Hunter’s of Brora

In 1949, this advertisement appeared in the Oban Times:

HUNTER’S WOOL SERVICE
CROFTERS from the Mainland and the Islands of Skye, Tiree, Mull, Islay and Jura, CAN NOW SEND US WOOL FOR KNITTING YARN if they have obtained Licences from the Wool Control. Price List and Patterns free on request.
T. M. HUNTER, LTD.
BRORA
Specialists in the Manufacture of Wool
(Oban Times and Argyllshire Advertiser, 11 June 1949, 6)

Thomas Hunter had founded the Sutherland Wool Mill in Wick in 1901, soon relocating south to Brora on the Sutherland coast. The family also ran a brickworks, the Brora Colliery, and the Brora Electric Supply Company, making it the first town north of Inverness to have electric street lighting. After wool prices fell in the 1970s due to the rise of synthetics, the company closed in 1993.

Although Tiree was more famous for its barley, modern sheep breeds were introduced to the island around 1840, and large sheep farms were established in Hynish, Heylipol, and Hough. In 1911, the island’s census listed five professional “yarn spinners”, five “stocking knitters”, two “handloom weavers” and four “retired hand-loom weavers (tweed)”. By 1921, following the disruption of the First World War, there were none.

Tiree crofters increasingly turned to factories on the mainland to process their wool. Most chose Hunter’s of Brora. In 1952, crofters were encouraged:

MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR WOOL: SEND IT TO BRORA
For manufacture into blankets, bedcovers, travelling rugs, tweeds, knitting yarns and weaving yarns. Wool Control Licence still required for Fleece Wool and Gathered Wool.
T. M. HUNTER LTD. BRORA
Specialists in the manufacture of wool
(North Star and Farmers’ Chronicle, 15 March 1952, 6)

Armies use a lot of wool, for uniforms, overcoats and blankets. In 1916 a body called Wool Control was set up, compelling sheep farmers to sell all their wool to approved merchants at prices set by government. Between the wars, regulations were relaxed, and crofters became free to sell their wool on the open market. But Wool Control was re-established in 1939 under the Ministry of Supply.

This structure continued after the war. Conflict had prevented wool exporters in the southern hemisphere from moving their stocks. In 1945, representatives from Britain, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa met to discuss how to deal with this stockpile, estimated to be twelve years’ worth. The British Wool Marketing Board was set up in 1950, and licences were abolished soon after.

2005.79.2

Red and blue woven blanket made at Hunter’s of Brora with wool from A’ Chreag Ghlas, Balevullin.

As well as selling their wool, Tiree crofters also sent their clip to Hunter’s for it to be spun into knitting wool or woven into blankets. This was then returned to the crofter. An Iodhlann has several blankets made in Brora from Tiree wool. This was sometimes referred to as “drugget”. This is an old Scots word for coarse, woven material, coming from the French drogue meaning something that is of poor quality.

About “Drugget”

Druggett or drugget is “a coarse woollen fabric felted or woven, self-coloured or printed one side”. Jonathan Swift refers to being “in druggets drest, of thirteen pence a yard”.

Formerly, a drugget was a sort of cheap stuff, very thin and narrow, usually made of wool, or half wool and half silk or linen; it may have been corded but was usually plain. The term is now applied to a coarse fabric having a cotton warp and a wool filling, used for rugs, tablecloths, etc.

Etymology: droguet, from drogue (“cheap”), of uncertain origin. “A thing which is of poor quality.”
First known use: 1564.
[O.Sc. drog(g)at, drog(g)et, from 1564, Fr. droguet.]

Dr John Holliday

Tiree’s Pink Marble and the Geologists who made it Famous
An An Iodhlann research paper
William Welstead
15 November 2025

http://www.aniodhlann.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/marble-history.pdf

HUNTER’S OF BRORA

In 1949, this advertisement appeared in the Oban Times:

HUNTER’S WOOL SERVICE
CROFTERS from the Mainland and the Islands of Skye, Tiree, Mull, Islay and Jura, CAN NOW SEND US WOOL FOR KNITTING YARN if they have obtained Licences from the Wool Control. Price List and Patterns free on request.
T. M. HUNTER, LTD.
BRORA
Specialists in the Manufacture of Wool
(Oban Times and Argyllshire Advertiser, 11 June 1949, 6)

Thomas Hunter had founded the Sutherland Wool Mill in Wick in 1901, soon relocating south to Brora on the Sutherland coast. The family also ran a brickworks, the Brora Colliery, and the Brora Electric Supply Company, making it the first town north of Inverness to have electric street lighting. After wool prices fell in the 1970s due to the rise of synthetics, the company closed in 1993.

