Diigo Outer Hebrides Research Group

This page on the CEUig (Uig Historical Society) site: http://www.ceuig.com/links/more-links explains what the (FREE) Outer Hebrides research group on Diigo is and how you can access it and (preferably!) join us.

There are currently over 180 links to sites of interest and Diigo allows you to conduct searches, either by entering your own words or by selecting from the listed tags.

Harris Tweed Origins from the Angus Macleod Archive

In his piece on The Origins of Harris Tweed.pdf , Angus Macleod gives a list of 'philanthropic persons and agencies' that had been instrumental in the development of the Harris Tweed industry:

1. Lord and Lady Dunmore of Harris

2. Mrs Thomas, an Edinburgh woman who had a small depot for the sale of Harris and

knitted goods in Edinburgh, at least as early as 1888. She moved to London at the end

of the century and continued her activities there.

3. Lady Gordon Cathcart Proprietress of Uist.

4. Mrs Mary Stewart Mackenzie of Seaforth

5. Millicent – Duchess of Sutherland

6. Mrs Jessie Platt of Eishken

7. Scottish Home Industries Association

8. Highland Home Industries

9. The Crofters’ Agency

I have already gone into some detail regarding the parts played by 1,2, 5, 7 & 8 in this regard, but have not yet examined 3, 4, 6 & 9.

3 Lady Gordon Cathcart :

This page from Undiscovered Scotland does not paint a particularly philanthropic picture of the Lady and I can find no other references to her as having played any role regarding Harris Tweed. her inclusion in Macleod's list remains something of a mystery.

4 Mary Stewart Mackenzie of Seaforth:

This is the lady of Brahan Castle, Conon Bridge, Ross-shire and she it was who established 9) The Crofter's Agency, in what may, according to Janet Hunter in 'The Islanders and the Orb', have been a split between her and 5) Millicent -Duchess of Sutherland's Scottish Home Industries Association. By the late 1920s, Mary was Chairman of the Harris Tweed Association and it wasn't until 60 years after her death in 1933 that a single other woman would have a place in that Association! The Crofter's Agency and the role played within it by Mary is fully described in 'The Islanders and the Orb'.

6 Mrs Jessie Platt of Eishken:

Elsewhere in his archives Angus Macleod gives us this:

Jessie Platt of Eishken was among a number of people and philanthropic agencies that encourage the Harris Tweed Industry. Mrs Platt provided an outlet for a substantial quantity of the Crofter Tweed that was produced in Lochs and we have seen an old note book in Eishken Lodge giving details of purchased of local crofter cloth for which she paid 3/6 a yd (17½) in 1889. That was a very high price at that time. In the late 1920s crofter tweed was selling so low as 2/6 or 12½ p and on occasion for much less.

Evidence of the esteem in which the people of Lochs held the Platt’s of Eishken is to be found in the

illuminated address that was formulated by Mr Kerr the Head teacher of Planasker School Marvig on behalf of the people on the occasion of the Platt’s Silver Wedding Anniversary on 15/8/01, part of which reads:-

‘Nor can we allow this occasion to pass without acknowledging our deep indebtedness to you for the great interest you shave shown in our local tweed industry’.

The people of Park and district always referred to Jessie Platt as ‘Lady Platt’ or the ‘Lady’ thus paying her the compliment of conferring on her an unofficial title, which many thought was hers by right.

9 The Crofter's Agency: See 4) above

Concentrating upon the seven individuals that are mentioned (rather than the three institutions that some of them were involved with) it strikes me that it was unquestionably 'Mrs Thomas' who links the first stirrings of the industry to its much later development into a global phenomenom. Which is why I believe that this Solicitor's daughter from Deptford has a special place amongst those who, to quote from the extensive extract below from another of Angus Macleod's writings on the subject, 'deserve better than to be forgotten'...

The following are some of the people who left their mark on the Hebrides and who deserve better than to be forgotten. In fact every Hebridean should be well versed in the history of the Harris Tweed industry, as it is very clear that to a very great extent, the continued existence of these Islands depend on the prosperity of the Harris Tweed industry.

