcEljZKR79F3ZiMAUueROE8hJLNL3D7f_poTIyFSeB66-ltjsWtLVm89FCU2JohztJbS3DDxl8qVbry9ZQG75pInPQWPgSVji8zQ9XbgykQBmsWmM3EBAufgwcK_ZirYsLt3itVfjXIURB72AVWFM4Quj8zGREg/w478-h581/Civil%20Parish%20of%20Harris%20-%20Population%201801%20-%201931.jpg" width="478" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>direcleithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004025854623265304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7789993312111567100.post-40145938529385129912022-09-06T16:38:00.000+01:002022-09-06T16:38:44.058+01:00DESTITUTION IN THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS—OBSERVATIONS<br />"On the 10th of March, Mr. R. Mackenlar, Chairman of the School Board of Harris, wrote to Mr. James Nicol— <br /><br /> If Dr. Cameron's Seeds Bill does not pass I look with great alarm to the future. Next year, and in all probability many more years, must be equally trying to the great majority of our people;<b> £30 a-week would only give 2½ stones of meal (5s. worth) to each of 120 families.</b> I am confident this is under what the last few days' experience warrants me to give. <br /><br /> The Rev. Donald Maclean, Established Church Manse, Harris, wrote— <br /><br /> I beg to bring to your notice the case of<b> about 20 families in my parish and neighbourhood who are actually in a state of great starvation. <br /></b><br /> He had also a letter which he had received from Rev. A. Davidson, Free Manse, Harris, on the 9th of March, who wrote— <br /><br /> I have had occasion lately to be extensively among my people, which afforded me an opportunity of knowing their state. <b>Some said the destitution was not greater in 1846, the year of the potato famine, than in this year.</b> All parties agree that potato seed would be the best help that could be sent to the people. At present, <b>there are 200 or 220 families in my district that would require help.</b> I understand that the grain crop, oats and barley, was as much a failure with many of them as the potatoes were. What could be done for grain seeds I do not know, and I am painfully informed that there are some families quite destitute and without food. <b>The Earl of Dunmore has given some work at the Home Farm to those who were in arrear of rent, very useful in itself, but confined to a certain class, and far from meeting a want that I may say extended to all parties." </b><br /><br /> This, then, was the desperate situation in Harris in the Spring of 1883. <br /><br />Examining each piece of correspondence in turn: <br /><br /><b>Mr. R. Mackenlar, Chairman of the School Board of Harris:</b><br /><br />2½ stones, at 14lbs (pounds) to a stone, is 35lbs of meal per family per week. <br />Thus each family would get a daily allowance of 5lbs of meal. <br /><br /> At this time the average household in Harris had five or six mouths to feed so each person would be subsisting on 1lb of meal per day. That is 450g. If the families were larger, and ten to twelve was far from uncommon, then the mass of meal drops to 250g per mouth. <br /><br /><b>Rev. Donald Maclean, Established Church Manse, Harris:</b><br /><br />To highlight that 20 families are in a state of great starvation, within the context that the other letters provide, suggests that these families, who could total perhaps as many as 200 people or more, were in peril. <br /><br /><b> Rev. A. Davidson, Free Manse, Harris:</b><br /><br />The comparison with 1846 provides further proof of the dreadful situation in 1883 and it should be remembered that the potato famines in the islands continued only ended in 1851 but their effect was less severe in the islands, especially when compared to what was allowed to happen in Ireland. <br /> Alexander Davidson was in <a href="https://scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/record/hes/171068">Manish.</a> and it is safe to suggest that his district would include a large part, possibly all, of the Bays and along the southern coast of Harris perhaps as far west as An-t-Ob. It may well have included the whole of South Harris ie everywhere south of the isthmus at Tarbert.<br /><br /> The 200-220 families he refers to would probably contain between 1000 and 2500 people.Together they formed from at least one-quarter up to to more than half of the recorded population of Harris at the time. <br /><br /> Incidentally, there were only 673 separate families living in the Harris ‘mainland’ in 1881, with another 98 in Scalpay, 42 in Scarp, and a total of only 34 more families in all of St Kilda, Taransay, Ensay, Killigray, and Pabbay. Berneray had 85 families but is unlikely to have been included in the district under discussion. <div><br /></div><div>For reference, I have a couple of brief pieces on the populations of North Harris and South Harris:</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="goog_2140979190">http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/05/north-harris-demographics.html</a></div><div><a href="goog_2140979190"><br /></a></div><div><a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/05/south-harris-demographics.html">http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/05/south-harris-demographics.html</a></div><div><br /><br /> I am not completely confident as to the location of the ‘Home Farm’ in 1883 but if it was Rodel then my relative Angus Kerr, age 48, was the Farm Manager but I think by then Borve had become the centre of operations. Thomas Brydone had been appointed as the Factor of South Harris in November/December 1882 and his predecessor, Kenneth MacDonald, Farmer and Factor, had resided in Borve which points to that perhaps being the location? That the jobs created by the Earl of Dunmore were <b>“...confined to a certain class, and far from meeting a want that I may say extended to all parties.”</b> is a pretty damning indictment as to the relevance of them to tackling destitution. <div>They were merely working in lieu of paying rent.</div><div><br /></div><div>There is also this report from March 1883 which I examined that helps to amplify the situation:</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2011/05/board-of-supervision-and-destitution-in.html">http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2011/05/board-of-supervision-and-destitution-in.html</a></div><div><br /></div><div><br />Later that year, on Thursday 31st May 1883, the Napier Commission met in An-t-Ob and a wider demographic from South Harris was, at long last, given an opportunity to be heard: <br /><br /><a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/05/obe-harris-thursday-may-311883.html">http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/05/obe-harris-thursday-may-311883.html</a> <br /><br /> <a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/05/thomas-brydone-27examined.html">http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/05/thomas-brydone-27examined.html</a> <br /><br /><br /><br />Source: SCOTLAND—THE CROFTERS—DESTITUTION IN THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS.—OBSERVATIONS. HC Deb 20 March 1883 vol 277 cc949-951<p></p></div></div>direcleithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004025854623265304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7789993312111567100.post-19106441780961561182021-07-11T12:08:00.001+01:002021-07-11T12:08:34.322+01:00The Highland Clachan Fair – Quaint and Attractive Exhibition<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> <i>Mrs Stewart Mackenzie is working almost on the same lines as my
late mother, whose name will remembered and memory revered in Harris
for all time. (Applause.) She began her work in Harris between </i><i>60</i><i>
and 70 years ago, and when I was sorting some old papers connected
with our estate in Harris I came across a number of cuttings from old
newspapers dated 1832 to 1839. It appears it was at this latter date
that my mother laid the foundation-stone of the homespun industry in
the Long Island. In those days the webs were taken by the women to
the houses of Rodel or Amnsuidh, where they were duly inspected,
measured, and valued according to quality. As soon the price per yard
was agreed upon, my mother paid cash down for the web. These webs
were then stored in Harris, and, at the end of the season, were
forwarded to Dunmore House in Stirlingshire, from which depot the
cloth eventually found its way to the various clothiers in London and
the large provincial towns. My mother’s system was one of pure
philanthropy, because whatever profit she was able to make on a
resale of the web was credited the weaver in Harris, whereas, if
there was any loss on resale, it was sustained by mother herself.
That was the system my late mother inaugurated between 60 and 70
years ago, and continued to work upon for 50 year, and until her
death. (Applause.) During that period of half-century she conducted
the homespun industry single-handed, and without any extraneous
assistance from irresponsible philanthropists. I purposely make point
of mentioning this, </i><i>b</i><i>ecause </i><i>I</i><i> have
noticed that some contributors to the public press have lately
written a lot of nonsense about this Harris tweed industry. They
talked about it if it was mushroom creation of the last few years,
and the direct outcome of some new and carefully-considered system of philanthropy, whereas, as a matter fact, it was in active operation
before those who are now interesting themselves in the work were
born. (Laughter and applause.)</i></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Source:
Inverness Courier – Friday 28 September 1906.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Image
© THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The above is an extract from the address
given by the 7<sup>th</sup>
Earl of Dunmore during the
lengthy opening ceremony of an exhibition, which the reporter
suggests ‘should be seen by everybody with an interest in Highland
<i>scenery</i>’ (italics
added), held in the Market Hall (presumably
in Inverness?) for just three
days.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There
is much to dissect in this part of the Earl’s speech. He
refers to newspapers from 1832, which was two years before his
grandfather purchased the estate on 5
March 1834, and 1839. He suggests this very early date, five
years earlier than the popular story of the industry’s birth in
1844 as described by Mrs S
Macdonald (Sarah Grant) in a publication for The Scottish Home
Industries Association in 1895,
and states that ‘Amnsuidh’ was the destination for some of the
webs of cloth. If so, they would have lain on the
moss
and grass for over a quarter of a century to be collected for it was
he who had the ‘proposed lodge’ (to quote from the notated 1804
Plan of Harris), that became Amhainnsuidhe Castle, built in 1867.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It
is interesting to note that during those same twenty eight years Big
Borve, Middle Borve and Little Borve (all 1839) were cleared, as was
Raa on Taransay (1840s), and
crofts
at Direcleit and Ceann Dibig were
bisected to provide homes for people cleared from Borve on Berneray
(1851). Borve in Harris had
been resettled but was cleared again (1853) and finally
Direcleit and Ceann Dibig were cleared (1860s). The potato famines
also took place (1841-1856) and perhaps mention should be given to the clearance of Seilibost (1838).</span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Amidst all this turmoil it is certainly
true that the Embroidery School was established in An t-Ob by the
Earl’s mother (1849) but was she really conducting the <i>‘homespun
industry single-handed’</i>?</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This
is where we reach the irritation that is clear in this speech, the
fact that ‘<i>some contributors to the public press have
lately written a lot of nonsense about this Harris tweed industry.