Although Tiree was more famous for its barley, modern sheep breeds were introduced to the island around 1840, and large sheep farms were established in Hynish, Heylipol, and Hough. In 1911, the island’s census listed five professional ‘yarn spinners’, five ‘stocking knitters’, two ‘handloom weavers’ and four ‘retired hand-loom weavers (tweed)’. By 1921, following the disruption of the First World War, there were none. Tiree crofters increasingly turned to factories on the mainland to process their wool. Most chose Hunter’s of Brora. In 1952, crofters were encouraged:

MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR WOOL: SEND IT TO BRORA
For manufacture into blankets, bedcovers, travelling rugs, tweeds, knitting yarns and weaving yarns. Wool Control Licence still required for Fleece Wool and Gathered Wool.
T. M. HUNTER LTD. BRORA
Specialists in the manufacture of wool
(North Star and Farmers’ Chronicle, 15 March 1952, 6)

Armies use a lot of wool, for uniforms, overcoats and blankets. In 1916 a body called Wool Control was set up, compelling sheep farmers to sell all their wool to approved merchants at prices set by government. Between the wars, regulations were relaxed, and crofters became free to sell their wool on the open market. But Wool Control was re-established in 1939 under the Ministry of Supply.

This structure continued after the war. Conflict had prevented wool exporters in the southern hemisphere from moving their stocks. In 1945, representatives from Britain, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa met to discuss how to deal with this stockpile, estimated to be twelve years’ worth. The British Wool Marketing Board was set up in 1950, and licences were abolished soon after.

2005.79.2
Red and blue woven blanket made at Hunter’s of Brora with wool from A’ Chreag Ghlas, Balevullin.

As well as selling their wool, Tiree crofters also sent their clip to Hunter’s for it to be spun into knitting wool or woven into blankets. This was then returned to the crofter. An Iodhlann has several blankets made in Brora from Tiree wool. This was sometimes referred to as ‘drugget’. This is an old Scots word for coarse, woven material, coming from the French drogue meaning something that is of poor quality.

Dr John Holliday

Storm Amy, the first storm of the season, hit northern and western Europe on 3 and 4 October 2025. According to the Met Office, ‘this was an unusually severe, although not unprecedented, storm for the month of October.’ The strongest wind speed, a gust of 139 mph, was recorded in southern Norway.

We looked at some storm stories in February, but here are some more. Duncan Grant from Brock told me this one:

‘My grand-uncle Archie MacLeod lived in Brock, and in his old age I remember my aunt talking to him about the night of the Tay Bridge Disaster [28 December 1879]. Their house in Brock was very near to the shore, nearer any of the houses today. And the tide reached the bottom of the ùtraid [croft road] that night, seemingly, and sometime during the storm they had to leave the house and come up to the house where we are, their own relations, MacLeods, there. Uncle Archie would be ten years old then. I remember them saying a strange thing—I never thought much of it, because I heard this as a boy—a barrel flew over their heads … it was said to have come from the manse [in Gott]. And the next day they went down to the house and the chimney stack and walls must have still been there, and the cat had survived the night at the top of the chimney stack.’

In October 1882 there was another storm. Before the days of silage bags, much of the harvest was still lying in the fields:

AN EQUINOCTIAL GALE IN TIREE
‘Not for many years, writes our correspondent, has a storm so damaging in its resuits swept over this island so early in the season, comparatively speaking, as that of Sunday. Since Saturday, a gale from the south-east, although not of an unusual nature here, had been blowing, but had lulled considerably ere nightfall. On Sunday morning, however, the wind rose again from the same quarter, and continued to increase in violence until about four o’clock in the afternoon, when it was a perfect hurricane, reaching its height about dusk, when the wind veered to the south-west. For some time previous to this, people were endeavouring to secure what part of their crops yet remained on the fields in stooks. To do so in most cases proved impossible, however, especially to those whose crofts lay in anything like proximity to the sea. Sheaves of barley, oats and rye were carried through the air like feathers, while hay flew past like so much smoke. Seeing the uselessness of their efforts in the field, the people now betook themselves to their stackyards. Here, fortunately, they were more successful, and, as yet, we have not heard of any who have lost stacks out of their stackyards. From the fields, however, many a stack has been carried away. Of the damage to buildings, we are not yet able to say much. Mrs MacFarlane’s dwelling house at Baluive [sic], and the schoolhouse at Moss [Sgoil na Mòinteach], have been stripped, to a great extent of slates. Mr Hector Lamont’s house at Kirkapol also suffered in this respect, as did also Messrs McQuarrie & Co.’s shop [in Scarinish, on the site of the Coop], which had its skylight window blown, while the building itself received a shaking, Some of Dr Buchanan’s outhouses [Baugh Farm] came in for a share of the damage caused. Of the shipping, the Packet has suffered most, she having narrowly escaped total wreck. As it is, she has lost several planks, and been rendered unserviceable, at least for some time to come. The Go Down has been heavily strained, and will require some repair. At Ruaig, Alexander McLean had a fishing boat driven ashore, and, to some extent, broken.’
(Oban Times and Argyllshire Advertiser, 7 October 1882)