The Dunmore family who were the proprietors of Harris about the time of the 1846 famine (failure of the potato crop) were among the leading people who were largely instrumental in encouraging the establishment of a tweed industry in the Hebrides when they induced the crofters to produce a cloth suitable for a fashionable market. This cloth, of a rough home spun type, proved to be the foundation of our great Harris Tweed industry as we know it today, and we all owe a deep debt of gratitude to Lord and Lady Dunmore who took such an interest in the welfare of the crofters. It is also said that Lady Dunmore arranged for some girls from Harris to go to Alloa to learn to weave more intricate patterns, paying all their training expenses.

Mrs Thomas, wife of Captain Thomas of the Ordinance Survey Department, who appeared to be

resident in Harris for a time towards the end of the last century, was another lady who took a great

interest in popularising Harris Tweed in those early days.

We find the Duchess of Sutherland very active in Lewis and Harris during the last years of the 19th

century, and we are given to understand this lady had connections with ‘The Highland Home Industries’ who had a shop in Stornoway about that time.

The Platt’s of Eishken who came to Lewis about the year 1878 took a great interest in the affairs of the crofters of Park and surrounding district, and began to purchase the products of the crofters in order to help them at a time when it must have been very difficult for the crofters to earn a living. Chief among these crofter products was the local hand made tweed, and it is said much of it found its way to bazaars and institutions in the south. A notebook still in existence in Eishken lodge shows that the price paid for such tweed in 1889 was 3s/6d per yard, which must be considered a very high reward in those days, and one for which we may be sure the crofters were grateful for.

Evidence of the esteem the people of Park held the Platt’s in is to be found in the illuminated address presented by the people of Park to Mr and Mrs Platt on the occasion of their silver wedding anniversary on 15th August 1901. This address can still be seen at Eishken lodge, and part of it reads: - ‘Nor can we allow this occasion to pass without acknowledging our deep indebtedness to you for the great interest you have shown in our local tweed industry.’

Evidence of the warm affection the people of Park held Mrs Platt in is the fact that locally the people conferred on her the title ‘Lady Platt’ and for very many years we always assumed the title was hers by right.

It is generally acknowledged that so far as Lewis is concerned Park was the first district to take up the industry seriously, and from there it spread to Uig and so forth. The writer can trace the industry in Park back to the 1880s, and my own mother made Harris Tweed at Calbost on her own loom about 1890 with the small loom (beart bheag), which was the only loom then in existence. It was operated by means of throwing the shuttle (which was a sheep’s shin bone) with the one hand and catching it with the other, and firing it back through the ‘alt’.

Note: Angus Macleod's archive is one of the treasure-troves of Hebridean history and all the better for its somewhat higgledy-piggledy organisation. There are at least three pieces that I can find in which he returns to the subject of the origins and history of Harris Tweed, clearly adding new information as it became available but never, sadly, producing the wonderful book that his notes would no doubt have led to.

It is with great trepidation that I offer any form of correction to his work, but I am certain that Mrs Thomas was the wife of Captain Thomas the maritime surveyor who was not employed by the Ordnance Survey although the two branches of surveying worked closely together, as alluded to in an earlier piece of mine on Captain Otter that includes his whereabouts in 1851.

A Study of Turf: Historic Rural Settlements in Scotland and Iceland

This recent study http://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/E135075240900017X  suggests that the familiar blackhouse wall 'sandwich' of two parallel stone walls infilled with earth and topped with turf was actually developed as a direct result of the 1879 Lewis estate regulations.

The implication is that Turf was the predominant building material in the earliest times, turf being ideally suited for the purpose in this environment, and that centuries of adaptation and innovation involving combinations of turf and stone ensued until the development of the 'traditional' island blackhouse in the late 19thC.

Thus the form appears to have arisen following centuries of continuity and change based upon methods used in the days of the Norse but amended in ways reflecting the unique circumstances pertaining in the isles.

It is a fascinating study and my attempt at this brief synopsis is a poor substitute to reading the account in full.

