WEATHER THE CAUSE OF DISTRESS

 Poor Crops in Hebrides

SERIOUS EFFECT ON SOCIAL LIFE OF PEOPLE

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.

The memorandum concludes as follows:

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.

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.

Rough Pasture

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.

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.

The article proceeds with the following tables:

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.

Percentage Deficiencies for each Crop by Location

                    Oats    Barley/Bere    Potatoes

Skye            57%         n/a                  73%

Lewis           56%         50%                81%

Harris etc     37%        40%                57%

Overall the deficiency in 1923 was 73%, almost three-quarters of the total.

Source: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000577/19240117/100/0008

Aberdeen Press and Journal - Thursday 17 January 1924

Image © D.C.Thomson & Co. Ltd

Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD

Civil Parish of Harris - Population 1801 - 1931

 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.

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.

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.

DESTITUTION IN THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS—OBSERVATIONS

"On the 10th of March, Mr. R. Mackenlar, Chairman of the School Board of Harris, wrote to Mr. James Nicol—

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; £30 a-week would only give 2½ stones of meal (5s. worth) to each of 120 families. I am confident this is under what the last few days' experience warrants me to give.

The Rev. Donald Maclean, Established Church Manse, Harris, wrote—

I beg to bring to your notice the case of about 20 families in my parish and neighbourhood who are actually in a state of great starvation.

He had also a letter which he had received from Rev. A. Davidson, Free Manse, Harris, on the 9th of March, who wrote—

I have had occasion lately to be extensively among my people, which afforded me an opportunity of knowing their state. Some said the destitution was not greater in 1846, the year of the potato famine, than in this year. All parties agree that potato seed would be the best help that could be sent to the people. At present, there are 200 or 220 families in my district that would require help. 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. 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."

This, then, was the desperate situation in Harris in the Spring of 1883.

Examining each piece of correspondence in turn:

Mr. R. Mackenlar, Chairman of the School Board of Harris:

2½ stones, at 14lbs (pounds) to a stone, is 35lbs of meal per family per week.
Thus each family would get a daily allowance of 5lbs of meal.

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.

Rev. Donald Maclean, Established Church Manse, Harris:

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.

Rev. A. Davidson, Free Manse, Harris:

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.
Alexander Davidson was in Manish. 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.

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.

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. 

For reference, I have a couple of brief pieces on the populations of North Harris and South Harris:

http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/05/north-harris-demographics.html

http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/05/south-harris-demographics.html

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 “...confined to a certain class, and far from meeting a want that I may say extended to all parties.” is a pretty damning indictment as to the relevance of them to tackling destitution. 

They were merely working in lieu of paying rent.

There is also this report from March 1883 which I examined that helps to amplify the situation:

http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2011/05/board-of-supervision-and-destitution-in.html

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:

http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/05/obe-harris-thursday-may-311883.html

http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/05/thomas-brydone-27examined.html



Source: SCOTLAND—THE CROFTERS—DESTITUTION IN THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS.—OBSERVATIONS. HC Deb 20 March 1883 vol 277 cc949-951

The Highland Clachan Fair – Quaint and Attractive Exhibition

 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 60 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, because 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.)

Source: Inverness Courier – Friday 28 September 1906.

Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

The above is an extract from the address given by the 7^th 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 scenery’ (italics added), held in the Market Hall (presumably in Inverness?) for just three days.

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.

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).

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 ‘homespun industry single-handed’?

This is where we reach the irritation that is clear in this speech, the fact 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. 

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.

Less than a year after he spoke these words Charles Adolphus Murray died on 27 August 1907at the age of 66.

'Map of Harris - The Property of the Right Honourable The Earl of Dunmore - 1871'

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.

 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.

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).

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'. 

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'.

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.

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.

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.

NB - The image is copyright National Records of Scotland and has been used in accordance with their terms and conditions as per https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/content/copyright

HARRIS NEWS NOTES - Highland News - Saturday 07 August 1897

 

(Highland News - Saturday 07 August 1897 -Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED)

This edition of the Highland News included a section with several snippets of news from Harris (transcribed below in italics) to which I have appended some observations together with links to further reading:

HARRIS NEWS NOTES.

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.

Ah, “a little too dry and warm”, but then a century-and-a-quarter ago the whole island would have been swaying with oats and barley, glad to slake their thirst on those 'recent showers'.

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.

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.

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 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 here.

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.

A hundred years prior to this, Harris cattle ,of which more may be read here , were being taken by drovers on the long journey south.

