Transcription of a letter of 1868 from the Tiree factor John Geekie about a rescue involving the crew of the ‘Duchess’.
Courtesy of His Grace the Duke of Argyll
In a letter of 1868 to the 8th Duke of Argyll, his factor John Geekie commended eight Tiree men who had rescued three fishermen from drowning in Balephuil Bay during a gale. Two of the men were crew of the ‘Duchess’, built by the Duke in 1860 and let out to local men.
In May 1861 the factor had reported that ‘the crew of the Duchess fishing boat had a very good fishing…once they took courage and went out where the Tyree boats were fishing outside the light house’, the implication being that the crew were unnecessarily timid.
Their reluctance is easily explained by their lack of familiarity handling a vessel nearly twice the length of the average Tiree fishing boat and also by the dangers of fishing five or more miles from shore in a small sailing boat in the days before reliable weather forecasting and global positioning.
Transcription of a Highland Land League publication of 1918 titled ‘Tiree Food Producers Sent To Prison’.
Courtesy of Mr Hugh MacLeod
During World War I, the Government encouraged people to cultivate unused land. It also instructed the Board of Agriculture for Scotland in 1914 to break up large farms for returning servicemen. The Board decided to take over the lease of 137 acres of Balephetrish farm for small holdings.
However, Thomas Barr, the tenant of Balephetrish farm, claimed £1,243 in compensation which the Board refused to pay although it allocated the land to a number of applicants. By 1918, eight Tiree cottars could wait no longer and ploughed 30 acres of Balephetrish farm and planted potatoes and other crops.
They were arrested and taken to Oban where they were welcomed like heroes by the local branch of the Highland Land League. At the subsequent court hearing they were found guilty and sentenced to ten days in prison with the recommendation that ‘they be treated to the privileges of political prisoners’.
Post Office Telephones Exchange Diary 25/9/1948 to 16/2/1974, which hung in the Tiree cable hut at Caoles. The cable hut was where the submarine cable from Mull connected to the Tiree exchange (via Coll).
One of the first and longest serving telephone engineers was Donald Quintin Campbell, whose signature appears next to most entries in the diary during 1948-1968.
A’ Chailleach Bhuain / The Old Woman of the Harvest made by Hector J. C. Campbell in around 1990.
Courtesy of Mrs Flora MacPhail
On Tiree the last sheaf of corn to be harvested was called A’ Chailleach Bhuain, a tradition that was found all over northern Europe and likely to date from the dawn of farming in Neolithic times. The Corn-spirit was believed to live in the corn, giving it the strength to grow vigorously. As the harvest proceeded, this spirit became concentrated in the remaining crop. The final sheaf to be cut was then regarded as containing its essence. On Tiree, the ‘cailleach’ was fed to the horses before they started the spring ploughing in the belief that the power of the Corn-spirit would be transmitted to the soil for the new year’s growth. This four thousand year old harvest tradition died out before 1910 in Sandaig, in the 1920s in Balinoe and into the 1950s in Heylipol and Balephuil.
Transcription of an extract about food and drink from ‘Outer Isles’ by Ada Goodrich Freer.
Ada Goodrich Freer was sponsored by the Society for Psychical Research to investigate second sight and supernatural tales in the Hebrides. She visited Tiree in 1894 and, after spending several months on the island, went to South Uist and Eriskay.
While on Eriskay, Ada befriended the local priest, Father Allan MacDonald, who was himself a collector of Hebridean folklore and traditions. She borrowed a number of his manuscripts on which she based a series of articles and lectures, earning herself an undeserved reputation as a folklorist.
By the time her book ‘Outer Isles’ was published in 1902, she was living in Jerusalem and her reputation as a clairvoyant and psychic researcher was in question. In 1905 she married a German-American Hans Henry Spoer with whom she moved to America in 1923.
Photocopied letter dated 5/11/1847 from the factor John Campbell to the Duke of Argyll.
Letter dated 5/11/1847 from the factor John Campbell to the Duke of Argyll about the purchase of Indian corn, the state of the cattle market and also proposing to establish a tile kiln on Tiree.
Resolution against drinking ardent spirits at funerals
Transcription of a resolution by the minister and Parishioners of Tiree against drinking ardent spirits at funerals.
Courtesy of His Grace the Duke of Argyll
In ‘The Statistical of Account of Scotland’ published in 1845, the minister of Tiree, Rev. Neil MacLean, wrote condemning the practice of ‘drinking ardent spirits at funerals’ and of ‘poor families parting with their last horse or cow, to furnish entertainment of this kind.’
This Resolution of 1847 called on like-minded parishioners to abstain from drinking more than one glassful of spirits at funerals or to pay a penalty of five pounds to benefit the poor of the parish. Rev. MacLean successfully sought the backing of the Duke of Argyll.
In November 1855, the Tiree factor, Lachlan MacQuarie, issued a notice prohibiting the consumption of spirits at ‘weddings, balls, funerals or any other gathering’ by tenants paying less than £30 rent, on pain of dispossession of their lands.
Typed list of inhabitants of Tiree in September 1779 grouped by township and giving name, age, gender, occasionally occupation, and total per farm. Taken from a photocopy of an unknown publication, although probably a transcript of the original 1779 census held at Inveraray Castle.
Photocopied page of two newspaper cuttings about the Duke of Argyll from an unknown publication dated around the 1960s.
(1) Article about the retiral of the chamberlain of Argyll Estates, Major Ian MacLennan, who plans to retire to his 300-acre farm on Tiree, where he was formerly the factor, (2) a legal case regarding the Duchess of Argyll.