Taigh a’ Go Down ‘the house of the ‘Go Down’ was the name of one of the houses along the Sraid Ruadh ‘the red street’ in Balevullin. The equinox, the date when the sun crosses the equator, is around 20 March and 23 September. Although popularly associated with gales, this is not borne out by the evidence.

In September 1886, it was the soldiers sent to the island to quell unrest following from the Greenhill Land Raid who were hit:

GALE IN TIREE
HARDSHIPS OF MARINES
‘Early Tuesday morning, a boisterous gale arose in Tiree. The marines suffered very much, those whose tents were exposed to the gale being washed out, and the poor fellows having to seek shelter in a turf house built some time ago as an “orderly room”. A number of the tents were hauled down today, and after getting the rays of the sun for a few hours, they were again put up. On the orders of Colonel Heriot, a number of the marines are making a temporary house for themselves alongside a sandbank. The house is to be covered with canvas, the floor laid with wood, and should there be a renewal of the gale, the marines can obtain shelter in this house.’
(Aberdeen Evening Express, 3 September 1886, 2)

On 31 January 1953 there was another big storm. Hector MacPhail told this story:

‘During the big gale in 1953, there was a man in Kilmoluaig, you’ll remember him well, Alasdair Eachainn, who was another man who was good at telling stories … and I heard him telling this one myself. He was struggling home from Balevullin in the dark … and a corn stack went past him. A lot of corn stacks were knocked over that night … He said, I was asking around the next day. Who’d lost a corn stack? Nobody had lost one. I reckon it came down from Barra!’

In December 1959 there was another gale. The Fleetwood trawler Red Falcon, the last coal burning boat in the fleet, was returning for Christmas from fishing around Iceland when she was overwhelmed by the seas around Skerryvore:

‘Search parties along the coast of Tiree were looking for survivors from the Fleetwood trawler Red Falcon, missing with her crew of 19 since Monday, yesterday found part of a ship’s grey painted lifeboat. It had been washed ashore near Middleton, on the west coast of the island.’
(The Scotsman, 19 December 1959, 1)

The biggest recorded storm on Tiree was in 1968 with a gust of 117 mph, causing considerable damage around the island:

‘A feature of the month was the severe gale on the night of the 14th-15th, which caused loss of life on land and at sea. There was widespread damage to buildings, glasshouses and woodlands. Wind speeds in gusts rose to 113 miles per hour at Tiree and to 100 in some other places.’
(The Scotsman, 26 February 1968, 12)

2006.123.1 Met. Office tracing of the 1968 storm

Dr John Holliday

The air Road to the Isles is a fascinating one. A flight from Renfrew to Tiree on Tuesday was made in sufficient visibility to glimpse the shining contours of Loch Lomond and to get a magnificent view of the sea lochs and mountains of Argyll.

Holding to a course more to the south than usual against a head wind, the BEA Rapide passed between Jura and rocky Scarba … the low shapes of Tiree and Coll appear, and soon a landing is made at Reef Airport … The flight had lasted an hour and a quarter. The transition from Glasgow to an Atlantic islet with a population of 1100 is striking. From the densely populated Paisley Road West and the factories, docks and ‘prefabs’ of the outlands of Glasgow is a far cry to Tiree. The aeroplane quickly links the two, but air travel has not altered the islanders. They remain individualistic and conservative in outlook. They do not care much for monopolies in trade or nationalisation of industry. That is one reason given for the present decline in island bookings on this BEA route. The present daily flights—one in and one out—might suffice for the needs of the community if the aircraft flew full, but they are said to be frequently half empty.