They talked about it if it was mushroom creation of the last few
years, and the direct outcome of some new and carefully-considered
system of philanthropy, whereas, as a matter fact, it was in active
operation before those who are now interesting themselves in the work
were born. </i></span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i></i>Almost a
quarter-of-a-century earlier the
Napier Commission had revealed the work of ‘Mrs Captain Thomas’;
the wife of navy hydrographer, pioneer photographer and archaeologist,
Frederick William Leopold
Thomas the
naval hydrographer, in
supporting the nascent Harris Tweed industry and it would appear that
her story had been recently reinvigorated in the press. I have yet to
discover these articles but this speech by the Earl suggests that
over a hundred years before I began researching the true origins of
the industry the popular narrative was already
being questioned.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Less
than a year after he spoke these words Charles Adolphus Murray died on 27 August 1907at the age of 66.</span></p><p>
</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i></i></p>
<br /><p></p>direcleithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004025854623265304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7789993312111567100.post-52014335970520444602021-06-25T14:22:00.002+01:002021-06-25T14:25:20.373+01:00'Map of Harris - The Property of the Right Honourable The Earl of Dunmore - 1871'<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">This map is fascinating and what follows is merely an initial scratching of the surface to see what may be learnt from it regarding the situation in Harris at this time.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoKOc5DAxsBXZbNFq7M2MTYD5-gOV5eXKuZHhICyN5ouBqaraRbijEzS8N9DN-RoUXeygzVIzY9DHxFWo2k7L9bE2sNdYYQTtQjvR_rrNDkw55zKEG7jRuFzzItR4GsU0HPx2MPHzfM5SZ/s2048/ScotlandsPeople_RHP---46258-00001-.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1520" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoKOc5DAxsBXZbNFq7M2MTYD5-gOV5eXKuZHhICyN5ouBqaraRbijEzS8N9DN-RoUXeygzVIzY9DHxFWo2k7L9bE2sNdYYQTtQjvR_rrNDkw55zKEG7jRuFzzItR4GsU0HPx2MPHzfM5SZ/w475-h640/ScotlandsPeople_RHP---46258-00001-.jpg" width="475" /></a></div><br /> The first point is a general one for, although the map is dated 1871, the division of Harris into North and South occurred in 1867 and so the 7th Earl's property by the time of publication had been reduced to the area south of the border in Tarbert. Hence the two residencies that the Earl had built, labelled 'Ardvourlie Castle' and 'FINCASTLE' on the map, were no longer his.<div><br /></div><div>In Tarbert itself, it is interesting to see what appear to be two roofed buildings at Am Faoilinn, the area on the shore of West Loch Tarbert in the fork between the road to Stornoway and Old Pier Road. I understand that one of these at this time was home to Malcolm Kerr (my 1st cousin 4x removed) who was one of five children born there between 1811 and 1831 to Alexander Kerr (1796-c1845) and his wife Ann MacLeod (1791-1863).</div><div><br /></div><div>Further south, we see 'Luskintyre House' and a 'Scarrista House' which is near the shore abutting the Glebe of the Parish Church and Manse, each of which are on the other side of the track that leads to the substantial settlement of 'Nishishee'. The two settlements of 'North Town' and 'South Town' are shown, these two being mentioned by William MacGillivray in his book 'A Hebridean Naturalist's Journal - 1817-1818'. </div><div><br /></div><div>Continuing past the 'Parish School', 'Embroidery School', and the 'School House' in Obbe (or 'OBEE', as it appears here!) we reach Rodel where Malcolm Kerr's cousin Angus Kerr - son of Angus Kerr (1792-1867) and Marion MacSween (1793-1874) is the Farm Grieve, or manager. Rodel House, built by Captain Alexander MacLeod, is conspicuous for being un-noted, perhaps reflecting its significance in the the eyes of the Earl, whilst we see the old church promoted to being 'St Clement Cathedral'.</div><div><br /></div><div>Traversing the Bays of Harris we see several 'Oyster Beds' marked by shading before reaching Malcolm and Angus Kerr's late uncle John Kerr's (1789-1867) home in ' Dieraclate' where his widow Margaret lives with two of Malcolm and Angus's many cousins, her children Effie and Donald.</div><div><br /></div><div>I have completed this swift circumnavigation of South Harris, pointing out a few things that drew my attention and including elements from the stories of the three sons of Strond, Alexander, Angus, and John Kerr at the time of the map.</div><div><br /></div><div>The whole of Sir Edward Scott's North Harris awaits our attention but meanwhile I recommend a close perusal of this particular piece of cartography for what it may reveal regarding the history of Harris.</div><div><br /></div><div>NB - The image is copyright National Records of Scotland and has been used in accordance with their terms and conditions as per <a href="https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/content/copyright">https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/content/copyright</a></div><div><br /><p></p><div><br /></div></div>direcleithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004025854623265304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7789993312111567100.post-272723519385007222021-05-12T19:46:00.000+01:002021-05-12T19:46:56.722+01:00HARRIS NEWS NOTES - Highland News - Saturday 07 August 1897<p> </p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;">(Highland News - Saturday 07
August 1897 -</span><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif;">Image
© THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED)</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This
edition of the <i>Highland News</i> included a section with several snippets
of news from Harris (transcribed below in <i>italics</i>) to which I have appended some observations together with links to further reading:</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><i>HARRIS
NEWS NOTES. </i></span>
</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i>WEATHER
AND CROPS.—The weather this summer has been very favourable, only
that it was a little too dry and warm; yet this has been compensated
by recent showers. Crops of all kinds look well, and a fair yield is
anticipated.</i></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif;">Ah</span><i style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif;">,
“a little too dry and warm”, </i><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif;">but
then a century-and-a-quarter ago the </span><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif;">whole</span><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif;">is</span><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif;">land
would have</span><i style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif;"> </i><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif;">been
swaying with oats and barley, glad to slake their thirst on those '</span><i style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif;">recent showers</i><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif;">'.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i>POLITICAL
DISSATISFACTION.—Great dissatisfaction is felt with Mr Baillie's
inactivity in matters pertaining to the Hebridean portion of his
constituency, and the fact that he voted against a proposal to make
the acquisition of land compulsory has caused deep regret.</i></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">James
Evan Bruce Baillie (1859 – 6 May 1931) was the Unionist MP for
Inverness-shire from June 13, 1895 - October 1, 1900. He is recorded
in Hansard a mere 7 times during his time in Parliament.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i>SPECIAL
BENEVOLENCE.—Mrs Beckett (late Mrs Thomas), Edinburgh, who by her
personal influence has often acted as a benefactress and
philanthropist to Harris, has this year decided to appoint a
qualified nurse in the district of Manish, South Harris. A suitable
house to accommodate such nurse is in course of erection.</i></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I first wrote about this development over a decade ago and that piece, including an
invaluable clarification regarding the use of the building, may be
read <a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/06/manish-victoria-cottage-hospital.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i>CATTLE
MARKET.—The annual cattle market recently held in Harris caused
great disappointment to farmers and crofters. Somehow or other the
buyers were not so numerous or conspicuous as on former occasions.
