Photograph of a still-life watercolour painted by Charles McLean in around 1933 in the Art Room of Linlithgow Academy. RAF Pilot Officer Charles McLean, the grandson of Lachlan MacLean of Kenovay, went missing in action over the English Channel during WWII. This is his only known painting. Part of a large collection of items belonging to and about Donald Archibald McLean, Kenovay (1890-1981), and his family.
Two large, well worn books titled ‘Songs of the Hebrides, volume 1’ and ‘More Songs of the Hebrides’ belonging to Sidney Herbert Sime (1865-1941), who was an English artist best known for his satirical artwork during the late Victorian period. One copy is signed S H Sime on an inner page, while the other is embossed S.H.S. on the cover.
Transcript of a tribute to the artist Kirsty Laird (nee Noel-Paton; 1934-2019) given by her children at Mortonhall Crematorium in August 2019. Much of Kirsty’s art was inspired by Tiree, where she spent many years working from her house at Brock.
Black and white photograph of members of the MacPhail family of Clachan, Cornaigmore, at a picnic with friends at Kenavara in summer 1936. The small building in the background is thought to be an artist’s studio.
Back row (L-R): Katie McEwan (nee MacInnes) with Anne MacEwan (now MacLean), Mrs Gillanders, Callum MacPhail (father – they had hired his lorry), Mary MacLean (Granny), Mary MacLean (dressmaker), Charlie & Katie Ferguson (nee MacWalters) with Iseabal Ferguson (now Thomson), Laban (blacksmith, Cornaigbeg), Cath MacPhail.
Front row (L-R): Alasdair Campbell (married Grace MacArthur, Tullymet), Iain MacLean, Iain Campbell (married Anne MacArthur), Mairi MacPhail (Gillanders) and daughter, Sheila MacLean (dressmaker), Catriona MacLean (Lal’s morther), Susie MacLean (Malcolm’s wife), Iseabal MacWalters, Mollie Barrow (now McKenzie-Pollock), Isabel MacPhail.
Copies of the Royal Navy service record, death certificate and list of medals awarded to John Barnard Norton (Bunty) Whyte (1909-1942), son of Balephuil/Oban artists Duncan MacGregor Whyte and Mary Barnard Whyte, who was killed during an air raid on Southampton during WW2. The material includes correspondence from Navy Command to the donor.
Click here to view 2019.68.1
Hardback book ‘Inspired by Chance’ by artist Kirsty Laird, Edinburgh & Brock, 2019. Photographs, descriptions and background of some of Kirsty Laird’s driftwood sculptures made while on Tiree. Includes a section about Kirsty’s background and life. An inscription reads “For John Holliday and An Iodhlann, the gift of this book, in response a long life-time of my love for Tiree”.
Newsletter `An Tirisdeach`, No. 457, Christmas 2009 (colour edition)
Local news: report on Senior Citizens’ Christmas party; school Christmas performance; a poem about life ‘Live It!’; report on shoebox gift hampers sent to the poor in Eastern Europe; report on the SWRI Christmas meal at the Lodge Hotel; RSPB information; Christmas messages; Christmas message from Rev Peter Williams; a missing football; Christmas colouring competition; Christmas message from Bruce Neill, locum minister; community turbine update inviting suggestions for a name for the turbine [Tilley].
Newsletter `An Tirisdeach`, No. 444, 12/06/2009
Local news: Tiree Community Development’s Open Day challenges; island weddings (Sian & Adam Milne, Lisa & Ali, Eilidh & Martin Hendry); visit by Waverley Paddle Steamer; A&B councillor’s ‘CalMac chaos?’; TRD’s new Powerdown Officer, Frances Woodhead; Tiree Open golf competition; An Iodhlann’s ‘Sheaves from the Stackyard’; letters to the editor – fire service, inconsiderate road users; Community Powerdown project; reporter’s notes about lunch with Ian and Patricia Sharp, Tiree is no. 2 in Lonely Planet Guide; Tiree High School parent council; promotion of Gaelic language; SWRI news; an evening of Gaelic drama; Duncan MacLean’s invitation to the Queen’s garden party; Tiree Pipe Band play at 10K; John Bowler’s RSPB news; Tiree Agricultural Show preparations.
Information about the MacFarlanes of Balinoe and Elgin, 1858-1876, including the (1) marriage certificate for Rev James MacFarlane, Balinoe, and Isabella Farquharson, Cornaig, on Tiree in 1858, (2) death certificate for Isabella MacFarlane in Elgin in 1865, (3) 1871 Elgin census record listing James MacFarlane, (4) death certificate for James MacFarlane, 1876. Includes additional family history information emailed by the donor.
Click here to view marriage certificate; death certificates for Isabella and James
After their marriage in 1858, the MacFarlanes moved to Elgin where James took up the position of Baptist Minister. When Isabella died, aged only 34 years, she left three children: Archibald (b. ca 1860), Margaret (b. ca 1861) and Mary. In the 1871 census, Mary is living in Oban with her mother’s sister, Eliza. It is presumed that Mary stayed with the Whytes in Oban and that she is the ‘other Mary’ referred to in Duncan MacGregor Whyte’s letters to his wife Mary Bernard when he was in Australia. The Whytes were artists who built The Studio in Balephuil.
Photocopies of a series of around 80 long and detailed typed letters (one handwritten) from artist Duncan MacGregor Whyte to his wife, Mary Barnard, and his son, Tearlach, during his travels, from boarding the steamship ‘Caledonia’ in Nov. 1911, across Canada in 1912-13, sailing to Australia via Hawaii in 1913, and around Australia in 1913-1919. In the letters, DMcGW describes his journeys, the people he meets and the paintings he produces. He frequently refers to the Gaelic language and Tiree, where he built The Studio at Balephuil.