Difficulties in booking are partly blamed for this. When Scottish Airways operated the service the booking agent, Mr Colin MacPhaii, would send a note to Renfrew by the afternoon plane, and confirmation of the booking would be received the next morning. Now there is a time lapse of from five to seven days, in some cases longer.

From the number of complaints of misbooking—planes either overfilled or underfilled—it would seem essential to reform the system radically. What is naturally a complex process, particularly on the Hebridean run, on which three islands are served on the way to Stornoway, requires simplification. At present it is a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth, with Renfrew as the central kitchen.

Some islanders—especially since the steamer service to Oban was improved—have given up trying to get a seat on the plane; others have discovered that by meeting it they may be lucky enough to find an empty seat. Tiree’s allocation of two seats is held not to be enough. With the introduction of the summer schedules, booking agents at island airports will have a quota of seats in their control, instead of the present allocations being controlled from Renfrew. This should be an improvement.

The regularity of services, important because of connections which have to be caught at Glasgow, is also questioned. Time was when the clocks of Tiree could be set by the arrival and departure of the daily plane. That is not so now, it is said, although it has to be confessed that, in the case of the Hebrides, as air travel is so much quicker than by sea, some delays may be accepted without undue demur. Better a little late and safe than never to get there! Formerly, too, the pilots on the route were known to the public. Today, there seem to be always so many new faces in the cockpit.

Holidaymakers from the mainland will fill the increased number of seats which are to be available during the summer months. The summer schedule comes into operation on April 19, when the morning plane will leave Renfrew at 9.25, reach Tiree at 10.35, and end its journey at Benbecula at noon. Stornoway will be reached by a new Dakota service: Glasgow-Benbecula-Stornoway-Inverness. The return flight on the Hebrides run will leave Tiree at 3.20pm and reach Renfrew at 4.25pm. From May 31 there will also be a direct Renfrew-Tiree service, leaving Renfrew at 2pm, arriving Tiree 3.15pm and leaving Tiree at 3.30pm, arriving Renfrew 4.35pm.

Tiree’s popularity with visitors is increasing. The island, though bare, is green and pleasant, with an excellent sunshine record. There is no air mail service, and newspapers arrive usually long after the events they record—but these deficiencies may not be of great concern in times of holiday.

Mr MacPhail has been airline agent on the island since Northern and Scottish Airways opened the route in 1935. Before the late war, aircraft landed on a grass strip. Now Tiree has a large airport with three runways. Tiree has thus benefited from wartime occupation by the RAF, but at considerable cost to the nation, and its maintenance as a civil airport at once raises a controversial issue (which applies to all other island aerodromes that are now under the wing of the Ministry of Civil Aviation [MCA]. In addition to BEA’s staff of two (agent and assistant) almost 40 persons are employed at the airport. Nineteen of these are in the works and building department of the Air Ministry, and part of their duty is to supervise a large colony of empty Nissen huts which are falling to pieces. Broken sheets of rusty corrugated iron lie here and there or flap noisily in the perpetual wind. The MCA staff consists of a traffic control officer, communications and radio staff, clerical grades, meteorological section, caretakers of billets and crash crew. All that for one or two aircraft in a day. One estimate, knowledgeable if not expert, is that the airport costs in the region of £20,000 annually to maintain. Half or more of that figure would probably be conservative. Its revenue, in contrast, is minute.

The islanders regard it as ‘suicidal expenditure’. It is impossible, however, to return to the days of grass landing fields and ‘one-man bands’ at airports. It might be possible to find a compromise between the two extremes, and one calculation is that all the necessary work at Tiree, including the valuable meteorological section, could be done by five people—two ‘met’, one ambulance and two fire tender. The question that poses itself is: Would the public be easy in its mind if the rest of the technical staff were withdrawn? The official attitude is that the airport is there, is being used, and must be manned according to the regulation standards.