Stornoway's Chemists

In 1891 and 1901 we find these Chemists in the town (there are none in the previous censuses):

1891
Thomas C Henderson, 25, Chemist & Druggist, 78 Keith St, b. Alyth, Perth
Edward Tucker, 47, Manufacturing Chemist, 23 Keith St, b. Ireland
John C Smith, 24, Student of Practical Chemistry, 44 Francis St, b. Stornoway
Robert Mcaulay, 16, Chemist's Assistant, 8 James St, b. Stornoway
Alex D Morison, 15, Chemist's Apprentice, 21 Cromwell St, b. Stornoway
Roderick Ross, 14, Chemist, Apprentice, 3 Newton St, b. Stornoway

1901
Roderick Smith, 28, Chemist & Druggist, 33 Newton St, b. Stornoway
Charles Hunter, 30, Chemist, 50 Kenneth St, b. Borham, Banffshire
William John Tolmie, 22, Chemist, No 5 Frances St, b. Inverness, Inverness-shire
Angus Macrae, 19, Chemist, 10 New St, b. Stornoway
Alexander D Macleod, 16, Message Boy (Chemist), 9 Plantation St, b. Stornoway

It is difficult to untangle precisely which type of Chemist some of these men (and boys!) were. The terms Pharmacist, Druggist and Chemist (although having precise definitions) have all been applied in different places and at different times to those retail  premises that provide a wide range of commodities from hand cream to prescription drugs. However, there are clues such as this recent photograph of Tolmie's shop in Cromwell Street. We can see the word 'Chemist' on the left and what appears to be 'Drugs', or 'Druggist', on the right. This is an example of a 'Chemist' in the retail sense, rather than a 'Manufacturing Chemist' such as our Edward Tucker of 1891. Thus we cannot be sure whether the assistants and apprentices of 1891 were working in manufacture or in retail, or even both, but these 11 records are significant in recording an aspect of social change (Druggist becoming Chemist) as well as developments in science education (Practical Chemistry's recognition as a subject in its own right) during the closing quarter of the 19thC.

Ref: Science Educationin 19thC Scotland -  http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/haynin/haynin0506.htm

Stornoway's Druggists

The term 'Pharmacist' is not found in the 1841-1901 censuses but the alternative 'Druggist' is:

1851
Alexander Macpherson, 33, Grocer & Druggist, Bayhead St, b. Gairloch, Ross
Neil Clapperton, 18, Druggist Assistant, Bayhead St, b. Oban, Argleshire

1861
Alexander Mcpherson, 43, Druggist, 7 Francis St, b. Gairloch

1871
Alexander Mcpherson, 53, Druggist & Bookseller, 33, Kenneth St, b. Gairloch
Donald Mcaulay, 18, Shopman (Druggist & Bookseller), Apprentice, b. Uig, Ross-shire
Alexander Mckenzie, 14, Shopman (Druggist & Bookseller), Apprentice, b, Ardnamurchan, Argyleshire

1881
Alexander McPherson, 63, Druggist & Book Seller, 48, Point St, b. Gairloch
Donald Murray, 18, Druggist Salesman, Inaclete No 20, b. Stornoway

1891
Thomas C Henderson, 25, Chemist & Druggist, 78, Keith St, b. Alyth, Perth

1901
Roderick Smith, 28, Chemist & Druggist, 33 Newton St, b. Stornoway

We can see that Alexander Macpherson was the town's 'Druggist' for at least the 30-year period of 1851-1881, from the making of the first synthetic dye, 'Perkin's Mauve', to Mendeleev's brilliant innovation of the Periodic Table and beyond. The field of medicine was making giant strides in understanding and combating disease and the 'Druggist' played a significant role in improving public health, preparing many of the lotions and potions in his shop using a huge variety of ingredients ranging from herbs collected from the wild to refined chemicals. It must have been an exciting (perhaps one might even say 'intoxicating'?) time to be performing this role. The pace of change would have been even greater during the time of his two successors.

Note: The end of the 19thC also sees the first Chemists in Stornoway since the days of the Lewis Chemical Works (1852-1874) and I shall endeavour to examine them in my next piece.