Consequently most of the people brought home their cattle, so that at
present a large number of purchasable stock is on hand.</i></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A
hundred years prior to this, Harris cattle ,of which more may be read
<a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2011/05/the-hebridean-breed-true-kyloe.html" target="_blank">here</a> , were being taken by drovers on the <a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2011/03/harris-drove.html" target="_blank">long journey south</a>.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i>FISHERIES.—The
Harris fisheries. once so famous, especially for quality, are
practically dead since the great fishing in Loch Seaforth in the
winter of 1890. In Harris at present there is not one fishing boat of
the first, or even the second class; but the fishermen are fairly
supplied with small boats, which diligently ply along the
neighbouring coasts, and visit such fishing centres as Stornoway,
Portree, and Loch Hourn when herrings are near hand.</i></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif;">A
reminder that Tarbert was never to be developed along the lines
envisaged by John Knox in the 18thC, and that </span><a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/05/bee-or-literary-weekly-intelligencer.html" style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif;" target="_blank">Captain MacLeod’s plans for Rodel</a><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif;"> were cut short. </span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">I believe Knox also penned <a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2011/01/harris-house-interior-of-1787.html" target="_blank">this interesting accoun</a>t of the interior
of a house in Tarbert.</span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i>TOURIST
SEASON.—The number of tourists calling here this summer has been
fair considering the recent Jubilee attractions in the South. Some
come by the daily mail boat; while others come on a "weekly tour
to the Hebrides" by the "Dunara," which visits Tarbert
every Saturday, staying till Monday morning, and making an occasional
call at St Kilda. Many yachts of various descriptions also call and
stay for a day or two.</i></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Interesting
that tourism was already noteworthy at this time, and it may well
have been some of the <a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/10/yachtsmen-of-harris.html" target="_blank">yachtsmen recorded here</a> who were crewing some
of the visiting vessels.</span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Records
of such visits by the “Dunara”, serendipitously caught during the
censuses of 1881-1901, are described in each of these pieces:</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/03/ss-dunara-castle.html" target="_blank">http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/03/ss-dunara-castle.html</a></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/03/ss-dunara-casle-1891.html" target="_blank">http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/03/ss-dunara-casle-1891.html</a></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/03/ss-dunara-castle-1901-port-tarbert.html" target="_blank">http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/03/ss-dunara-castle-1901-port-tarbert.html</a></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i>THUNDERSTORM.—On
Sunday evening, between seven and eight o'clock, a terrible
thunderstorm, accompanied with lightning and occasional showers of
rain, burst over Harris, and continued till after two o'clock on
Monday morning. The thunder pealed incessantly, and the lightning
flashed uninterruptedly, zigzag rents of deep red being often visible
in the clouds. Persons of intelligence and experience, who sometimes
witnessed a similar scene in America, declare that they only very
seldom saw anything to equal it in point of display, but never in
duration. But, happily, no accident or disaster occurred.</i></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif;">I
like the comparison with meteorological</span><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif;"> events ‘in America’ as a
means of emphasising the scale, and scarcity, of such a storm.</span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i>GOVERNMENT
GRANT Of £3500 LOST.—It will be remembered that some time ago the
County Council sanctioned the construction of two piers in Harris—one
at Scalpay and another at West Tarbert. The estimated cost was £2500
for the one at West Tarbert, and £1500 for the one at Scalpay; but
we are informed that Sir Samuel Scott agreed to pay £500 of said
expense, thus making the Government grant amount to £3500.
Proceedings went so far that tenders were asked by public
advertisement., and an offer accepted, but before a start could be
made the Tory Government withdrew the money. Surely there is need in
Harris for the Congested Districts Bill. Piers, roads, footpaths, and
other public works demand special attention, as well as the fact that
there is not one first or second-class fishing boat in Harris.</i></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif;">The
story of these two piers, which did eventually get constructed, is
for another time but what we can glean from this is not only the huge
disappointment at the Government withdrawing the grant but also yet
another example of how well the North Harris Estate was treated by its
Scott landlords. The contrast between the situation in the two Harris
estates following </span><a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/05/sir-edward-henry-scott-5th-baronet-of.html" style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif;" target="_blank">Sir Edward Scott</a><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif;">'s purchase of</span><span style="font-family: "Liberation Sans", sans-serif;"> North Harris when the original estate of Harris was divided in
1867 cannot be overstated.</span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Although these eight wee 'News Notes' are, in themselves, just that, when placed within the wider context of island history they each add yet another new and welcome element to our understanding.</span></p>direcleithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004025854623265304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7789993312111567100.post-88973557744198003912019-11-07T15:35:00.000+00:002019-11-07T15:35:36.506+00:00Contempt, Sympathy and Romance - Krisztina Fenyo<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I have been intending to write about Krisztina Fenyo’s book,
<i>Contempt, Sympathy and Romance</i>, for several years and, in
particular, to focus upon one particular nugget that it contains.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The book, subtitled
Lowland Perceptions of the Highlands and the Clearances During the
Famine Years, 1845-1855, is a scholarly (the book is essentially her
PhD thesis of 1996) but extremely readable account of contemporary
Scottish newspapers’ attitudes to Highlanders and Islanders during
these turbulent and troubled years, attitudes which she categorises
into the trio that gives her book its title.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
However, it is a
letter* written by Sir Charles Trevelyan in 1852 upon which I intend
to focus, a letter in which he:</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
“<b>contemplated with satisfaction...</b><b>the
prospects of flights of Germans settling here in increasing number –
an orderly, moral, industrious and frugal people, </b><i><b>less
foreign to us than the Irish or Scottish Celt</b></i><b>, a congenial
element which will readily assimilate with our body politic.”</b>
(Italics as in the quote in the book).</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
At this time
Trevelyan was Chairman of the London Committee of the Highland and
Island Emigration Society (HIES) which he co-founded with Sir John
McNeill (** for links to previous pieces), publicly voicing the view that emigration benefited the
emigrants themselves and was an economic necessity, but this quote
clearly shows the racism underlying the removal of Gaels from
Scotland. The Gaels weren’t being removed because of overpopulation
but because they were deemed to be the wrong people to inhabit the Highlands and Islands!</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Sir Charles
Trevelyan’s ‘day job’ was Assistant Secretary to the Treasury
and, in the climate of hostility to the Gael that Fenyo describes so
brilliantly in her book, it is inconceivable that the attitude he so
boldly elucidated in private wasn’t a core belief underlying his
chairing of the HIES.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
To have such a clear
statement of an aim of ethnic-cleansing from such a senior civil
servant in the mid-nineteenth Century is extraordinary but even
today, as attempts are made to right the wrongs of the Clearances and
repair the damage done, particularly in terms of Highlands and Islands depopulation, Gaelic language and culture remain under attack. </div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I highly recommend reading <i>Contempt, Sympathy and
Romance </i><span style="font-style: normal;">and will end with these closing words from the book:</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i>“In
the mid-nineteenth Century, the Highland Gaels were viewed in many
ways – from inferior race to picturesque and poetic heroes - but,
with few exceptions, they were never seen as equal, fellow human
beings.”</i></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
*Source: National
Records of Scotland: HD4/2 Letterbook of HIES (2)</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Trevelyan to
Commissary-General Miller, 30 June 1852</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
**Sir John McNeill:</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2011/02/some-notes-on-selection-from-report-to.html" target="_blank">http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2011/02/some-notes-on-selection-from-report-to.html</a>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2011/02/friday-4th-april-1851-sir-john-mcneill.html" target="_blank">http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2011/02/friday-4th-april-1851-sir-john-mcneill.html</a>
</div>
<br />direcleithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004025854623265304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7789993312111567100.post-5946239548863305872018-06-12T10:47:00.000+01:002018-06-12T10:47:49.236+01:00Olaf the Black and North Uist<br />
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Óláfr
Guðrøðarson</i>,
perhaps
better-known
as Olaf the Black, was a 13th century sea-king</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">who ruled the Isle of
Man and, at
least,
parts of the Hebrides. He was a younger son of <i>Guðrøðr
Óláfsson</i>,
King of the Isles, King of Dublin, and his wife <i>Finnguala</i>,
a
grandaughter
of <i>Muirchertach
Mac Lochlain</i>n,
High King of Ireland, King of Cenél nEógain.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Uist
in the Sagas</span></b></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“<i>Godred,
a son of Olaf the Red, left three sons, Reginald, Olaf , and Ivar, of
who, shortly before his death, he recognised Olaf (born in 1173, and
afterwards known as Olaf the Black) as his lawful heir.”</i></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“In
1202 King Olaf was residing <i>at
‘Sandey’, in the Sudreys</i>
which Captain Thomas identifies as being <i>the
district and former parish of Sand, in North Uist, which...both from
its central position and comparative fertility, would appear in every
way the more likely residence to be chosen by a ruler of the Long
Island.”</i></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(Source:
North Uist, Erskine Beveridge, 1911, p20-21)</span></i></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">According
to the saga of the celebrated chief and physician, </span><i>Hrafn
Sveinbiarnson c</i><span style="font-style: normal;">1166-1213
(as cited in A.W. Moore’s 1900 publication </span><i>A
History of the Isle of Man)</i><span style="font-style: normal;">,
</span><i><b>Hrafn
</b></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>“a</b></span><i><b>nd
the bishop-elect, Gudmund, sailed from Iceland towards Norway in the
year 1202, but were driven by storms to Sandey, one of the Sudreys,
where they happened to find Olaf and the bishop</b></i><i>,
and were compelled by the former to pay a tax, that Reginald had
assigned the Hebrides to Olaf.” </i><span style="font-style: normal;">This
saga was presumably the source that Captain Thomas and Professor
Munch had used in their earlier respective researches into the matter
and it was the Captain’s </span><span style="font-style: normal;">interpretation
regarding the location of </span><i>Sandey</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
that Beveridge </span><span style="font-style: normal;">referred
to in his book</span><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(Source:
<a href="http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/fulltext/hist1900/ch14.htm" target="_blank">http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/fulltext/hist1900/ch14.htm</a>)</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Thus,
thanks to the scholarship of Captain FWL Thomas, we have evidence
suggesting that Olaf the Black lived in North Uist in the area of <a href="https://canmore.org.uk/site/10318/north-uist-clachan-sanda-st-columbas-chapel" target="_blank">Cill Chaluim Cille</a> </span>(Kilcolmkill) in the vicinity of the burial ground at Clachan Sands and near to <a href="https://canmore.org.uk/site/10298/north-uist-laiaval-tobar-chaluim-chille" target="_blank">Tobar Chaluim Cille</a>
, the well of St Columba’s Chapel.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">(</span><span style="font-style: normal;">See
also - </span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><span style="font-style: normal;"><a href="https://saintsplaces.gla.ac.uk/place.php?id=1321445695" target="_blank">https://saintsplaces.gla.ac.uk/place.php?id=1321445695</a></span></u></span></span><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">)</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">In
the Sleat History or History of the MacDonalds it is recorded that
Olaf the Red, Olaf the Black’s grandfather, killed a MacNicoll in
North Uist, although it has also been suggested that it may have been
the grandson Olaf </span><span style="font-style: normal;">the
Black</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
who was responsible. Either way, we have two clues pointing to the
presence of one or both of the Olaf’s in the island during the 12</span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;">th</span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;">
and 13</span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;">th</span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;">
centuries.</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(Source:
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_MacNeacail#Tradition" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_MacNeacail#Tradition</a>
)</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Erskine
Beveridge also notes that nearby <a href="https://canmore.org.uk/collection/1259127" target="_blank">Loch Amhlasariagh</a>
derives its name from this period:</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“<i>Loch
Aulisary; Norse, from Olafs-erg or Olaf’s shileling” (Source:
p105, as previously)</i></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It
would therefore appear possible, perhaps even likely, that it was
Olaf the Black who had his summer residence somewhere on the shore of
this tidal lagoon which is located within the old farm of Newton and
Cheesebay, now known as the Newton Estate, and who gave his name to
the loch.</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Beveridge
remarks that:</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On
the north side of Portain, near Loch Aulasary, occurs a group of
three place-names, Cnoc Mòr an t-Sagairt, Cnoc Beag an t-Sagairt,
and Loch an t-Sagairt – all obviously referring to a priest, and at
least suggestive that a chapel formerly stood in that vicinity.
