Family tree for Hugh Clark and his wife Christina MacLean and four photographs of gravestones in Tiverton cemetery, Ontario.
Family tree for Hugh Clark (c.1783-1851) and his wife Christina MacLean (c.1794-1876) and four photographs of family gravestones in Tiverton cemetery, Ontario.
Click here to view 2000.59.13
Photocopied newspaper article about Malcolm Campbell, Balemartine, who survived four sinkings in the two World Wars.
Newspaper article ‘Survived Four Sinkings in Two Wars’ published in the Campeltown Courier, 8th May, 1943. The story of Malcolm Campbell, a ship`s carpenter from Tiree, whose ship was sunk twice in World War I and who was torpedoed twice in four months during World War II.
Click here to view 1999.172.1
Photocopied leaflet `Tiree Food Producers Sent To Prison`.
Leaflet produced by the Highland Land League about eight Tiree men who were sent to prison in 1918 for occupying land in Balephetrish leased by Thomas Barr.
Heylipol Church in 1900
Transcription of a letter from the Rev. Dugald MacLean to the Duke of Argyll about the condition of Heylipol Church in 1900.
Courtesy of His Grace the Duke of Argyll
In medieval times Tiree was divided in two parishes, Kirkapol in the east under the Bishop of the Isles and Soroby in the west under the Abbot of Iona. In 1618 the two parishes were united with Coll. In 1865 Coll was severed from Tiree and ten years later Soroby was severed from Kirkapol.
A church at Heylipol had been built in 1839 to serve the west of the island where the greater part of the population lived. In this letter of 1900, the Rev. Dugald MacLean describes the dangerous and dilapidated state of the church despite many repairs carried out over the previous twenty years.
A new church designed by William Mackenzie was erected on the site in 1902. Of cruciform Gothic design with a bell tower over the entrance porch and large enough to accommodate 365 worshippers, the church is still in current use.
Hardback book `Na Baird Thirisdeach / The Tiree Bards` edited by Rev. Hector Cameron in 1932. Various names and addresses are handwritten on the inside covers, including “Gifted by Mr Roddy MacEwan, Laxay, Lochs, Isle of Lewis; Joan MacDonald, Glasgow, 1949; Calum Alick MacDonald, Stornoway; Mina Martin, Glasgow 1949; Pte F MacLeod; George MacDonald, Glasgow; Iain MacDonald, Glasgow; Cathie MacDonald, Glasgow; Hector MacDonald, Stornoway.
There are two further copies of this title, one of which has ‘Mrs Kate MacLean, Nelson Ward. L.I.D.G H’ & ‘Kate McLean’ handwritten inside the front cover.
One of the poems, ‘Marbh-rann – An Nochd ’s Luaineach mo Chadal‘, on page 80 of the book, is transcribed below. It is a Gaelic elegy to Mrs Julian Noble composed by John MacLean, Bàrd Thighearna Cholla, in 1843.
This elegy, written in Nova Scotia by John MacLean (Iain Mac Ailein) of Caoles, was considered by Rev. Hector Cameron, the editor of ‘Na Bàird Thirisdeach’, as ‘perhaps the finest in the Gaelic language’.
It was composed in honour of Mrs Julian Noble, the daughter of Colin MacNiven of Greenhill, at the instigation of her bereaved husband, an eminent physician in Cape Breton. Julian, who died leaving a young family, was described as ‘comely in person and beautiful in character’.
The inscription on her tombstone in Whycocomagh reads: ‘Sacred to the memory of the lamented Julian Noble, wife of John Noble, surgeon. She was born in Tiree, Argyllshire, Scotland, and died 1st June, 1843, in the 38th year of her age.’
John Ramsay’s letter about Tiree schools
Transcription of John Ramsay’s letter to the 8th Duke of Argyll about Tiree schools in 1863.
Courtesy of His Grace the Duke of Argyll
In 1863, John Ramsay, MP for Falkirk Burghs, reported on the state of Tiree schools to the Royal Commission on Education in Scotland chaired by the 8th Duke of Argyll. At the time of the report, there were eight schools on Tiree, of which only three made a good impression.