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.

A reminder that Tarbert was never to be developed along the lines envisaged by John Knox in the 18thC, and that Captain MacLeod’s plans for Rodel were cut short. 

I believe Knox also penned this interesting account of the interior of a house in Tarbert.

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.

Interesting that tourism was already noteworthy at this time, and it may well have been some of the yachtsmen recorded here who were crewing some of the visiting vessels.

Records of such visits by the “Dunara”, serendipitously caught during the censuses of 1881-1901, are described in each of these pieces:

http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/03/ss-dunara-castle.html

http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/03/ss-dunara-casle-1891.html

http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/03/ss-dunara-castle-1901-port-tarbert.html

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 like the comparison with meteorological events ‘in America’ as a means of emphasising the scale, and scarcity, of such a storm.

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.

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 Sir Edward Scott's purchase of North Harris when the original estate of Harris was divided in 1867 cannot be overstated.

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.

Contempt, Sympathy and Romance - Krisztina Fenyo

I have been intending to write about Krisztina Fenyo’s book, Contempt, Sympathy and Romance, for several years and, in particular, to focus upon one particular nugget that it contains.

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.

However, it is a letter* written by Sir Charles Trevelyan in 1852 upon which I intend to focus, a letter in which he:

“contemplated with satisfaction...the prospects of flights of Germans settling here in increasing number – an orderly, moral, industrious and frugal people, less foreign to us than the Irish or Scottish Celt, a congenial element which will readily assimilate with our body politic.” (Italics as in the quote in the book).

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!

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.

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. 

I highly recommend reading Contempt, Sympathy and Romance and will end with these closing words from the book:

“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.”

*Source: National Records of Scotland: HD4/2 Letterbook of HIES (2)

Trevelyan to Commissary-General Miller, 30 June 1852

**Sir John McNeill:

http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2011/02/some-notes-on-selection-from-report-to.html

http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2011/02/friday-4th-april-1851-sir-john-mcneill.html

Olaf the Black and North Uist

Óláfr Guðrøðarson, perhaps better-known as Olaf the Black, was a 13th century sea-king

who ruled the Isle of Man and, at least, parts of the Hebrides. He was a younger son of Guðrøðr Óláfsson, King of the Isles, King of Dublin, and his wife Finnguala, a grandaughter of Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn, High King of Ireland, King of Cenél nEógain.

Uist in the Sagas

“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.”

“In 1202 King Olaf was residing at ‘Sandey’, in the Sudreys which Captain Thomas identifies as being 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.”

(Source: North Uist, Erskine Beveridge, 1911, p20-21)

According to the saga of the celebrated chief and physician, Hrafn Sveinbiarnson c1166-1213 (as cited in A.W. Moore’s 1900 publication A History of the Isle of Man), Hrafn “and 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, and were compelled by the former to pay a tax, that Reginald had assigned the Hebrides to Olaf.” 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 interpretation regarding the location of Sandey that Beveridge referred to in his book.

(Source: http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/fulltext/hist1900/ch14.htm)

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 Cill Chaluim Cille (Kilcolmkill) in the vicinity of the burial ground at Clachan Sands and near to Tobar Chaluim Cille , the well of St Columba’s Chapel.

(See also - https://saintsplaces.gla.ac.uk/place.php?id=1321445695 )

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 the Black 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^th and 13^th centuries.

(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_MacNeacail#Tradition )

Erskine Beveridge also notes that nearby Loch Amhlasariagh derives its name from this period:

“Loch Aulisary; Norse, from Olafs-erg or Olaf’s shileling” (Source: p105, as previously)

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.

Beveridge remarks that:

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)

Is this, perhaps, a further link to Olaf and the bishop (possibly Michael) cited in the saga?

We shall never know for sure but it is tantalising to think that more than 800 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.

Eureka - 59781

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.

The Eureka 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.

Malcolm and Ewen Campbell appear to have been joint owners of the Eureka 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.

A week before her arrival in Dundee, on 20^th August 1872, the Eureka had collided near Elsinore with another vessel, the Mercurius 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^th September the Eureka was being towed into Yarmouth having lost her boat and sails when she struck the bar and began taking on water.*

Sandwiched in between these unfortunate accidents were the tragic deaths from smallpox of the brothers Angus and Neil Kerr on the 11th and 12^th of September.

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.

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.

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.