In contrast, at the next stop north of Tiree, at the island of Barra, landings are made on the beach, with one man, the BEA agent, there to do all that is necessary … Looking at the MCA establishment, and noting BEA’s intricate structure, they feel it is small wonder that the corporation makes a loss and that the bill to the taxpayer is so large.
(The Scotsman, 10 April 1948, 3)

Alan Stevenson was appointed to build a lighthouse on Skerryvore in 1837. The Duke of Argyll gave him permission to quarry rock anywhere on Tiree. But the Lewisian gneiss of the island was too hard and too difficult to carve to Stevenson’s demanding standards. In 1839, therefore, he opened a quarry at Camas Tuath on the Ross of Mull. In a few months this new quarry produced as much stone as the Hynish quarry had produced in three years. Twenty-six quarriers worked there, creating 4,300 blocks in one year. An accident in the quarry four years into the operation was widely reported at the time. It almost proved fatal:

An extraordinary instance of presence of mind lately occurred at the quarries in the Ross of Mull, Argyllshire, now wrought for the pier in connection with the Skerryvore Lighthouse, by the Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses. On the 17th October, as Mr. Charles Barclay, the foreman of the quarries, was engaged in removing a splinter of stone from the face of a block of ten tons weight, which lay on an inclined ledge above him, the block slid forward and inclosed his left hand, which was bruised in such a manner that two of his middle fingers were destroyed, and the sharp points of rock came in contact the palm of his hand, so that it was held completely fast as in a vice. In this dreadful situation, Mr. Barclay’s great presence of mind and strength of nerve proved the means of saving his life and those of the men who were along with him. The first impulse of the men was to fetch a lever to raise the stone and liberate the prisoner; and had Mr. Barclay’s presence of mind deserted him, or had he fainted under the excruciating torture he endured, this rash purpose would have been executed, and the stone would have launched forward and crushed him and his comrades beneath its mass. He, however, was enabled to direct their proceedings with a wonderful degree of composure, and after some fruitless attempts to raise the block, Mr. Barclay resolved to cut out the stone round his hand as the only means of escape. This painful operation occupied about twenty minutes, during which time the tortures he endured did not prevent his working with the remaining hand in effecting his liberation from his extraordinary captivity. Mr. Barclay afterwards walked without assistance to the neighbouring village of Bunessan, two miles off, where Dr. McDiarmid, a gentleman who had lately returned from the Arctic expedition under Ross, removed the shattered bones. Next day, Dr. Campbell, who acts as surgeon to the Skerryvore works, arrived from Tyree, and conveyed his patient to the barracks at Hynish workyard, where he is fast recovering.
(Hereford Times, 25 November 1843, 4)

Captain James Clark Ross commanded a famous expedition to the Antarctic between 1839 and 1843. With two strong warships, HMS Erebus and Terror, the expedition confirmed the existence of the Antarctic continent, described the Ross seal for the first time and calculated the position of the South Magnetic Pole. ‘Dr McDiarmid’ is likely to have been Robert McCormick, a British Navy surgeon, explorer and naturalist. He also took part in the 1831 expedition on the Beagle with Charles Darwin.

Other articles in the series ‘Yesterday’s News’ can be found on the An Iodhlann website.

Dr John Holliday

YESTERDAY’S NEWS

This article was written by an Alick G. Wilson, who was one of the first holidaymakers to visit the island in 1887. He also collected some words from a ‘Tinker child’ on the island, so he seems to have been interested in folklore.

HOLIDAY NOTES FROM TIREE
‘My first visit to the island of Tiree was in the summer of last year, and the following notes were taken during my residence there. I would rather not say what my ideas of Tiree were before I came to the island; let it suffice to say that I had taken as quite correct those very misleading reports which appeared in the newspapers in the year of the military and police expedition [1886] …

‘Another stone with a tradition is at Caolis, in the north of the island. If this stone [Clach na Gaoithe ‘the rock of the wind’] be turned in a certain way—with the sun, if I remember rightly—a great gale of wind arises that will destroy any boat that may chance to be out. I heard of the stone being turned once. At one time the people there were great smugglers, and one day a boat loaded with smuggled goods had just put out fairly to sea when the revenue cutter hove in sight. The smugglers at once put about and pulled with all their might for land, while their friends on shore were powerless to help them. At last, an old woman suggested that the stone should be turned and the cutter blown out of existence. As the day was calm and their friends in the shelter of the shore, it was agreed to do this. After some trouble, it was turned, but, alas! no gale rewarded them for their pains. The smugglers, however, escaped with their cargo.