(Source: Beveridge, p278)</span></i></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Is
this, perhaps, a further link to Olaf and the bishop </span><span style="font-style: normal;">(</span><span style="font-style: normal;">possibly
Michael</span><span style="font-style: normal;">)</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
cited in the saga?</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">We
shall never know for sure but it is tantalising to think that more
than </span><span style="font-style: normal;">8</span><span style="font-style: normal;">00
years ago this ‘remote’ corner of Uist was in fact sufficiently
well-connected to attract a Norse ruler and his ecclesiastical ally
to make their respective marks by leaving clues within the naming of
the landscape.</span></span></div>
direcleithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004025854623265304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7789993312111567100.post-14003667827431217352017-02-15T17:22:00.001+00:002017-02-15T17:22:46.895+00:00Eureka - 59781<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
What began with the
discovery of two seafaring brothers who died on consecutive days in
September 1872 has developed into the story of the vessel that they
were serving on at the time of their deaths.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The <i>Eureka</i>
arrived at King William’s Dock, Dundee from St Petersburgh on 27
August 1872 with 494 bales and 1431 bobbins of flax weighing more
than 170 tons.* She was owned and sailed ‘In the General Coasting
Trade’ by Ewen Campbell of Scadabay, Harris but all 240 tons of
this brigantine had been built in 1870 across the Atlantic in Prince
Edward Island for John F Robertson.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
Malcolm and Ewen Campbell appear to have been joint owners of the
<i>Eureka</i> from the outset, Lloyd’s Register 1871 showing the
owners as M & E Campbell. There were many fine sailing ships
built at that time in Prince Edward Island for Scottish shipowners.<br />
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
A week before her
arrival in Dundee, on 20<sup>th</sup> August 1872, the <i>Eureka</i>
had collided near Elsinore with another vessel, the <i>Mercurius</i>
of Harlingen, and the latter ship appears to have suffered some
little damage in consequence.* This was not the last incident to
befall the vessel in the autumn of 1872 for on 27<sup>th</sup>
September the <i>Eureka</i> was being towed into Yarmouth having lost
her boat and sails when she struck the bar and began taking on water.*</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Sandwiched in
between these unfortunate accidents were the tragic deaths from
smallpox of the brothers Angus and Neil Kerr on the 11th and 12<sup>th</sup>
of September.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
Malcolm Campbell also died a few months later on 26th December
1872 at Scadabay and at some point Ewen sold the ship and she was
eventually lost in Archangel when she grounded during a heavy snow
storm.<br />
<br />
It would be a quarter of a century before another link was
forged between the Campbell’s of Scadabay and the Kerr’s of South
Harris, this time in the form of the marriage in 1896 of my cousin
Marion Kerr from Rodel to Ewen and Malcolm’s nephew, John Campbell,
eldest son of Roderick Campbell of Rodel who also held the tack of
Borve, Berneray before it was rightly recrofted in 190.<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Note: I would like to
thank Seumas MacKinnon of Scadabay for alerting me to the fact that
the vessel my relatives were sailing in was not the one owned by
James Deas of St Andrew’s, and for supplying information used in
compiling this entry.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Sources:</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
Eureka registration Prince Edward Island:
h<a href="http://www.islandregister.com/1870newvessels.html">ttp://www.islandregister.com/1870newvessels.html</a><br />
Eureka Lloyd’s Shipping Register 1871-72 p197:
<a href="http://www.archive.org/stream/lloydsregisters32unkngoog#page/n4/mode/2up">http://www.archive.org/stream/lloydsregisters32unkngoog#page/n4/mode/2up</a><br />
Ewen Campbell on Lloyd’s Captains List p19:
<a href="http://www.history.ac.uk/gh/capsC.pdf">http://www.history.ac.uk/gh/capsC.pdf</a><br />
Euphemia, Eureka and Anna Dhubh:
http://www.isleofharris.com/stories/euphemia-eureka-anna-dubh/<br />
<br />
With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive (<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/">www.BritishNewspaperArchive.co.uk</a>) the British Library Boarddirecleithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004025854623265304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7789993312111567100.post-84489071954924450312017-02-08T09:22:00.001+00:002017-02-13T18:35:02.684+00:00The Story of Three Harris Seamen<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
On the shore of Ob
Liceasto in East Loch Tarbert stand the tobhta, or ruined walls, of a
house that was built two hundred tears ago. It was home to a tailor
John Kerr from Strond and his wife Margaret Martin. They had five
sons and five daughters and at least three of the brothers became
sailors in the Merchant Service.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The first-born,
Malcolm, was born around 1822, the sixth child, Angus, around 1838
and the youngest, Neil, in 1848. Their birth years vary in the few
written records that remain (primarily censuses as Statutory
Registration in Scotland did not start until 1855) so I have used the
ages from their death certificates.
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Malcolm, my great,
great grandfather, moved to Stornoway following the death of his
first wife (who had given him a son) and he married again in 1848.
His second wife, Mary MacDonald, was one of the 143 people cleared
from Orinsay, Pairc in 1843 and they had three daughters and two
sons, the oldest of whom, <a href="https://direcleit.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/obituary-of-alexander-john-kerr.html" target="_blank">Alexander John Kerr</a>
, followed his father’s calling to the sea.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Malcolm worked in
the coastal trade, sailing small vessels of 30 to 60 tons throughout
the waters off the West Coast of Scotland including frequent voyages
to Belfast and Larne. He was active in this trade for fifty years and
died of a heart attack on board Alexander John’s ship the <a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/crest-final-voyages-1898.html" target="_blank">Crest</a>
in the Horseshoe Sound, Kerrera on the 15<sup>th</sup> of December
1898 at the age of 76. His Nationality was recorded as ‘Harris’!</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Angus Kerr spent
several years as a fisherman according to te censuses but on the 11<sup>th</sup> of September
1872 the 34 year-old father of five died in the Royal Infirmary,
Dundee. His occupation was shown as Seaman M.S. and the cause of
death was Variola, or smallpox.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Neil Kerr is
recorded in the 1871 census as an Able Seaman aboard the <a href="https://direcleit.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/1871-euphemia-campbell-moray-john.html" target="_blank">Euphemia Campbell</a>
in Moray but just seventeen months later, on the 12<sup>th</sup> of
September 1872, he too died from smallpox in the Royal Infirmary
Dundee. He was 24 and single.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Their widowed
mother, who was in her late-sixties or early seventies, had lost two
sons in two days due to this terrible pandemic that reached its peak
of 71 deaths per 100,000 people in Scotland in the year that Angus
and Neil died. Her husband John had died only five years earlier and together they had borne the pain of the loss of their 18 year-old daughter <a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/1855-death-certificate-from-harris.html" target="_blank">Catherine</a>
a dozen years before that.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The entry before
Neil’s in the register is that of 22 year-old Duncan MacLeod whose address, like
Neil’s, was recorded as West Tarbert, Harris. At least three men
from one small part of Harris were lost that week. The population of Harris in 1871 was 4,411.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I believe Angus and
Neil’s deaths were mentioned in the Dundee Courier of Friday 13<sup>th</sup>
September 1872 (where Neil was incorrectly named as Robert) and, if
so, then they were shipmates aboard the Dundee-registered 69 ton
vessel Eureka owned by James Deas of Market Street, St Andrews. I have checked the register and am sure that the article does refer to Angus and Neil:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg54Qa2boJzk-WV5C4Cbd2N0a25IHuwOnpIT4z8tIHxFqXuf2ck96BVXCTtNSJwYrOmz8WYxfov51Nk29HUSD5jk8b1IRz8pa-ITw6Na7NfA4LFuXrP4EywGj8fFmgP56s2VE5PKoCd_WwE/s1600/Angus+%2526+Neil+Kerr+-+Dundee+1872.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg54Qa2boJzk-WV5C4Cbd2N0a25IHuwOnpIT4z8tIHxFqXuf2ck96BVXCTtNSJwYrOmz8WYxfov51Nk29HUSD5jk8b1IRz8pa-ITw6Na7NfA4LFuXrP4EywGj8fFmgP56s2VE5PKoCd_WwE/s320/Angus+%2526+Neil+Kerr+-+Dundee+1872.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Source: the Dundee Courier & Argus, Friday 13th September
1872.<br />
Newspaper Image © The British Library Board. All rights reserved.