Booksellers of Stornoway

Here are the records from the 1841-1901 censuses whose occupation suggests that they were selling books:


1861
John Mackenzie, 27, Garrabost (Visitor), b. Stornoway

1871
Alexander Macpherson, 53, Druggist and Bookseller, 33 Kenneth St, b. Gairloch, Ross-shire
Donald Mcaulay, 18, Shopman (Druggist and Bookseller),Apprentice, b. Uig, ross-shire
Alexander Mckenzie, 14, Shopman (Druggist and Bookseller), Apprentice, b. Ardnamurchan, Argyle

1881
Alexander McPherson, 63, Druggist and Book Seller, 48, Point St, b. Gairloch

Finlay Mcleod, 44, Book Seller, b. Barvas

1891 – None found

1901
George Macleod, 14, Shop Assistant (Bookseller), 23 Scotland St, b. Stornoway
(Catherine A Mackay, 19, Saleswoman (Books), 31 Church St, b. Stornoway) Her husband, Alexander was a Shoe and Boot Maker, so I think it more-likely she was selling Boots!)

Whilst I was composing this brief list, I was reminded as to why I hadn't produced it previously:
the possibility of the woods 'Book' and 'Boot' being mistaken for one-another.

However, the lack of any 'Boot Sellers' in the records leads me to have a little bit of confidence that these people were indeed selling books. I do have rather more confidence in the records for the households of Alexander Macpherson in 1871 and 1881 for it was quite usual at the time for Druggists to sell books, stationery and similar goods.

Nevertheless, we can see that bookshops were few and far between in Stornoway even at the dawn of the twentieth century, a time when there were only another eight booksellers in the whole of Ross and Cromarty and only one in Inverness-shire outside of Inverness itself, which had fourteen. Glasgow had over one hundred.

Some Example Raw Data

Using the technique as described produced the following returns:

Loss 34,700

Loss + Minch 2,440
Loss + Stornoway 1,090
Loss + Sound of Harris 129

Loss + Coal 2,320
Loss + Coal + 19thC 1,910
Loss + Lime 237
Loss + Salt 510
Loss + Cement 50

Loss + Oats 145
Loss + Barley 141
Loss + Turnips 18
Loss + Carrots 3
Loss + Carrots + Turnips 2

Loss + Schooner 5,370
Loss + Brig 2,000
Loss + Ketch 317
Loss + Clipper 18

Loss + Minch + Coal + Schooner 17

Much care has to be taken for there are many factors including multiple recordings, the occurrence of words elsewhere on the returned page that my not be applying to the particular vessel, etc; but I think these few examples demonstrate that the technique has some potential as a research tool?

A round-about technique for discovering cargoes

If you perform a search from the Google search box (other search engines are available!) using the text...

site:canmore.rcahms.gov.uk record loss whisky

...you will be rewarded by a list of Scottish shipwrecks that include the word 'Whisky'. You should see fairly high in the list the 'Politician', the vessel who's loss inspired the book 'Whisky Galore' by Compton Mackenzie.

However, if you replace 'whisky' in the search box with 'lime', or 'coal', or 'oats', or 'barley' (or whatever cargo you wish to discover) then opening each record will provide you with a range of information that may include dates, locations, weather conditions, personnel and details of the vessel and its loss.

The diligent researcher could use this method to estimate the proportion of each type cargo that was carried (or, at least, lost!) in particular periods but, as the number of records including the word 'loss' are in the tens of thousands (although some will be duplicates), I do not recommend you trying this at home...

...but the seven records for 'cured herring', including this one , are more manageable!

Note: It probably goes without saying that similar substitutions can be made using placenames, types of vessel, or whatever takes your fancy. If you replace the word 'loss' with 'wreck', or 'earthquake', 'storm', 'gale', etc then many other aspects may be researched.

I should point out that, in some cases, these losses were not only material but also included fatalities...