‘On the moor behind the hill of Gott is a small well [Tobar nam Ban Ruadha ‘the well of the red women’] about which a legend is told. Long, long ago, there were only two families in Tiree—the one living in Caolis in the north, the other in the far south of the island. The family at Caolis had only one child, a boy, and one day he went amissing. The father set out to search for him, and, coming to the moor of Gott, saw the two ‘red women’ or witches sitting by the well cleaning the body of his child and preparing to cook it. He hid behind a hillock and shot some arrows at the women. Thereupon, the one witch said to the other, ‘There are some dockan leaves hurting my foot’, but on looking down she saw neither dockan nor thistle there, only an arrow stick in it, the use of which she did not know. She accordingly pulled out the arrow and threw it aside, but the man continued firing. At length, the ‘red women’ caught sight of the man and gave chase after him. He got on his horse and galloped away to Hynish, in the south of the island, a distance of twelve miles. At Hynish there is a great precipice or ‘leap’ [Sloc Leum an Eich ‘the gully of the leap of the horse’] and across it he leaped with his horse, so great was his fright. The women, of course, leaped after him, and leaping short dashed out their brains on the opposite side. Some leaves and flowers which sprang up mark the spot. If you don’t believe this—why, the well is there, the ‘leap’ is there, and you may go and see for yourself.

‘At Hynish is the signal-tower in connection with Skerryvore Lighthouse. Beside the tower are some very neat cottages, where dwell the light-keepers. There is a fine harbour with docks here; and the tower, the cottages, and the harbour are all built of a granite taken from the Ross of Mull. From the tower, a splendid view is got of land and water. At the top of the tower is a sun-dial, by which it is found that the difference between Tiree and Greenwich time is about 28 minutes.

https://www.aniodhlann.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/A232-scaled.jpg
A postcard of the Signalling Tower and Light-keepers’ Houses from around 1910. From An Iodhlann’s collection.

‘The people here, like all Highlanders, are more or less superstitious; and in the island there are still to be found men who have that almost obsolete faculty of second-sight. Of course, we wise people now-a-days don’t believe in second-sight, but there are some very curious and yet well-authenticated stories told that are very hard to explain—if in fact they can be explained at all. That is a very curious story told of the marines being seen in the island fifty-two years before they came [in 1886]. A man—MacLaren by name—was returning home one night [in 1834] by the Reef when he saw a band of soldiers. He saw them so plainly that he was quite able to describe their arms and dress, and could also tell where they halted and whither they went. For fifty-two years, he was chaffed about the soldiers, but he lived to see them in the island; and those persons who saw the marines march across the Reef say that they marched and halted just as it had been foretold by old MacLaren. [This is likely to have been Malcolm MacLaren of Kilkenneth, who was born in 1811, and would have been 23 at the time.]

‘Here is another curious one. One bright summer’s day, a young man lay stretched on the grass in front of his aunt’s house, at the door of which his aunt sat knitting. The schoolmaster’s wife came along, and stopped to speak to the old woman about a dress she wanted altered. Having arranged about it she passed on. Immediately she was gone, the young man, who had eyed her rather queerly, said to his aunt, ‘She’ll not bother you with that dress.’ ‘How do you know that?’ asked his relative, ‘Has she changed her mind?’ ‘No,’ said he, but she’ll never need another dress.’ ‘Don’t speak like that,’ said his aunt angrily. ‘You try to frighten people by making them believe you see things.’ ‘Well, really,’ said he, ‘you might have seen the shroud round her yourself. It came up to her very eyes.’ Nothing further was said on the subject, nor was the story repeated, but in less than three weeks the schoolmaster’s wife died, and she never required the dress.’
(Oban Telegraph and West Highland Chronicle, 5 October 1888, 2)

If anyone can tell me more about Alick G. Wilson, I would be grateful.

Dr John Holliday

Last time we looked at the 1888 extension of the telegraph network to Tiree and Coll, which terminated at Scarinish Post Office. The project had been underwritten by the Fishery Board. This 1892 cutting explains why:

OUR FISHERIES
As instance of the importance of the electric telegraph to our fishing population, the Fishery Board for Scotland, in their annual report, tells that one Saturday morning a large shoal of herring was discovered about three to seven miles off the Island of Stronsay [on the eastern side of the Orkney archipelago] by a few boats which happened to be at sea. Having ascertained the position of this shoal, the officer wired the particulars for the fishermen’s information to all the stations in Orkney, and on the Monday morning every boat employed in the herring fishery in Orkney was on the fishing ground indicated. The result was the heaviest fishing ever obtained in one day in Orkney. The number of boats fishing was 108, and their total catch was 5,400 crans, valued at £3,240.
(Norwich Mercury, 23 July 1892, 4)

A cran was a measure of fish, the equivalent of a 30-gallon herring barrel, around 1200 fish. This one day’s fishing netted around 6 million herring.