With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive
(<a href="http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/">www.BritishNewspaperArchive.co.uk</a>).</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I have only just
discovered Neil’s death, and only recently learned about Angus’s
thanks to the wife of a cousin, so I have not had time to reflect
upon the effect that this twin tragedy may have had on the family. I
wonder how many people Harris lost to smallpox at this terrible time?</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I am proud of my
maritime ancestry in Harris, which has tripled in just a few weeks,
and I wonder how different things might have been had all three
brothers been spared, as Malcolm was, to spend half-a-century sailing
these waters through middle and into old-age, encouraging the next
generation to take to the sea.<br />
<br />
Update: The vessel Eureka was in fact not the 69 ton ship of that name owned by James Deas - more details will follow in the next entry!</div>
direcleithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004025854623265304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7789993312111567100.post-36159186313657629362016-12-28T18:15:00.003+00:002016-12-28T18:21:01.617+00:00Eilean Beag Donn A' Chuain<span style="background-color: white;">There is a recording on <a href="http://tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/fullrecord/92997/1" target="_blank">Tobar an Dualchais</a> of the song Eilean Beag Donn A' Chuain (Little Brown Island in the Ocean) by Donald Macdonald Morrison (1859-1951) who emigrated to Duluth, Minnesota.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">His brother Murdo Morrison left with him but returned to Lewis where he became the postmaster at Bragar, married my cousin Mary Annabella Montgomery, and erected the Whalebone Arch at Lakefield.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">Lyrics from the song are engraved in glass at the ferry terminal in Stornoway, a reminder to modern day travellers of the pain of emigration felt by all who have left their island home:</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="color: rgba(44 , 0 , 0 , 0.960784); font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Do làmh, a charaid, gu Eilean a’ chuain,</span><br style="font-family: georgia, serif;" /><span style="color: rgba(44 , 0 , 0 , 0.960784); font-family: "georgia" , serif;">‘S a h-eallach cho cruaidh is trom.</span><br style="font-family: georgia, serif;" /><span style="color: rgba(44 , 0 , 0 , 0.960784); font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Tha ‘m bàs le cabhaig a’ sgathadh ‘s a’ buain</span><br style="font-family: georgia, serif;" /><span style="color: rgba(44 , 0 , 0 , 0.960784); font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Gun duine nì suas a call.</span><br style="font-family: georgia, serif;" /><span style="color: rgba(44 , 0 , 0 , 0.960784); font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Tha ‘n òigridh sgoinneil a sheòlas na caoil</span><br style="font-family: georgia, serif;" /><span style="color: rgba(44 , 0 , 0 , 0.960784); font-family: "georgia" , serif;">An àite nan laoch a bh’ ann,</span><br style="font-family: georgia, serif;" /><span style="color: rgba(44 , 0 , 0 , 0.960784); font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Gun bhonaid, gun bhròig, a’ siubhal nan raon</span><br style="font-family: georgia, serif;" /><span style="color: rgba(44 , 0 , 0 , 0.960784); font-family: "georgia" , serif;">An Eilean an Fhraoich ud thall.</span><br style="font-family: georgia, serif;" /><br style="font-family: georgia, serif;" /><span style="color: rgba(44 , 0 , 0 , 0.960784); font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Your help, my friend, to the Island of Lewis</span><br style="font-family: georgia, serif;" /><span style="color: rgba(44 , 0 , 0 , 0.960784); font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Since its burden is so difficult to bear</span><br style="font-family: georgia, serif;" /><span style="color: rgba(44 , 0 , 0 , 0.960784); font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Death is reaping its terrible toll</span><br style="font-family: georgia, serif;" /><span style="color: rgba(44 , 0 , 0 , 0.960784); font-family: "georgia" , serif;">With no one to make up the loss</span><br style="font-family: georgia, serif;" /><span style="color: rgba(44 , 0 , 0 , 0.960784); font-family: "georgia" , serif;">The upstanding youth who sail the straits</span><br style="font-family: georgia, serif;" /><span style="color: rgba(44 , 0 , 0 , 0.960784); font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Instead of the warriors who once were there</span><br style="font-family: georgia, serif;" /><span style="color: rgba(44 , 0 , 0 , 0.960784); font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Are without clothing or shoes, traversing the moors</span><br style="font-family: georgia, serif;" /><span style="color: rgba(44 , 0 , 0 , 0.960784); font-family: "georgia" , serif;">In the distant Island of Heather</span></i></span></span>direcleithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004025854623265304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7789993312111567100.post-64753747164815690732015-11-06T16:12:00.001+00:002015-11-06T16:12:47.842+00:00Norman MacCaig's Island Family<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Joanna McCaig (MS
McLeod) died in Edinburgh on 2 December 1959 of Cardiovascular
degeneration. Her son, Norman, registered the death.. His widowed
mother would have been 82 just a few weeks later.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
In an <a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/norman-maccaig-14-november-1910-23.html" target="_blank">earlier piece</a> I mentioned that Johanna had been born in Scalpay on 28
December 1877 to William MacLeod and his wife Effie Martin. She was
the seventh of eight children and we first glimpse the young family,
six years before her birth, in the census of 1871 when they were in
Scalpay Village:</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
William MacLeod, 35,
Fisherman, Head, b. Isle of Pabbay</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Effie MacLeod, 26,
Wife, b. Scalpay</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Julia MacLeod, 6, b.
Scalpay</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
John MacLeod, 5,b.
Scalpay</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Flora MacLeod, 1, b.
Scalpay</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Chirsty MacLeod,
2months, b. Scalpay</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This is the only
reference we have to William being from Pabbay but the 1841 Census,
the last before that island was Cleared to replace people with
profit, shows the 8 year-old William together with his siblings Flora
(6) and Donald (2) . Their father was an agricultural labourer, John
MacLeod (50) and his mother Catherine MacLeod (30). However, there
was also a woman in the household called Julia MacLeod (40) and it is
interesting to see her name given to William and Effie's firstborn.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
William and Effie's
neighbours in 1871 were Donald MacLeod and family, including Donald's
mother, Chirsty. Both Chirsty and Donald were born in Pabbay and I
think therefore were William's brother and mother, the whole family
having been driven from their home in Pabbay during the 1840s.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
At the time of the 1881
Census William and Euphemia's household comprised:</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
William MacLeod, 46,
Fisherman, Head, b. Harris</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Euphemia MacLeod, 37,
Wife, b. Lochs, Ross & cromarty</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
John MacLeod, 15,
Fisherman, Son, b. Harris</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Flora MacLeod, 11,
Daughter, Scholar, b. Harris</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Norman MacLeod, 8, Son,
Scholar, b. Harris</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Roderick MacLeod, 6,
Son, Scholar, b. Harris</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Johanna MacLeod, 3,
Daughter, b. Harris</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
James MacLeod, 1, Son,
b. Harris</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I am slightly confused
by the reference to Effie (Euphemia MacLeod) having been born in Lochs, but it may well
be that her mother, Flora Martin (MS MacLeod), was a Lochie for there
are many connections between Harris families and those in Lochs,
Lewis.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Julia MacLeod, 17, was
visiting another family in Scalpay at the time of the census, and
Chirsty MacLeod appears as Christina MacLeod who, at the tender age
of 10, was already working as a 'General Servant' for a family of
MacSwains in the island.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
At 8 o'clock on the
morning of Saturday 28 January 1882 Effy MacLeod died of influenza,
having been ill for some eight days. Her son, John, registered her
death giving her age as 39.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
At 9 o'clock on the
morning of Sunday 12 February 1882 William MacLeod died of severe
cold, having been ill for some fourteen days. His son, John,
registered his death giving his age as 48.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
William had survived
his wife by just fifteen days and their eight children aged from 2 to
15 had been orphaned in just a couple of weeks. It is almost
impossible to comprehend their situation.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Nine years later the
1891 Census finds John MacLeod, a 25 year-old fisherman, heading the
household that contains his two wool-spinning sisters, Julia (26) and
Christina (16), and their brother James (12) who is still at school.
Half of the family have stayed together under one roof in Scalpay.
Flora (21), Norman (18) and Roderick (16) appear to be absent from
Scalpay but may have been elsewhere in Harris.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I cannot locate Johanna
MacLeod (13) in the 1891 Census, but she is definitely not in Scalpay
nor in Harris, however by 1901 Joan MacLeod is working in Leith as a
Laundry Maid, the only person with Gaelic in the family she serves.