Sources:

Eureka registration Prince Edward Island: http://www.islandregister.com/1870newvessels.html
Eureka Lloyd’s Shipping Register 1871-72 p197: http://www.archive.org/stream/lloydsregisters32unkngoog#page/n4/mode/2up
Ewen Campbell on Lloyd’s Captains List p19: http://www.history.ac.uk/gh/capsC.pdf
Euphemia, Eureka and Anna Dhubh: http://www.isleofharris.com/stories/euphemia-eureka-anna-dubh/

With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive (www.BritishNewspaperArchive.co.uk) the British Library Board

The Story of Three Harris Seamen

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.

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.

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, Alexander John Kerr , followed his father’s calling to the sea.

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 Crest in the Horseshoe Sound, Kerrera on the 15^th of December 1898 at the age of 76. His Nationality was recorded as ‘Harris’!

Angus Kerr spent several years as a fisherman according to te censuses but on the 11^th 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.

Neil Kerr is recorded in the 1871 census as an Able Seaman aboard the Euphemia Campbell in Moray but just seventeen months later, on the 12^th of September 1872, he too died from smallpox in the Royal Infirmary Dundee. He was 24 and single.

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 Catherine a dozen years before that.

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.

I believe Angus and Neil’s deaths were mentioned in the Dundee Courier of Friday 13^th 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:

Source: the Dundee Courier & Argus, Friday 13th September 1872.
Newspaper Image © The British Library Board. All rights reserved. With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive (www.BritishNewspaperArchive.co.uk).

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?

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.

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!

Eilean Beag Donn A' Chuain

There is a recording on Tobar an Dualchais 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.

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.

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:

Do làmh, a charaid, gu Eilean a’ chuain,
‘S a h-eallach cho cruaidh is trom.
Tha ‘m bàs le cabhaig a’ sgathadh ‘s a’ buain
Gun duine nì suas a call.
Tha ‘n òigridh sgoinneil a sheòlas na caoil
An àite nan laoch a bh’ ann,
Gun bhonaid, gun bhròig, a’ siubhal nan raon
An Eilean an Fhraoich ud thall.

Your help, my friend, to the Island of Lewis
Since its burden is so difficult to bear
Death is reaping its terrible toll
With no one to make up the loss
The upstanding youth who sail the straits
Instead of the warriors who once were there
Are without clothing or shoes, traversing the moors
In the distant Island of Heather

Norman MacCaig's Island Family

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.

In an earlier piece 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:

William MacLeod, 35, Fisherman, Head, b. Isle of Pabbay

Effie MacLeod, 26, Wife, b. Scalpay

Julia MacLeod, 6, b. Scalpay

John MacLeod, 5,b. Scalpay

Flora MacLeod, 1, b. Scalpay

Chirsty MacLeod, 2months, b. Scalpay

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.

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.

At the time of the 1881 Census William and Euphemia's household comprised:

William MacLeod, 46, Fisherman, Head, b. Harris

Euphemia MacLeod, 37, Wife, b. Lochs, Ross & cromarty

John MacLeod, 15, Fisherman, Son, b. Harris

Flora MacLeod, 11, Daughter, Scholar, b. Harris

Norman MacLeod, 8, Son, Scholar, b. Harris

Roderick MacLeod, 6, Son, Scholar, b. Harris

Johanna MacLeod, 3, Daughter, b. Harris

James MacLeod, 1, Son, b. Harris

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

Round Rhu nan Cuideagan

he steered for home, a boy's god

in seaboots. He found his anchorage

as a bird its nest.

http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poetry/poems/uncle-roderick

The Valuation Roll of Harris in 1855 (Part 1)

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.

It was being administered by the Factor John Robertson MacDonald on behalf of the Tutors of the 14 year-old 7^th Earl of Dunmore and a cursory glance at the Harris Timeline 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.

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.

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 Napier Commission to give his view of how Harris had been faring during his long period of residence.

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:

Hushinish – Sheep Grazing (Alexander McRae £884 6s 11 1/2d)

Luskintyre (Finlay McRae £320)

Taransay (John McDonald £177 10s)

Rodil (John Robertson McDonald £160)

Scarista Vore (Kenneth McDonald £120)

Marig (Widow C Morrison £83)

Ardvourlie (Donald Stewart - Shepherd £80)

Borves (Kenneth McRae £76)

Little Scarista (Robert Clarke £67 4s 6d)

Bunavin Edder (Alexander Grant - Shepherd £47)

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 Parochial Board of Harris in 1851 .

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.

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.

Next time: Crofters & Cottars.