Large, ornately framed oil painting of Hugh MacDiarmid (1846-1928), known locally as Am Baillidh Dubh / the Black Factor, for his part in evoking Tiree’s ‘land war’ in 1886. The portrait was painted by the established artist Duncan MacGregor Whyte (1866-1953) in around 1922. MacGregor Whyte built The Studio at Balevullin. For more detailed information, see our exhibition material.
Copies of the Royal Navy service record, death certificate and list of medals awarded to John Barnard Norton (Bunty) Whyte (1909-1942), son of Balephuil/Oban artists Duncan MacGregor Whyte and Mary Barnard Whyte, who was killed during an air raid on Southampton during WW2. The material includes correspondence from Navy Command to the donor.
Click here to view 2019.68.1
Information about the MacFarlanes of Balinoe and Elgin, 1858-1876, including the (1) marriage certificate for Rev James MacFarlane, Balinoe, and Isabella Farquharson, Cornaig, on Tiree in 1858, (2) death certificate for Isabella MacFarlane in Elgin in 1865, (3) 1871 Elgin census record listing James MacFarlane, (4) death certificate for James MacFarlane, 1876. Includes additional family history information emailed by the donor.
Click here to view marriage certificate; death certificates for Isabella and James
After their marriage in 1858, the MacFarlanes moved to Elgin where James took up the position of Baptist Minister. When Isabella died, aged only 34 years, she left three children: Archibald (b. ca 1860), Margaret (b. ca 1861) and Mary. In the 1871 census, Mary is living in Oban with her mother’s sister, Eliza. It is presumed that Mary stayed with the Whytes in Oban and that she is the ‘other Mary’ referred to in Duncan MacGregor Whyte’s letters to his wife Mary Bernard when he was in Australia. The Whytes were artists who built The Studio in Balephuil.
Photocopy of a tri-fold brochure from an exhibition by the Oban Art Society of works by Duncan MacGregor Whyte (1866-1953) and his wife, Mary Bernard (1870-1946), in St. Columba’s Church, Oban in September 1984. Includes biographies and lists of named works. The MacG Whytes built The Studio in Balephuil.
Photocopies of a series of around 80 long and detailed typed letters (one handwritten) from artist Duncan MacGregor Whyte to his wife, Mary Barnard, and his son, Tearlach, during his travels, from boarding the steamship ‘Caledonia’ in Nov. 1911, across Canada in 1912-13, sailing to Australia via Hawaii in 1913, and around Australia in 1913-1919. In the letters, DMcGW describes his journeys, the people he meets and the paintings he produces. He frequently refers to the Gaelic language and Tiree, where he built The Studio at Balephuil.
Two lists of artists and their works exhibited at various galleries between 1862 and 1963, including Duncan MacGregor Whyte (1866-1953), who built ‘The Studio’ at Balephuil.
Click here to view 2018.9.1
Three letters dated April/May 1899 from artist Duncan MacGregor Whyte, Glasgow, to the Duke of Argyll’s factor Hugh McDiarmid, requesting permission to build an artist’s studio (later known as The Studio) at Balephuil. From the archives at Inveraray Castle.
Click here to view 2018.3.1 26Apr1899 ; 2018.3.1 16May1899 ; 2018.3.1 17May1899
Newspaper cutting about an exhibition of paintings by Duncan MacGregor Whyte in Oban in 1984, including a photograph of his daughter-in-law, Mrs Ena MacGregor Whyte, at the exhibition. Duncan MacGregor Whyte was a prolific painter of Tiree scenes and Tiree people during the early 1900s, and built a studio at Balephuil.
Click here to view 2015.37.1
Photograph of Charles MacGregor-Whyte and wife Ena at Balephuil, ca 1970
Colour photograph of Charles (Tearlach) MacGregor-Whyte, son of the artist Duncan MacGregor-Whyte, and his wife Ena at a birthday party held at The Studio in Balephuil around 1970.
Photograph of Ena MacGregor Whyte and Meena Knapman in 1984
Colour photograph of (L-R) Ena MacGregor Whyte and Meena Knapman, Kenovay, at an exhibition of paintings by Ena`s father-in-law Duncan MacGregor-Whyte (1866-1953) of Oban/Balephuil in Oban in 1984.