There is also a visitor called William A Peterkin whose occupation is
given as 'Artist (Vocalist)' which is somewhat unusual.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
So, when Norman MacCaig
visited his mother's family in Scalpay it was her siblings that he
remembers and celebrates in his poems. Aunt Julia is perhaps the best
known, but Uncle Roderick clearly returned to Scalpay for we have
this wonderful poem about him which contains the lines:</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="CENTER" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Round Rhu
nan Cuideagan</div>
<div align="CENTER" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
he steered
for home, a boy's god</div>
<div align="CENTER" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
in
seaboots. He found his anchorage</div>
<div align="CENTER" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
as a bird
its nest.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poetry/poems/uncle-roderick">http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poetry/poems/uncle-roderick</a></div>
direcleithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004025854623265304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7789993312111567100.post-75060492598070526742015-10-04T17:03:00.000+01:002015-10-04T17:03:27.691+01:00The Valuation Roll of Harris in 1855 (Part 1)<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The latest release of
Valuation Rolls online provides an excellent window into Harris at a time
when people on the estate were still suffering from the after-effects of famines, forced emigrations and the fear of further clearances.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
It was being
administered by the Factor John Robertson MacDonald on behalf of the
Tutors of the 14 year-old 7<sup>th</sup> Earl of Dunmore and a
cursory glance at the <a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/harris-timeline.html" target="_blank">Harris Timeline</a>
may help provide the context within which this particular roll sits.
In this account I have used the spellings as they appear on the
original document.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The record begins in
Berneray where the whole of Borve, the cleared township occupying the
fertile machair on the west of the island, was a Sheep Farm rented to
William MacNeil for £120. The township of Rushgarry, on the other
hand, wa divided into 21 separate crofts paying rents ranging from £4
to £20 and totalling £161 12s 6d.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The islands near North
Uist in the Sound of Harris, owned by Harris following a fifty-year
long legal wrangle, we being rented for £7 7s by 'K MacDonald',
presumably the farmer Kenneth MacDonald who, in 1847, was the
Assistant Factor responsible for the debacle of the attempted
resettlement of Borve in Harris. He would later appear before the <a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/obe-harris-thursday-may-311883.html" target="_blank">Napier Commission</a>
to give his view of how Harris had been faring during his long period
of residence.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We then reach the
island of Harris itself and here there are listed seven Sheep Farms
and their tenants, plus the one on the island of Taransay:</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Hushinish – Sheep
Grazing (Alexander McRae £884 6s 11 1/2d)</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Luskintyre (Finlay
McRae £320)</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Taransay (John McDonald
£177 10s)</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Rodil (John Robertson
McDonald £160)</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Scarista Vore (Kenneth
McDonald £120)</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Marig (Widow C Morrison
£83)</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Ardvourlie (Donald
Stewart - Shepherd £80)</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Borves (Kenneth McRae
£76)</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Little Scarista (Robert
Clarke £67 4s 6d)</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Bunavin Edder
(Alexander Grant - Shepherd £47)</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
It is, I think, worth
noting that four of these men, John Robertson MacDonald ( Factor,
born Snizort, Inverness-shire) John MacDonald, Tacksman, born
Harris), Alexander McRae (Tacksman born Glenshiel, Ross-shire ) and
Robert Clark (Surgeon, from Argyll) were on the dozen-strong <a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/parochial-board-of-harris-in-1851.html" target="_blank">Parochial Board of Harris in 1851</a>
.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
One thing I am
currently unclear about is whether Luskintyre was held by Finlay
MacRae, the Minister in North Uist who happened to also be the factor John
Robertson MacDonald's brother-in- law, so if anyone can assist in
clarifying that then I would be most grateful.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Finally, we have the
Deer Forest of Harris rented by Lord Hill for £300 and Scalpay Light
House Grounds for which the Commissioners of Northern Lights were
paying £24 5s 5d annually.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Next time: Crofters &
Cottars.</div>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
direcleithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004025854623265304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7789993312111567100.post-83381088676846656182015-06-15T13:07:00.000+01:002015-06-15T13:07:45.132+01:00North Uist Weavers & Weaveresses<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I thought I would take
a wee look at the census records for those engaged in weaving in
North Uist:</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
1841 Male - 2 Female
- 21 Total - 23</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
1851 Male – 6
Female – 103 Total - 109</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
1861 Male – 2
Female - 63 Total - 65</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
1871 Male - 2 Female
- 89 Total - 91</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
1881 Male - 3 Female
– 102 Total - 105</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
1891 Male - 1 Female
- 132 Total - 133</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
1901 Male - 0 Female
- 76 Total – 76</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
What strikes me is that
the pattern in North Uist is remarkably similar to that in Harris
where weaving throughout the nineteenth century was primarily a
female occupation. My analysis for Harris can be <a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/harris-weavers-in-19th-century.html" target="_blank">read here.</a></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Incidentally, about a
quarter (26 of 103) of the women weaving in 1851 describe themselves
to be a 'Hand Loom Weaver' this number falling to 2 in 1871 and
rising to only 6 in 1881 before disappearing from the censuses
altogether.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I discussed the
recording of these 'HLW's in this <a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/hand-loom-weavers-of-harris.html" target="_blank">earlier piece.</a></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Incidentally, it is
also only in the 1891 census that we see the word 'tweed' appended to
the weaving role and, indeed, there are only 5 weavers in that year (and only
1 a decade later) who refer to their produce as 'tweed'.I think this
further emphasises that the marketing of woollen produce as 'tweed'
only starts to occur in the islands as we approach the end of the
century.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I discussed this more
fully in this piece regarding aspects of the development of the <a href="https://www.blogger.com/North%20Uist%20Weavers%20and%20Weaveresses%20%20I%20thought%20I%20would%20take%20a%20wee%20look%20at%20the%20census%20records%20for%20those%20engaged%20in%20weaving%20in%20North%20Uist.%20%201841%20Male%20-%202%20%20%20Female%20-%2021%20%20%20Total%20-%2023%20%201851%20Male%20%E2%80%93%206%20%20%20Female%20%E2%80%93%20103%20%20%20Total%20-%20109%20%201861%20Male%20%E2%80%93%202%20%20%20Female%20-%2063%20%20%20Total%20-%2065%20%201871%20Male%20-%202%20%20%20%20Female%20-%2089%20%20%20Total%20-%2091%20%201881%20Male%20-%203%20%20%20Female%20%E2%80%93%20102%20%20%20Total%20-%20105%20%201891%20Male%20-%201%20%20%20Female%20-%20132%20%20%20Total%20-%20133%20%201901%20Male%20-%200%20%20%20Female%20-%2076%20%20%20Total%20%E2%80%93%2076%20%20What%20strikes%20me%20is%20that%20the%20pattern%20in%20North%20Uist%20is%20remarkably%20similar%20to%20that%20in%20Harris%20where%20weaving%20throughout%20the%20nineteenth%20century%20was%20primarily%20a%20female%20occupation.%20My%20analysis%20for%20Harris%20can%20be%20read%20here:%20http://direcleit.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/harris-weavers-in-19th-century.html%20%20Incidentally,%20about%20a%20quarter%20(26%20of%20103)%20of%20the%20women%20weaving%20in%201851%20describe%20themselves%20to%20be%20a%20'Hand%20Loom%20Weaver'%20this%20number%20falling%20to%202%20in%201871%20and%20rising%20to%20only%206%20in%201881%20before%20disappearing%20from%20the%20censuses%20altogether.%20%20%20I%20discussed%20the%20recording%20of%20these%20'HLW's%20in%20this%20earlier%20piece%20http://direcleit.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/hand-loom-weavers-of-harris.html%20%20Incidentally,%20it%20is%20also%20only%20in%20the%201891%20census%20that%20we%20see%20the%20word%20'tweed'%20appended%20to%20the%20role%20and,%20indeed,%20there%20are%20only%205%20weavers%20in%20that%20year,%20and%20only%201%20a%20decade%20later,%20who%20refer%20to%20their%20produce%20as%20'tweed'.I%20think%20this%20further%20emphasises%20that%20the%20marketing%20of%20woollen%20produce%20as%20'tweed'%20only%20starts%20to%20occur%20in%20the%20islands%20as%20we%20approach%20the%20end%20of%20the%20century.%20%20%20I%20discussed%20this%20more%20fully%20in%20this%20piece%20regarding%20aspects%20of%20the%20development%20of%20the%20Harris%20Tweed%20industry%20in%20Harris:%20http://direcleit.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/countess-and-captains-wife.html" target="_blank">Harris Tweed industry in Harris.</a></div>
direcleithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004025854623265304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7789993312111567100.post-37492728116790092902015-05-04T18:12:00.002+01:002017-06-07T20:58:13.908+01:00Which Roderick?<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Which Roderick?</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
At 11pm on the 10
August 1867 John McKinnon took his first breaths, his cries carried on
the clear, cold air over Direcleit, Harris. John was the first-born
of Anne Kerr and her husband Alex McKinnon, who came from Scalpay
which was where the couple had lived since their wedding on 18
December 1866. The birth was registered by a cousin, Roderick Kerr of
Strond, Harris who signed the register with 'his mark', an upright
cross.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Now, there are two
possible candidates for the informant for at that time there was
Roderick Kerr, the Post Runner in Strond and also Roderick Kerr the
Fisherman in An t-Ob, which today is called Leverburgh.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I am a little confused
because a couple of years later Roderick the postie witnessed the
marriage of Roderick the fisher, but seemingly with a signature
rather than a simple cross. However, Roderick the fisher, who
certainly never learnt to write and would have had to sign the
register with a cross, wasn't a resident of Strond at the time of
John McKinnon's birth.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Which Roderick was it?