A Telling-Off in Tobermory

John McDonald Master of the "Crest"
ONo 44,427, hereby declare, that the
vessel having been laid up, owing
to the death of the owner; the circumstance
escaped my memory until my attention
was called to it, by the Principal Court
Officer here.
                                 John Macdonald Master
signed and declared in
my presence at Tobermory
this 6th day of August 1896
                   John Hitchin Magistrate
                   for the Burgh of Tobermory


The above is a transcript, presented as closely as possible to the original, of a covering letter for the Crew Agreement of the 'Crest' for the first six months of 1896. She had been laid up at Tobermory for the whole of that period due to the death of her owner, Alexander McDonald of Tobermory. Other information appearing on the pages include that she was Registered at Greenock and that John McDonald was born on the Isle of Rum in 1838, making him 58 years-old at the time.
The letter appears to have been prepared beforehand and then signed and dated by the two men for the two inks are quite different and appear on the page as differentiated as they do in this transcript.

One thing that puzzles me is that I have been unable to find the Magistrate in any census records (despite looking at variations from Hitchin to Melchin, for the name is somewhat tricky to decipher!) but I have found John Macdonald in 1901when the 'Ship Master Retired' was living at 1 Argyll Terrace in Tobermory with his older sister, Mary. Twenty years earlier the pair were in Shore Street with their elderly mother, Ann, and John was unemployed at that point in time. In 1871 he appears to have been a 'Ship Joiner' living in Greenock but I am not absolutely certain that that was the same person.

Nevertheless, I quite like this little window on a past world, when a Ship Master clearly had his knuckles rapped by the authorities for failing to produce the required documentation on time. I believe that the Burgh of Tobermory were the Harbour Authorities at this time, thus explaining their involvement in this matter?

50 Years of Seafaring

"Sixty Seven years of age, he was one of the few remaining links connecting us with the time when in his youth the town of Stornoway was of considerable importance as a shipping port, and when a fine fleet of sailing ships registered here, and belonging to enterprising local owners, carried on an extensive trader with Archangel and the Baltic ports; ln those ships Mr Kerr had his first seagoing experience having, at the age of 14, joined the "Alliance" on a voyage to Archangel under Captain Macpherson. He continued in the same service under Captain John Smith, in the "Africa", and in the brig "Supply", with Captain Murdo Morrison - names of ships and men well known to all old Stornowegians.
After several years' sailing in foreign parts on the "Gleniffer" of Glasgow he joined his father, the late Mr Malcolm Kerr, in the coasting trade off the West Coast of Scotland which he continued to work on this own account after his father's death. There was no one better known than Mr Kerr in the different places of call between the Mersey and Cape Wrath, and no craft more readily recognised than the "Jessie," the "Crest", and the "Lady Louisa Kerr"; which he owned and sailed in succession..


...For some years Mr Kerr had worked on shore in the employ of Mr Murdo Maclean, shipping agent, where he was available as pilot for steamers proceeding south to Clyde, Mersey and Irish ports. His unique knowledge of the West Coast peculiarly fitted him for this service, and among mariners he had the reputation of being one of the most skilful and careful of pilots."
Selected extracts from Alexander John Kerr's obituary - Stornoway Gazette October 1922

CHRONOLOGY
1855 - b. Stornoway
1869 - Captain Macpherson – 'Alliance' to Archangel
Captain Smith – 'Africa' ('same service')
before 1874 - Captain Murdo Morrison – brig 'Supply' ('same service')
'Glennifer' of Glasgow ('foreign parts')
1876?-1897?'Jessie'
1896-1903 -'Crest' (confirmed dates)
1903?-1914? - 'Lady Louisa Kerr'
1914?-1922 – Mr Murdo Maclean

RECORDS
Captain Macpherson
1861 – Murdo Macpherson, 46, Sailor Merchant Service, 5 North Beach St, b. Stornoway
1881 – Murdoch Macpherson, 68, Retired Ship Captain, 12 North Beach St, b. Stornoway
 (Living with his sister, their niece is a doctor's daughter, the doctor being Robert Clark of Harris )

'Alliance'
1866 6th February Driven ashore near Stornoway by a gale
UNDATED Wrecked 'on the north side of Wick Bay'

Captain Smith – No obvious candidates in the censuses.

