Iain MacFarlane
Photograph of Iain MacFarlane with Eachunn the cat.
This photograph of the late 1920s or early 1930s shows Iain MacFarlane when he was working as ‘am buachaille’ or herd boy in the east end of Tiree. Herding was done by boys when they left school at 14 and sometimes by old men.
As the common grazings and many fields were unfenced, their job was to keep cattle, sheep and horses within the township boundaries and out of the crops. Until wire fencing was introduced in the 1890s, fields were sometimes enclosed with turf or stone walls.
From May to October, Iain would have stayed in a ‘bothag’, a small round building constructed of stone and roofed with turfs over a timber frame. He died at sea at the beginning of World War II.
Black and white photograph of Iain, the herd boy, with Eachann the cat.
Photograph from a small album from Silversands, Vaul, titled `Iain, the herd laddie`, identified as Iain MacFarlane, (brother of Lachie MacFarlane of Hynish) by Chrissie, Lachie`s widow. Iain died at sea at the beginning of WWII. Probably taken in the late 1920s to early 1930s.