Well, the post runner was Anne's cousin and the fisherman was her
nephew, and therefore John McKinnon's cousin so, although it surprises me slightly that there's a hint here that Strond's postman couldn't write, it looks as if it could have been either of them who registered the birth of their first Scalpaich
relation!</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
More on the two
Roderick's here:</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/rodericks-story.html" target="_blank">Roderick's Story</a></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/harris-post-persons.html" target="_blank">Harris Post Persons</a></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Plus a wee snippet
giving something of a flavour of the time:</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/characteristics-of-old-church.html" target="_blank">An t-Ob in 1858</a></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Note on spellings: I have shown those used on the birth certificate in case others wish to look that document up online.</div>
direcleithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004025854623265304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7789993312111567100.post-54217431211981169812015-03-27T19:17:00.000+00:002017-01-30T23:54:53.777+00:00More on Pennylands...<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
In an <a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/my-five-penny-worth.html" target="_blank">earlier piece</a>,
I referred to a note from April 14th 1884 in the Proceedings of the
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland called 'What is a Pennyland? Or
Ancient Valuation of Land in the Scottish Isles'.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Its author was Captain
FWL Thomas and a recent exchange regarding the redoubtable Fred's
work in Harris led me to revisit his works in the online catalogue of
the National Library of Scotland.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
In 1886 volume 20 of
the Proceedings appeared including a continuation piece that was
published posthumously, Fred Thomas having died at the age of 69 on
25 October 1885 at his home, Rose Park, in Trinity, Leith.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
On page 211 of the
volume he states, giving his source as the Old Statistical Account:</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
“<i>In Harris, 1792,
the ancient and still common computation of land was a penny,
halfpenny, farthing, half-farthing, clitag, &c. </i>
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i>A tacksman might
hold 20d.—that is, an ounceland; while a small tenant or crofter
usually held a farthing land. </i>
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i>The stock or souming
for a farthing land was four milk cows, three or four horses, and as
many sheep on the common as the tenant had the luck to rear. </i>
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i>The crop might be
computed, in general at four or five bolls, and the rent was 30 or 40</i></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i>shillings, besides
personal service, rated at one day's work per week.”</i></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
In the <a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/crofters-commission-report-1895-p86-and.html" target="_blank">1895 Crofters Commission Report</a> the souming of each croft in Strond was 1 horse, 4 cows and
20 sheep which I calculated* to be 68 'sheep grazing units', or sgu.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
At the same time the
crofters in Direcleit were allowed just 4 cows and 20 sheep, or
52sgu.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
A little over a century
earlier a small tenant was allowed 4 horses, 4 cows and as many sheep
as he could rear which means well over 96sgu were deemed acceptable.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This is one of the
clearest illustrations of how the imposition of crofts held direct
from the landlord contrasted with the lot of the small tenant renting
from a tacksman.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We may note, for
comparison, across the Sound of Harris that:</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
“<i>In North Uist,
1794, the small tenants usually held a ½d. land, on which they kept
6 cows, 6 horses, and raised enough grain to keep them all the year
round.”</i></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
6
horses and 6 cows gives us 144sgu from a half-pennyland,
demonstrating once again that the lot of the small tenant was vastly
superior to that of the crofter a century later, and reinforcing the
difference whereby a crofter HAD to supplement his income in order to
survive.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
*”<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><i>The
grazing of stock shall be calculated on the footing of one cow being
equivalent to eight sheep, and one horse to two cows or sixteen
sheep.</i></span></span></span> Source: Crofters Commission
Report 1896.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Source:</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<ul class="ng-scope" ng-if="citationOptions.style != 'summon'" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;">
<li bindonce="" class="ng-binding ng-scope" ng-bind="citation" ng-repeat="citation in citations" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 20px;">THOMAS, F.W.L. 1886, "Ancient Valuation of Land in the West of Scotland: Continuation of "What is a Pennyland?"", Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Proceedings, vol. 20, pp. 200.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
direcleithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004025854623265304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7789993312111567100.post-39193265347719232452014-05-05T20:44:00.002+01:002015-11-02T20:25:49.863+00:00Quantities and Value of Commodities Exported from St Kilda, 1875<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
In the winter of 1876 a journalist,
John Sands, was stranded on the island of St Kilda.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
He had also visited the archipelago in
the previous year and wrote an account of his experiences, <i>Out of
this World; or Life in St Kilda</i>, which was published by
MacLachlan & Stewart in 1888.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
On page 59 of this book Sands provides
figures for various items produced by the St Kildans in 1875 and I
have used these to calculate the values that follow:</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Cloth: 227 yards (Of 47 inches and
thumb) at 2s 3d = £ 25 10s 9d</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Blankets: 403 at 1s 10d = £ 36
18s 10d</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Fulmar oil: 906 pints (each pint equal
to 5 pints Imperial) at 1s = 906s = £ 45 6s 0d</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Tallow: 17stones 6 pounds (each stone
containing 24 lbs.) at 6s 6d = £ 5 12s 1½d</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Black feathers: 87 stones 15 pounds
(24lb to the stone) at 6s = £ 26 5s 9d</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Grey feathers: 69 stones 19 pounds (24
lb to the stone) at 5s = £ 17 8s 11½d
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Cheese: 38 stones 6 pounds (24 lb to
the stone) at 6s = £ 11 9s 6d</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Fish: 1080 “marketable” at 7d each
= 7560d = 630s = £ 31 10s 0d</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Total £200 1s
11d </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
These goods were produced by the
seventy-five souls living in St Kilda in 1875, giving a per capita
income of £2 13s 6d. which we may equate to about £1,650 today.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
There were 18 households recorded in
the 1871 census, suggesting an average household income of £11 2s
2d, or about £6,870 in today's money.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Whilst not a vast sum of money, it is
nevertheless indicative of the degree to which the people of St Kilda
were participating in the wider economy at this time, and also of the
prodigious quantities of birds that they were processing. The fact
that they sold over 1000 fish in a single year is, however, perhaps
the biggest surprise?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
An extract from Sands account account
of being stranded may be read online:
<a href="http://www.widegrin.com/vicmisc/st_kilda.htm">http://www.widegrin.com/vicmisc/st_kilda.htm</a></div>
direcleithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004025854623265304noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7789993312111567100.post-13103807632418471242014-04-06T13:58:00.000+01:002014-04-06T13:58:16.389+01:00A Population Comparison<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<strong><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I
have taken figures from the 2011 Census to show the four towns in
England whose populations lie closest above (and the four closest
below) that of the Western Isles:</span></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<strong><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Farnworth
(Greater Manchester) 26,939</span></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<strong><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Haverhill
(Suffolk) 27,041</span></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<strong><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Melton
Mowbray (Leicestershire) 27,158</span></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<strong><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Northfleet
(Kent) 27,628</span></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Western
Isles 27,668</span></strong></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<strong><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Ashington
(Northumberland) 27,670</span></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<strong><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Cramlington (Northumberland) 27,682</span></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<strong><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Stratford-Upon-Avon
(Warwickshire) 27,830</span></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<strong><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Peterlee
(Durham) 27,871</span></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<strong><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
two Scottish urban areas with populations that are the closest above and below are:</span></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<strong><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Bathgate 25,701</span></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<strong><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Kirkintilloch 28,837</span></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<strong><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Incidentally,
the capacity of Cardiff FC's stadium is 27,815, and of Lord's Cricket
Ground in London, 28,000.</span></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<strong><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
population of Uist, Berneray to Eriskay, (4,900) is close to that of
Bridge of Allan.</span></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<strong><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<strong><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I hope this helps envisage one aspect of the 130-mile long archipelago of Eilean Siar.</span></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<strong><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Sources:
CnES Population Factfile, CityPopulation.de</span></span></span></strong></div>
direcleithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004025854623265304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7789993312111567100.post-13637868206153024752014-03-18T14:27:00.002+00:002017-07-17T13:50:36.577+01:00Listening For The Past<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Shima, The International Journal of Research into Island Cultures, </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Volume 5
Number 1 2011 contains an essay by Cathy Lane with links to the audio
pieces she composed as a result of the research she undertook:</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Essay: <a href="http://www.shimajournal.org/issues/v5n1/h.%20Lane%20Shima%20v5n1%20114-127.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.shimajournal.org/issues/v5n1/h.%20Lane%20Shima%20v5n1%20114-127.pdf</a></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Audio: <a href="http://www.gruenrekorder.de/?page_id=2325" target="_blank">http://www.gruenrekorder.de/?page_id=2325</a></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