Captain Murdo Morrison
1881- Murdo Morison, 45, Seaman, 21 Scotland St, b. Stornoway
1891 – Murdo Morrison, 53, Seaman and Grocer, 24 Scotland St, b. Stornoway

'Supply'
1874 February sees her wrecked in the Solway Firth

'Glennifer'
1901 - GLENIFFER, James Watt Dock, Greenock East, Renfrewshire
Robert Macaulay, 23, Seaman, b. Harris
Built of iron in 1866 in Glasgow, this 800 ton sailing ship made no less than four trips to the St Lawrence in 1871. Alexander John Kerr sailed on her for several years 'in foreign parts', as his obituary puts it.

'Jessie' 3393 Inverness 1850 31 tons
Ports of Registry
Inverness MNL 1857
Inverness Sail 31 tons 1860 (MNL)
Stornoway Sail Sloop 1880 (MNL)
AJK 1876-1897(?) 21 years
Crew Agreements 1864, 1867-1897, some missing (MHA)
The Belfast News-Letter
Thursday, August 31st, 1876 – The Jessie, Kerr, from Stornoway
Monday, August 15th, 1881 – The Jessie, Kerr, from Stornoway
1886 - Link to photograph that includes her whilst moored in Stornoway

'Crest'
The Belfast News-Letter
Tuesday, February 16th 1897 – The Crest, Kerr, from Stornoway
Wednesday, January 25th 1899 – The Crest, Kerr, from Stornoway
1903 Wrecked off Kebock Head

'Lady Louisa Kerr' 12163 Belfast 1846 Sail 49 tons
Ports of Registry
Belfast 1857 (MNL)
Belfast Sail 48 tons 1860 (MNL)
AJK 1903(?)-1914(?) 11 years
Crew Agreements 1864-1914, only 7 years (MHA), (1863, 68/9 @ PRO NI)

Mr Murdo Maclean
1901 – Murdo Maclean, 30, Commission Merchant, Seaforth House (Scotland St), b. Uig, Ross
1901- Murdo Maclean,41, General Merchant Draper Grocer, 59 Kenneth St, b. Stornoway
1901 – Murdo Maclean, 24, Draper's Assistant, 11 Garden Road, b. Ross, Lochs, Stornoway?
No Shipping Agent found, but one of these three might, perhaps, of become one?

My previous piece Belfast News Letter contains additional newspaper records and other details including a few references to arrivals of vessels from Stornoway whose Master was 'Kerr' and therefore possibly Alexander John or his father, Malcolm.
A little more about William Grant can be read in my piece on his son, James Shaw Grant .

Note:
'MNL' refers to Mercantile Navy List, an explanation of which can be seen here.
'PRO NI' refers to the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
'MHA' refers to the Maritime History Archive

Iain mac an Tailleir's Gaelic Placenames - The 5 files

Here are the 5 PDF files for all the Gaelic placenames collected by Iain mac an Tailleir:

Gaelic placenames A-B.pdf

Gaelic placenames C-E.pdf

Gaelic placenames F-J.pdf

Gaelic placenames K-O.pdf

Gaelic placenames P-Z.pdf

I hope that having all 5 files in one uncluttered place is of use to someone!

'Jessie' in Stornoway in 1886?

Yesterday I contacted the Ballast Trust regarding a photograph taken by the late Dan McDonald that appears on page 33 of Robert Simper's excellent book, 'Scottish Sail - A Forgotten Era', ISBN 071536703X. They located the image, a glass plate negative, and have added it to their Flickr site as can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ballasttrust/4909702307/

The description in the book tells us that the two vessels in the centre are the Advance and Jessie of Stornoway and that the Jessie, of 30 tons, was built at Fraserburgh in 1850 whilst the Advance was built in 1884. Given this information, the date on the image, which appears to read '1866', would have to be 1886?

My previous research, as seen here , places the Jessie in my family's hands from at least 1876 and the fact that her Crew Agreements cease in 1897, the year that they bought the Crest, leads me to believe that she was theirs for the whole of the period 1876-1897. Corroboration is to be found in this obituary from the Stornoway Gazette of 1922.

