Object Type: photograph

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2007.122.7

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Rescued airmen at Tiree pier in 1944

Photograph of rescued airmen at Tiree pier in 1944.

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Courtesy of Mr Geoff Pringle

On 21 November 1944, one of starboard engines of Halifax LL510 from RAF Squadron 518 caught fire shortly after takeoff from Tiree airfield on weather reconnaissance duties. The flames were so intense the skipper decided to ditch in the Atlantic rather than risk returning to base.

Despite a thirty foot swell, the aircraft was safely ditched and the nine crewmen clambered aboard the inflatable dinghy with only minor scratches. To add to their danger, the water surrounding the Halifax was a sea of petrol, in the middle of which a fuel tank was bobbing about with flames issuing from a hole.

An Air-sea Rescue aircraft from Tiree dropped a second dinghy, then HMS ‘Flanders’ arrived to pick up the very much relieved airmen. They were given hot food, dry clothes and liberal amounts of Navy rum. The photograph pictures the crew safely back on Gott Bay pier.

Black and white photograph of the rescued aircrew of Halifax at Tiree pier.

The rescued aircrew of Halifax  from RAF Squadron 518 standing at Tiree pier in November 1944. Far left: F/Sgt Ozzie Ozaist (Met Air Obs, Polish); forth from left: Flt Lt Freddy Green.

2007.121.1

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Neil Brown and his wife Sarah Henderson in 1889

Photograph of Neil Brown and his wife Sarah Henderson in 1889.

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Courtesy of Mrs Isabelle Carter

Neil Brown, who was born in Heylipol in 1819, emigrated to Canada with his twin brother Donald and five sisters in the late 1840s. Donald became ill, probably with ‘ship fever’ (typhus transmitted by body lice), and died on their arrival in Port Whitby, Ontario.

In 1858 Neil married Sarah Henderson from Nova Scotia. The couple had twelve children over the next nineteen years, including one set of twins: Mary (1859), Janet (1861), Katherine (1863), Margaret (1864), Donald (1866), Flora (1868), Sarah Ann (1870), Isabelle (1874,) Angus (1875) Christena and Phemma (1876), and John (1877). Donald, Phemma and John died before the age of four.

In common with many Scottish emigrants in the 19th century, the couple were deeply religious. Worship was held every day in their home. Sarah read the scripture then Neil led in prayer using the Gaelic tongue.

Black and white photograph of Neil Brown and his wife Sarah Henderson in 1889.

Neil Brown (1819-1905) and his wife Sarah Henderson (1835-1922) of Egmondville, Ontario in May 1889. Neil, who was born in Heylipol in 1819, was the son of Angus Brown and Mary MacArthur. He, his twin brother and five sisters emigrated to Canada with his twin brother Donald and five sisters in the late 1840s. Donald became ill, probably with `ship fever` (typhus transmitted by body lice), and died on their arrival in Port Whitby, Ontario. In 1858 Neil married Sarah Henderson from Nova Scotia. The couple had twelve children over the next nineteen years, including one set of twins. They were deeply religious and worship was held every day in their home. Sarah read the scripture then Neil led prayers in Gaelic.

2007.120.1

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Flora MacLean in the 1890s

Photograph of Flora MacLean of Manitoba in the 1890s.

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Courtesy of Mrs Betty MacKinnon

In this photograph taken in the 1890s Flora MacLean is pictured in the Brandon area of Manitoba with her feet on a bearskin rug. A remarkable woman, Flora pioneered three times during her long life; she lived to be ninety-eight.

Her parents, Donald and Ann MacLean, emigrated from Middleton with their nine children in 1847, though Flora’s mother and a brother did not survive the voyage. When Bruce County opened up in 1852, the family pioneered in Kincardine. It was here that Flora met and married the bard John MacLean, newly arrived from Balephuil.

The couple went west along with two other MacLean families and were the first permanent settlers in the Brandon area of Manitoba. After the death of her husband, Flora at the age of eighty moved with her daughter and son-in-law to The Pas then Flin Flon, frontier towns about 500 miles north of Winnipeg.

Sepia photograph of Flora MacLean, the wife of John MacLean, the Balephuil bard, taken in the 1890s.

Flora emigrated in 1847 to Canada. She pioneered in Brock and Kincardine Twps, and was among the first settlers in Manitoba. She met John MacLean, the Balephuil bard, in Tiverton and they married in 1879. Flora was a widow at the time with a daughter Kate. She died in 1836, the oldest person in North Manitoba.

2007.119.1

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John MacLean of Balephuil and Manitoba

Photograph of John MacLean of Balephuil in Manitoba around 1900.

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Courtesy of Mr Wallace Robertson

This photograph, taken around 1900, shows John MacLean of Balephuil outside his homestead in Manitoba. John, the son of Donald MacLean and his wife Ann MacLean, emigrated to Canada in 1878 with his brother Charles and nephew Hector.

They arrived in Tiverton, Ontario where John met and soon married a Tiree woman, Flora MacKinnon née MacLean, a widow with a daughter Kate. They all moved to the Brandon Hills area of Manitoba and homesteaded at Dewart Farm in Little Souris. They were among the first settlers in the area.

John, it was said, was a good bard, but his childhood friend John MacLean of Balemartine was the better of the two. He wrote a famous song ‘Manitoba’ describing their leaving from Balephuil, and the rage he felt that the Highlands, which had provided so many soldiers for the British Empire, were being stripped of its people.

Sepia photograph of John MacLean, the Balephuil bard, in Manitoba around 1900.

John MacLean (1825-1912), the son of Donald McLean of Sandaig and Anne McLean of Balemeannach. He emigrated from Balephuil in 1878 with his brother Charles and nephew Hector, eventually settling in Manitoba.

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