Acquisitions

2025.52.4

A wartime photograph of unknown provenance. Thought to have Tiree connections.

206 Officer Training Unit May-July 1944

Original is autographed on the reverse.

2025.52.3

Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles. Part 1, 1966. by Robert B K Stevenson

A hardback book with details of Viking hoards in Tiree

 

2025.51.1

Papers compiled by Grant Farquharson about his grandfather, Captain Donald Archibald MacCallum 1884 – 1941, born Kilmoluaig, Tiree. Donald Archibald is pictured above (right, as first officer) onboard the SS Huntsman with the captain and a dog which they rescued from the Delfina.

Notes include rescue of crew of the Spanish ship Delfina in 1928 by the crew of SS Huntsman of which Donald Archibald was chief officer. See 2010.77.2

There is an account of Donald Archibald’s wartime experiences including as captain of SS Designer when hit by a torpedo, sinking in six minutes. Out of 78 men onboard, Donald and 66 of his men were lost.

Award of two medals: The Emile Robin Medal from the Shipwrecked Fishermen & Mariners Royal Benevolent Society, The Liverpool Shipwrecked Humane Society.

Photocopied photographs of the medals, the SS Huntsman, its captain and Donald Archibald and rescued dog (see photo above). Donald Archibald with his wife, Isabella “Bella” McNeil, born Balevullin 1885 – 1947 (see photo below), newspaper cuttings.

 

Also an account of Donald Archibald’s nephew, Captain Donald MacCallum 1903 – 1943. Captain of SS Baron Dechmont when hit by a torpedo from U-507. Taken PoW aboard U-Boat but lost his life ten days later when it was sunk by an Allied aeroplane. See 2010.77.1

Both are named on Tiree’s war memorial and at Tower Hill, London

Additional research by Flo Straker