Certificate that accompanied a Defence Medal awarded to Detective Inspector Donald Archibald MacLean, Linlithgow, in 1946, for his services in the Lothian police force during WWII. Part of a large collection of items belonging to and about Donald Archibald McLean, Kenovay (1890-1981), and his family.
Click here to view 2020.1.18
Black & white photograph of three generations of MacLeans of Kenovay & Linlithgow, in 1941. (L-R) Mary, Charles, Effie, Donald, Effie, with Alister in front. Taken just before Charles, an RAF airman, went missing in action over the English Channel in November 1941. Part of a large collection of items belonging to and about Donald Archibald McLean, Kenovay (1890-1981), and his family.
National identity card belonging to Deputy Chief Constable Donald Archibald McLean, Kenovay and Linlithgow, in 1940. Part of a large collection of items belonging to and about Donald Archibald McLean, Kenovay (1890-1981), and his family.
Click here to view 2020.1.13
Large collection of photographs, letters, documents and artefacts belonging to and about Donald Archibald MacLean, Kenovay (1890-1981), and his family. The collection includes many letters to and from his son, Charles McLean, who went missing in action during WWII. Many items are catalogued individually under Accession No. 2020.1.2 and onwards.
Charles McLean letters
From the estates of Donald Archibald’s daughters, Euphemia Terris McLean and Isabella Gibson Stoddart McLean.
WWII sea mine discovered under gravel on the Sandaig shore in August 2016. Visible are the locations of the detonation horns and the hole where a time-sensitive self-destruct mechanism was installed. Hundreds of pebbles and shells are fused onto its surface. Tens of thousands of similar mines were laid around the Hebrides and the North Sea during the first and second world wars.
Five WWII bricks found on Balephetrish Beach. Made by different brick-workers: Arrowhill, Dewar, Hurlford, Holytown and AR.
Original programme for ‘Bon Voyage’ (1945), a performance by The Tireans – a drama group formed by members of RAF Tiree during WWII. Judging by the stains and cigarette burns, the programme was well handled by members of the audience, including the donor’s father, airman Joseph ‘Ray’ Stephens.
Scanned correspondence between John Brown, Manager of the Scarinish Hotel, March-July 1949, and guests George and Kathleen Morton. George Morton was one of the flight crew based at RAF Tiree with 518 Squadron – Meteorological Observers, during WWII. George brought Kathleen back to Tiree for their honeymoon in 1949. The correspondence includes a receipt for £12 and 8 shillings for one week’s room and board, plus transfers, and instructions regarding the use of ration cards.
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Compiled information about the Steamship Laristan which ran aground on rocks at Craignish, Hough, in 1942. Includes the log of the ship’s movements around the time it ran aground, an extract from a book about shipwrecks, and an extract from Home Commands’ War Diary – Casualties and Defects. The ship was also known under the names of Cherrywood and Empire Gulf.
Click here to view 2019.85.2
Black & white photograph of seaman Ralph Frederick Smith (right) who was rescued by Tiree residents when his ship, the SS Laristan, ran aground on rocks at Craignish, Hough on January 19th 1942. Ironically, having survived the wrecking of the Laristan, Ralph Smith died at sea three months later when his next ship, the Empire Dryden, was torpedoed off the USA coast. Ralph’s Seaman’s Card with details of his death can be viewed here.