After the line was extended to Balemartine, the local MP lobbied the Post Office to do the same for Ruaig. He was unsuccessful:

Mr D. N. Nicol, M. P., who has been exerting himself further in regard to the establishment of postal and telegraph stations in the islands, is in receipt of the following official communication:
My dear Nicol,
On the 2nd May you sent me a letter from Mr Donald Lamont [the Ruaig postmaster] asking for a telegraph office in that village. We have looked into the matter very carefully, but I am sorry to say that the result is very discouraging. The original extension, which, as you know was guaranteed [by the Fishery Board], was to Coll and Tiree jointly, the Tiree office being at Scarinish. The annual expenses of that extension are something like £260. The guarantee has long since expired. We made a further extension to Balemartin in 1900, the annual expenses being £43. The annual cost of the three telegraph offices [Arinagour, Scarinish and Balemartine] may therefore be put roughly at £300. Against this expenditure, we can only set the following: revenue from Coll £37; Scarinish £56; Balemartine £23; payment by guarantors of Balemartin £10; Total £126. The extension to Balemartin hardly seems to have stimulated the telegraph business of Tiree at all, most of the business having been merely diverted from Scarinish. We are losing, in fact, about £175 a year in the two islands; and, in the circumstances, I fear that the Postmaster-General would not be justified in opening another telegraph office on Tiree.
(Oban Times and Argyllshire Advertiser, 12 July 1902, 5)

The following year, there was a break in the cable:

Mr Nicol, the county member, has received the following:
Dear Nicol, I much regret the inconvenience occasioned by the interruption of the cable to Tiree, to which you call attention in your letter, and I propose to despatch a cable ship to carry out the repair of this cable and other similar work as soon as the weather is favourable. I am anxious that communication should be restored at the earliest possible moment, but you will understand that work of this kind cannot be undertaken except in favourable weather.
(Oban Times and Argyllshire Advertiser, 28 March 1903, 5)

The cable failed again in 1912 (The Scotsman, 4 January 1912, 7) and 1924. This time, a temporary radio mast was installed beside the Scarinish lighthouse:

WIRELESS TO THE RESCUE
Scottish Islanders Saved a Winter of Isolation
The telegraphic cable that connects the islands of Tiree and Coll with the mainland sunk to the bed of the ocean. It is not probable that the Government cable ship will be able to lift the cable during the winter. The seas that run in the Sound of Gunna at this time of the year render this almost impossible. The Government wireless station on the island of Tiree is again brought into service, and thus the business of the lonely islanders can be carried out.
(Northern Whig, 8 January 1924, 10)

Image:
https://www.aniodhlann.org.uk/object/2012-10-1/
The emergency radio mast in Scarinish in 1924. An Iodhlann collection.

As always, do let me have any additional information. Previous articles in this series are available on the An Iodhlann website at www.aniodhlann.org.uk. Follow us on Facebook.

Dr John Holliday

After much lobbying, in 1888 the islands of Tiree and Coll were finally connected to the world wide web of the time: the telegraph network.

‘TELEGRAPH EXTENSION TO TIREE AND COLL
Sir,
On the 2nd March 1882, I sent a letter to the Oban Telegraph newspaper on the great importance of postal improvement, extension of the telegraph and harbour accommodation in Tiree. Since then, I kept up a constant correspondence to have this carried out, and I have just received the following letter from the Postmaster-General, in answer to my letter of the 27th [February]. The letter, you will please observe, is dated 2nd March 1888, just six years since I commenced my letters on Tiree … I continue to take as great an interest as ever in the welfare of my friends, the people of the Western Isles. I wish them well. I remain, dear sir, Faithfully yours, Wm. Campbell, 3 View Place, Inverness.

‘General Post Office, London, 2nd March. Sir, ln reply to your letter of the 27th, I beg leave to inform you that Treasury authority has recently been received for an extension of the telegraph system to the islands of Coll and Tiree, under the guarantee of the Fishery Board for Scotland, and the work will be carried out as soon as practicable. I am, sir, your obedient servant, J. Lamb.’
(Oban Telegraph and West Highland Chronicle, 9 March 1888, 4)

Earlier, William Campbell had lobbied for a telegraph cable to be laid to the Outer Hebrides, and for a new market to be built in central London to allow fresh fish sent from Inverness to be sold quickly. It is interesting that it was the Fishery Board for Scotland that was underwriting the proposal. The long line fishery on Tiree was in its pomp at the time, with 110 islanders employed at it.

