Tiree Postal Staff

Mrs MacDonald, Lachlan MacNeill, Donald Mackechnie, Hugh Lamont

Archie Maclean, Donald MacDougall, John Munn

Photograph researched and donated by Jo Currie, the great granddaughter and granddaughter of two MacKechnie bards who feature in The Tiree Bards – Donald MacKechnie 1844-1923 (pictured) and his son Angus MacKechnie, 1870-1944.

Donald MacKechnie was a joiner, postal worker and teacher of psalmody in Tiree, the son of one John McEachern, who was originally from Mull. Donald had been brought up in Tiree, married in 1868 a Mull girl whose father was a successful bidder for one of the best farms in Iona — Catherine McPhail, and with her had produced a family of six children, the first, Angus, being born in Iona in 1870.    The family went to live in Glasgow in the 1870s but was back in Hynish, Tiree in the 1891 census.

Donald MacKechnie’s son John became the schoolmaster in Bunessan, Mull, and to him Donald sent this photograph of the postal staff in Tiree.

Donald handwrote the names of the staff with the places they came from. He retired to Iona before WW1. The photo was owned by Cathy Crawford, Eorabus, daughter of John MacKechnie, who gave it to the donor.

Since uploading, the following information has been sent in:

L[achlan] MacNiell of Balemartine was my maternal grandmother’s cousin. Lachlan was the son of Alexander MacNeill and Ann McIntyre. Alexander’s younger brother, Donald MacNeill, was my great grandfather; his daughter, my grandmother Sarah Currie MacNeill. Her daughter, my mother was Dorothy Mary Hobden. Donald and his wife emigrated to the Eastern Cape, South Africa in March 1880. They were accompanied by Donald and Alexander’s younger sister and her husband, Richard and Marion Brown. Gail Roethlin, Switzerland.

And our genealogist, Flo Straker added the following:

Hugh Lamont b1886 “Eoghainn Iain” was the last of 8 children born at
Ruaig to John Lamont & Effie nee McFadyen.
The 1921 Census finds Hugh at Ruaig with his widowed mother.
Later that year Hugh would marry in Oban to Catherine McKinnon from
Vaul.
Hugh’s residence at time of death in 1962 was “Daisybank” Ruaig.
He was the grand-nephew of John Lamont of Hong Kong “Iain na Hongs”

Johnnie Munn b1891 was the last child of 6 born to Donald Munn &
Margaret Lamont, both of Heanish, who settled at Baugh.
As far as I know he was not married.
According to his gravestone at Kirkapol, he died 19 Nov 1982.

Morag Mackinnon gave us detail about Donald MacDurgall.(champion). He would have been the youngest of the postmen and others in the family were known as “champion” so it was probably some sort of family name. His father was John MacDougal (MacDurgall may be a mistake or he changed the spelling) of The Green and mother Effie nee MacInnes of Barra. Donald went to sea in the merchant navy shortly after the photo and was not recorded at home in the next census so the photo was likely taken before 1 Apr 1920

Please email us with any more information on the other subjects of the photo.