In this private letter to the Duke, Ramsay made several suggestions on how to improve the quality of the teaching on the island by removing unsatisfactory teachers, offering inducements for better pupil attendance and school inspections by the factor, Lachlan MacQuarie.
Rather than appealing to the Duke’s altruism, Ramsay stressed ‘the pecuniary value of education to the proprietor of a Highland estate’.
Hardback book `Superstitions of the Highlands & Islands of Scotland` by John Gregorson Campbell. The following extract is a transcription from the book.
Fairy dogs (‘Cu sith’)
The fairies often kept hounds as watchdogs, which sometimes accompanied fairy women on their expeditions or roamed about alone, making their lairs in the clefts of rocks.
Rev. John Gregorson Campbell described these dogs as being ‘as large as a two-year-old stirk’ with, in some cases, ‘a long tail rolled up in a coil on its back…Its immense footmarks [were] as large as the spread of a human hand…’ Some said its motion was silent; others that it made a noise like a galloping horse.
‘There is a considerable interval between each bark, and at the third (it only barks thrice) the terror-struck hearer is overtaken and destroyed, unless he has by that time reached a place of safety.’
Schools in Tyree 1863
Transcription of John Ramsay’s report on Tiree schools in 1863.
Courtesy of His Grace the Duke of Argyll
In 1863, John Ramsay, MP for Falkirk Burghs, reported on the state of Tiree schools to the Royal Commission on Education in Scotland chaired by the 8th Duke of Argyll. Ramsay assessed the condition of the buildings, the quality of the teaching, the progress of the scholars and their attendance at school.
At the time of the report, there were eight schools on Tiree, two supported by the Church of Scotland, four by the Free Church Ladies Society and one each by the General Assembly and the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge. Only three made a good impression.
The recommendations of the Argyll Commission were put into effect by the Education Act of 1872. Primary education was made compulsory for children aged five to thirteen and the control of schools placed in the hands of popularly elected school boards.
Letter of 1847 from the Secretary of the Board of Fisheries
Transcription of a letter of 1847 from the Secretary of the Board of Fisheries to the Marquis of Lorne.
Courtesy of His Grace the Duke of Argyll
The failure of the potato crop in 1846 led to widespread food shortages in the Highlands and Islands. In an attempt to provide work for people suffering from destitution, the government decided to improve ‘certain creeks on the west coast of Scotland’.
The Board of Fisheries sent an inspection team to Tiree and neighbouring islands to examine the state of the fishing boats, lines and piers. They concluded a total of £2,199 was needed to develop the fishing industry on Tiree, Mull and Iona and that the Duke of Argyll should pay half the costs.
The Marquis of Lorne argued against this proposal with some justification as the estate had tried for many years to encourage islanders to combine crofting and fishing with little success. However, in 1847 the Duke agreed to pay £690 towards building four new piers at Balemartine, Hynish, Milton and at the Green in Kilmoluaig.
Specification of the fishing boat ‘Duchess of Argyll’
Transcription of a letter of 1860 from Malcolm Liston of Granton regarding the specifications of the fishing boat ‘Duchess of Argyll’.
Courtesy of His Grace the Duke of Argyll
In 1860 the 8th Duke of Argyll commissioned Malcolm Liston, a boat builder in Granton, to build a ‘first class fishing boat’ costing £130. Named the ‘Duchess of Argyll’, the boat was delivered to Tiree and let out to local fisherman.
Much larger than the average Tiree boat of 22 feet, the ‘Duchess’ was the latest in a series of attempts to encourage local fishermen who, since the rich fishing banks offshore were discovered in the 18th century, had been unable to compete with the bigger boats and superior equipment of crews from the north-east and other islands.
The ‘Duchess’ lasted only ten years. Because of her size, she was difficult to pull up on the beach and had to be moored offshore. In 1871, during a gale, the anchor chain tore out the stern, broke the mooring and she drifted ashore among the rocks at Hynish and was smashed.