I am absolutely delighted to be able to share with you an evocative image (albeit somewhat indistinct!) of one of my ancestors' ships taken at the time that they were sailing her in plying the coastal trade of the West coast of Scotland.

Note: The fishing fleet is a mixture typical of the time, including vessels from both the East coast and the Clyde.

Dairy Maids of Harris

Here are the Dairy Maids on 'mainland' Harris from 1841-1901

1841
SOUTH
Ann Mcpherson, 30, Rodel, b. Inverness

1851
NORTH
Flora Mcdonald, 25, Urgha, b. Harris
WEST
Marion Mackinnon, 46, Lukentyre, b. Harris
Effy Mackinnon, 43, Luskentyre, b. Harris
Christina Mcleod, 21, Luskentyre, b. Harris
Marion Mcdiarmid, 25, Nishishee, b. Harris
Cath Macdonald, 27, Nisshishee, b. North Uist
Cathi Maclennon, 27, Nissishee, b. Lochalsh, Ross-shire
EAST
Catherine Morrison, 28, Kyles Stockinish, b. Uig, Ross-shire
Ann Mclellan, 80, Pauper (Dairymaid), b. Harris
SOUTH
Mary Ross, 26, Rodel, b. Harris

1861
NORTH
Ann Mcdonald 20, Marvig, b. Harris
WEST
Effie Mckinnon, 57, Seilibost, b. Harris
Ann Mackinnon, 24, Big Borve, b. Harris
Catherine Mckennon, 18, Big Borve, b. Harris
Christina Morrison, 24, Glebe, b. Harris
SOUTH
Marion Maccuish, 20, Kyles (ED 4), b.?
Janet Mclennan, 30, Rodel, b. Harris

1871
NORTH
Rachel Mcleod, 43, (ED 16), b. Harris
WEST
Effy Mckinnon, ?, Main Road of Harris, b. Harris
SOUTH
Mary Macleod, 24, Rodel, b. Harris
Ann Macrae, 32, (ED 4), b. Glenelg, Inverness
(Anne Morrison, 24, Visitor (ED 4), b. Harris)

1881
NORTH
Margaret Mcleod, 23, Free Church Manse No 20, b. Harris
WEST
Ann Macdonald, 52, Nisebost, b. Lochalsh, ross-shire
Mary Mackenzie, 27, Big Borve, b. Berneray, Harris
Marion Mackinnon, 25, Big Borve, b. Harris
SOUTH
Isabella Robertson, 25, Kyles House, b. Duthil, Inverness-shire

1891
WEST
Peggy Mcinnes, 21, Hamlets Scaristaveg, b. Harris
Marion Mackinnon, 27, Hamlets Scaristavore, b. Amhuinnsuidh, Harris
Williamina Macdonald, 28, Hamlets Glebe (ED 6), b. North Uist
Jessie Morrison 40, ?? (ED 6), b. Harris

1901 None on 'mainland' Harris

An interesting set of records that are quite informative. The apparently lone Dairy Maid of 1841 is an artifice of that particular census and I am sure that each of the established farms at that time would have had at least one woman whose role was that of the Dairy Maid. By the following decade we can see that the fertile farms of the West required no less than six ladies performing this task (seven, if we include the one living in Kyles Stockinish who would probably have been engaged by the farm of Luskentyre) with one each at Urgha in the North and Rodel in the South.

The pattern in later years probably reflects the trend away from cattle towards sheep until the only Dairy Maids in the area by 1901 are to be found on the surrounding isles. Rodel was joined by the farm at Kyles for a while but it appears that first Rodel, then Kyles, ceased to need a Dairy Maid and they disappeared from the landscape.

I must mention the Mckinnon sisters one of whom, Effy, appears to have been a Dairy Maid for at least the years 1851-1871 by which time she would have been well into her 60s.

That's a long time to be performing the far from simple, effortless or safe duties of a Dairy Maid!

A couple of articles on songs sung by these women can be read here:
http://carmichaelwatson.blogspot.com/2010/08/hebridean-hymns-and-popular-lore-iv.html
http://carmichaelwatson.blogspot.com/2010/08/hebridean-hymns-and-popular-lore-iii.html