In fact, survey work for the line had already started, as this report of the annual ploughing match on Coll that year makes clear. It is interesting both that there were enough Tiree people attending to make it worthwhile to have a special ‘Tiree race’, and that it appears that this was the first ever football game played on the island:

‘The Coll Agricultural Association’s ploughing match took place this year again on the farm of Arileod, Mr Donald MacLean‘s … Promptly at 9 am, thirteen ploughs commenced their allotments, and finished about 2.30 pm. The day was of the most favourable character, and the ground in a suitable condition. The gaily-decked, well-groomed Clydesdales proudly stepped into the arena … The turn-out of spectators was the largest we have ever seen on similar occasions. Conspicuous among the strangers were … two officers connected with the new telegraph line connecting Coll and Tiree with London, Australia and America [laid thirty years earlier]. There were also present several from Tiree, among whom was Mr Thomas Barr, Balliphetrish … A new feature of these annual games was the introduction of football … This interesting game was conducted under Association rules, and considering the limited practice the teams had, their play was highly creditable … Tiree Race 1. D. MacCallum, Ardeas; 2. Hector MacFayden, Heanish.
(Oban Times and Argyllshire Advertiser, 3 March 1888, 5)

By August the cable had been laid across the Gunna Sound, making landfall below Roisgal in Caolas:

‘TELEGRAPH TO COLL AND TIREE
Telegraphic communication with the islands of Coll and Tiree was opened yesterday. A wire is carried overland from Tobermory to Calgary on the western side of Mull, and then by cable to CoIl. An office for telegraphic business has been established at Calgary. This connection with the mainland will be of great importance to the islanders, who are now highly pleased that their long-continued efforts to secure this boon have at last been realised.’
(Glasgow Herald, 30 August 1888, 6)

From Caolas, the line ran on poles to the Scarinish Post Office, part of the original shop on the site of the present day Coop. For the first time, a message could be sent from there to most parts of the world. There were 20,000 offices in the USA alone. It would be transcribed and delivered in hours. Balemartine Post Office (really in Balinoe) had been connected by 1911, and Cornaigmore Post Office in 1926.

Dr John Holliday

The following report appeared in 1901, a year after the death of the eighth Duke:

A good deal of speculation has been created by a report that the Duke of Argyll proposes to sell the island of Tiree. The island has an area of 34 square miles, and, in consideration of its fertility, it is often styled the ‘Granary of the Hebrides’. As a sporting estate it is most desirable. In snipe shooting, it is unrivalled. Partridges and hares are numerous, and there are about twenty fresh-water lochs. With the exception of one species of willow, there is no growing wood on the island. The price put upon the island is said to be £130,000 (the equivalent today of £13 million). It is thought that the proposed sale indicates a disposition on the part of Duke to follow the example of the Duke of Fife, who, in recent years, has sold a very large proportion of his ancestral estates in the north. (Belfast Weekly News, 28 March 1901, 9)

The following year, it was reported:

The Central News Tobermory correspondent wires that the Duke of Argyll has again advertised the Island of Tiree for sale by auction, to take place in London on July 14. About a year ago Tiree was put on the market, an advertisement being inserted in a New York paper, but there were no offers. The island … is noted for its salubrious climate and its magnificent shooting. (Liverpool Echo, 7 June 1902, 8)

TIREE OFFERED FOR SALE

At the Mart, Tokenhouse Yard, London, yesterday, Messrs Chancellor and Sons, on the instructions of the Duke of Argyll, offered for sale the island of Tiree, described as the ‘granary and flower of the Hebrides’. The island contains an abundance of white, pink and green marble, among which is found garnet-bearing rock. Game is also plentiful and the snipe shooting is said to be the finest in Europe. The auctioneer said that the reason for offering the isle for sale was that the Duke of Argyll had to meet heavy charges in payment of the Death Duties on the estates to which he had succeeded, and he was selling Tiree, which he described as a veritable island kingdom, to clear off the liability. The property was put in at £100,000, but no offer was made at this figure or £90,000, £80,000 or £50,000, and the property was withdrawn. (Dundee Evening Telegraph, 15 July 1902, 3)

The estate tried to sell the island for a third time in 1951:

Caption: Advertisement for the island of Tiree in 1951.

This was also unsuccessful.