Transcription of John Ramsay’s report on Tiree schools in 1863.
Courtesy of His Grace the Duke of Argyll
In 1863, John Ramsay, MP for Falkirk Burghs, reported on the state of Tiree schools to the Royal Commission on Education in Scotland chaired by the 8th Duke of Argyll. Ramsay assessed the condition of the buildings, the quality of the teaching, the progress of the scholars and their attendance at school.
At the time of the report, there were eight schools on Tiree, two supported by the Church of Scotland, four by the Free Church Ladies Society and one each by the General Assembly and the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge. Only three made a good impression.
The recommendations of the Argyll Commission were put into effect by the Education Act of 1872. Primary education was made compulsory for children aged five to thirteen and the control of schools placed in the hands of popularly elected school boards.
Transcription of John Ramsay’s letter to the 8th Duke of Argyll about Tiree schools in 1863.
Courtesy of His Grace the Duke of Argyll
In 1863, John Ramsay, MP for Falkirk Burghs, reported on the state of Tiree schools to the Royal Commission on Education in Scotland chaired by the 8th Duke of Argyll. At the time of the report, there were eight schools on Tiree, of which only three made a good impression.
In this private letter to the Duke, Ramsay made several suggestions on how to improve the quality of the teaching on the island by removing unsatisfactory teachers, offering inducements for better pupil attendance and school inspections by the factor, Lachlan MacQuarie.
Rather than appealing to the Duke’s altruism, Ramsay stressed ‘the pecuniary value of education to the proprietor of a Highland estate’.
Photocopied report on the number of pupils in Tiree schools in 1862 and 1863 and the numbers taking each subject taught.
Report on the number of pupils in Tiree schools in 1862 and 1863 and the numbers of pupils in each school in 1863 taking reading, writing, arithmetic, English grammar, geography, Latin, Greek and geometry. (Bundle 1541)
Transcription of a letter from the Rev. Dugald MacLean to the Duke of Argyll about the condition of Heylipol Church in 1900.
Courtesy of His Grace the Duke of Argyll
In medieval times Tiree was divided in two parishes, Kirkapol in the east under the Bishop of the Isles and Soroby in the west under the Abbot of Iona. In 1618 the two parishes were united with Coll. In 1865 Coll was severed from Tiree and ten years later Soroby was severed from Kirkapol.
A church at Heylipol had been built in 1839 to serve the west of the island where the greater part of the population lived. In this letter of 1900, the Rev. Dugald MacLean describes the dangerous and dilapidated state of the church despite many repairs carried out over the previous twenty years.
A new church designed by William Mackenzie was erected on the site in 1902. Of cruciform Gothic design with a bell tower over the entrance porch and large enough to accommodate 365 worshippers, the church is still in current use.
Photocopied letter dated 22/10/1900 from Heylipol manse to the Duke of Argyll.
Letter dated 22/10/1900 from the Rev Dugald MacLean to the Duke of Argyll informing him that the report on the condition of Heylipol Church omits the decayed state of the windows and suggesting that it might be cheaper to build a new church than to repair the existing one. (Bundle 2504)
Transcription of a letter of 1868 from the Tiree factor John Geekie about a rescue involving the crew of the ‘Duchess’.
Courtesy of His Grace the Duke of Argyll
In a letter of 1868 to the 8th Duke of Argyll, his factor John Geekie commended eight Tiree men who had rescued three fishermen from drowning in Balephuil Bay during a gale. Two of the men were crew of the ‘Duchess’, built by the Duke in 1860 and let out to local men.
In May 1861 the factor had reported that ‘the crew of the Duchess fishing boat had a very good fishing…once they took courage and went out where the Tyree boats were fishing outside the light house’, the implication being that the crew were unnecessarily timid.
Their reluctance is easily explained by their lack of familiarity handling a vessel nearly twice the length of the average Tiree fishing boat and also by the dangers of fishing five or more miles from shore in a small sailing boat in the days before reliable weather forecasting and global positioning.
Black and white photograph of crofters with a reaper in the 1930s.
Cutting corn with a reaper in Balinoe or Heylipol in the 1930s. L-R: Hector MacLean; mason Alasdair MacArthur (Donald the plumber`s grandfather); Neil MacLean, Hector`s brother; Murdoch MacKinnon, Cu Dheis.