“<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I
like to think of what I am trying to do as 'docu-music'...(<i>which</i>)
can be defined as works using sound materials which have recognisable
real world associations and roots...</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The intention of docu-music is
to build up a sense of meaning, history and place through sonic
association in order to relate to the world outside the composition.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Cathy's essay and accompanying compositions, 'Tweed' and 'On the Machair', provide an interesting read about (and artistic interpretation of) island culture.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
direcleithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004025854623265304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7789993312111567100.post-73621184101237437162014-03-08T20:22:00.001+00:002014-03-08T20:22:50.155+00:00HMS Shackleton/HMS Sharpshooter (1936-1965)<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">This was
the survey vessel which, in 1958 (and 1960), came to the Sound of
Harris to update the chart that had been made 100 years earlier.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The 1959
chart was published as a Revised edition of its 1859 predecessor,
which surely is testament to the extraordinary skills of <a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/admiral-henry-charles-otter-rn.html" target="_blank">Captain H. C. Otter</a> .</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">and the
crews of 19thC survey vessels, including <a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/captain-fwl-thomas-malcolm-gillies.html">Captain FWL (Fred) Thomas.</a></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">HMS Shackleton was originally commissioned as HMS Sharpshooter but was renamed in 1953 in line with her new duties engaged in hydrographic surveying. She marked five datum points in Leverburgh, Harris and Bays Loch, Berneray using three cuts, a rivet (in Leverburgh) and a bolt (in Berneray).</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">A very full account of her history can be read here: </span><a href="http://hms%20shackleton/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">HMS Shackleton</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
direcleithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004025854623265304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7789993312111567100.post-2532961291817649472014-02-27T12:41:00.000+00:002018-08-27T12:44:37.503+01:00Sir John Brown of Redhall, Fordoun (1856-1928)<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">A little
over three years ago I penned a couple of pieces regarding my
Stornowegian grandfather, John Kerr (1875-1936) and at last I am able
to fill in some of the gaps, most notably identifying who my late
father, Ian Brown Kerr, acquired his rather unusual middle name from!</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/my-grandfather.html" target="_blank">http://direcleit.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/my-grandfather.html</a></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://direcleit.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/aberdeen-fish-managers-of-1901.html" target="_blank">http://direcleit.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/aberdeen-fish-managers-of-1901.html</a></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Post
Office directories for Aberdeen reveal that in 1902/3 John Kerr was
the manager of The Steam Herring Fleet Ltd and that in 1903/4 his
role has been taken by John Brown, fish salesman, of Redhall,
Fourdon. He, in turn was replaced as manager from 1904/5 until
1910/11 by A. Robertson but another entry for John Brown provided the
Aberdeen address of 10 Marine Terrace in additional to that of
Redhall, Fordoun.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Fortunately,
the Brown family were already resident at 10 Marine Terrace at the
time of the 1901 census which show the family headed by the
Aberdonian 45 year old shipowner of steam vessels alongside his wife,
Barbara, and their four children, one of whom is the 17 year old son
John Brown who is a fishing book keeper. There are, as we might
expect, also a cook and a housemaid in residence.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The
Brown family's other residence was Redhall House in Fordoun,
Aberdeenshire and a little information about it appears at the RCAHMS
site:</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/36479/details/redhall+house" target="_blank">http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/36479/details/redhall+house</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">and it
will make an appearance later in this tale.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Before
moving forward, I should like to take a step back to the 1891 census
for then the 35 year old John Brown was a fish curer living at 9
Millburn Street. The significance of the address is that, by 1901, my
grandfather was lodging across the road at number 12</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">However
it is a series of articles that appeared in the Aberdeen Journal that
provide the information for what followed and I should explain at
this point that I have only accessed the opening sentences (shown in
italics) to each one rather than the complete articles. I have made
comments where necessary but otherwise let the articles speak for
themselves.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>12
Oct 1904: Presentation Mr John Kerr.—Last evening John Kerr, of the
Aberdeen Steam Trawling and Fishing Company, was waited upon number
of friends in the Douglas Hotel and presented with handsome aneroid
barometer, for himself, and a repeating carriage clock...</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">On the
19 October 1904 my grandparents were married so it is safe to assume
that the barometer and clock were their gifts from the Aberdeen Steam
Trawling and Fishing Company. This is, in fact the earliest reference
that I have to my grandfather's employment with that particular
business.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>1 Dec
1904: PRESENTATION TO .MR JOHN BROWN Jr.. OF REDHALL. Mr John Brown,
Jr., of Redhall, was, the occasion of his attaining his majority, met
last night the Imperial Hotel, Aberdeen, by the members of the office
staffs of the Aberdeen Steam Trawling and Fishing...</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>16
May 1906: PRESENTATION TO MISS BROWN OF REDHALL received by Mr and
Mrs Brown and family. Mr John Kerr made the presentation the 'gifts,
which consisted of a cabinet of Silver cutlery, a plate affixed to
the cabinet bearing following inscription:—Presented to Miss Brown
of Redhall the occasion of her...</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Assuming
this to be Elizabeth Brown, who was born in 1883, then this would
have been her engagement present, presumably from the Aberdeen Steam
Trawling and Fishing Company as that would explain my grandfather's
involvement. It might also have been her youngest sister. Lily's,
coming of age but I find that less likely given the nature of the
gift!</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>23
Jul 1907: PRESENTATION TO MISS BROWN OF REDHALL The directors the
Aberdeen Steam Trawling and Fishing Company, Limited—of which Mr
John Brown Redhall chairman —visited Red hall yesterday for the
purpose presenting wedding gift to Miss Brown the occasion
approaching...</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>29
Jul 1907: MARRIAGE OF MISS BROWN, REDHALL. PRETTY WEDDING AT FORDOUN.
An interesting and pretty wedding took place at Fordoun Parish Church
on Saturday afternoon, when Miss Elizabeth Brown, daughter of Mr John
Brown, of Redhall, was married William Bradley Trimmer...</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>26
Oct 1907: HONOUR TO MR JOHN KERR, ABERDEEN. DINNER AND PRESENTATION.
Mr John Kerr, chief assistant to Messrs John Brown and Son,
trawlowners and fish salesmen, Aberdeen, was entertained dinner in
the Imperial Hotel last night, and made the recipient of gift from...</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I
am presuming that my grandfather was leaving his work as Chief
Assistant to the Brown's to take up his duties with the Congested
Districts Board in Ireland.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>15
Jun 1909: John Kerr, chief superintendent of fisheries, Congested
District Board, Ireland, is visit at present to his family at
Aberdeen. Mr Kerr had run down in health, and has been granted leave
from the Board. He is disappointed being away from business this...</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I don't
know the details of my grandfather's ill health at this time, but
neither did I know that he had become the Chief Superintendent of
Fisheries for the Congested Districts Board of Ireland, my aunt's
birth certificate having omitted the significant word 'chief'!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>29
Jul 1918: OFFICERS' BIOGRAPHIES Captain John Brown, Gordon
Highlanders, only son Mr John Brown Redhall, has been killed in
action. Captain Brown was in the Aberdeen Territorial Battalion of
the Gordon Highlanders at the outbreak of war. He was partner the
firm of Messrs. John Brown & Son...</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">This
came as a shock. The 34 year old John Brown died on the 20 July 1918
and his memorial may be seen
here.<a href="http://twgpp.org/information.php?id=1854547" target="_blank">http://twgpp.org/information.php?id=1854547</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I don't
know which John Brown my grandfather had in mind when he gave my
father the middle name 'Brown', but the death of John Brown Jr in the
later stages of World War I seems to add poignancy to him having
borne the name.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>5 Jun
1920: MR BROWN OF REDHALL KNIGHTED. Public Service Recognised.
PIONEER OF THE TRAWLING INDUSTRY. The King,, on the occasion his
birthday, has conferred the honour of knighthood on Mr John Brown of
Redhall in recognition of public services not only in...</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">John
Brown becomes Sir John Brown two years after losing his only son.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>1 May
1926: SIR JOHN BROWN RETIRES. Fish Trade's G.O.M. FORTY-THREE YEARS
IN THE INDUSTRY. Sir John Brown of Redhall, the 'Grand Old Man' of
the trawlowning community of Aberdeen, yesterday went out of harness
to enjoy a well-earned retirement...</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">It was
not to be...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>30
Apr 1928: DEATH OF SIR JOHN BROWN. A Fishing Pioneer. FORTY-THREE
YEARS IN THE INDUSTRY. The death has occurred, after six months'
iliness, of Sir John Brown of Redhall, Fordoun, one of the last of
the pioneers of the trawl fishing and allied industries in
Aberdeen...</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>3 May
1928: LATE SIR JOHN BROWN. Large Body of Mourners at Funeral. The
high respect in which the late Sir John Brown of Redhall was held was
reflected in the representative character of the large body of
mourners who followed the remains from Marine Terrace, Aberdeen.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>14
Jul 1928: ABERDEEN FORTUNES Sir John Brown of Redhall, Fordoun,
Kincardineshire, and Marine Terrace, Aberdeen £107,521...</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>5 Oct
1929: NO OFFERS FOR REDHALL. The estate of Redhall, in the parishes
Fourdoun and Laurencekirk, belonging to the late Sir John Brown, was
offered for sale in the Douglas Hotel to-day, at a reduced... There
were no offers this figure...</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">A very
sad end to the story but I'm glad to have seen something of my
grandfather's relationship with the 'Grand Old Man' of Aberdeen's
trawloning industry. </span>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I
suppose it's also a wee part of the story of Stornowegian
contributions to the Scottish fishing industry, and I mustn't finish
without reminding myself that grandfather's grandfather was a
seafaring Hearach to the core!</span></div>
direcleithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02004025854623265304noreply@blogger.com1