Pentland Road - 2

Associated with Fivepenny Pilot Officer DONALD MORRISON MCLENNAN Son of Donald and Jessie McLennan, of 2056 West Thirteenth Street, Vancouver.     Service: Royal Canadian Air Force Service number: J/26332 Date of death: 24 June 1943 at the age of 19 Interred: Burnaby Masonic Cemetery, Plot 12. Sec. G. Grave 1. You may think, what does a Canadian airman do in the listings for Fivepenny, Ness? Well, it was a tribute in the Stornoway Gazette for 20 August 1943 that made the connection - as the father came from Fivepenny. Relatives and friends in the Ness district will regret to learn that P.O. Donald Maclennan, son of Mr and Mrs Donald Maclennan, 2056 West Thirteenth Street, Vancouver, has been killed in a flying accident in Eastern Canada. P.O. Maclennan, 19, was born in Vancouver and attended Lord Tennyson and Kitsilano High Schools and University of British Columbia. He enlisted in the R.C.A.F. in July last year and was later attached to the R.A.F. Ferry Command. M...

There are several names of men who served during WW2, whose links to the Isle of Lewis are not readily recognised. The connection is revealed in the pages of the Stornoway Gazette from the years 1939-1945. So far, I have located four names. Stornoway man, Donald Campbell Smith , late of 14 Point Street died on 6 June 1942, and, as an RAF sergeant, is remembered on the Runnymede Memorial, panel 93. John Macdonald was the son of Donald and Annie Macdonald of 1 Upper Adabrock. He perished in the sinking of HMS Grove on 12 June 1942, aged 27. Murdo Gillies was the son of Donald and Catherine Gillies, of Greenock, previously 36 South Shawbost. He was an artillery man lost during the siege of Tobruk on 30 September 1941, Another Desert Rat was Lieutenant Donald Maciver , son of Donald Maciver (originally of Laxay), latterly of Glasgow. He was serving in the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders when he fell at El Alamein in October 1942.  We will remember them.

The sinking of the Rangitane Stornoway Gazette, 10 January 1941 It should be noted that Alex Macrae died in May 1941 upon returning home. More on his part in the story of the Rangitane in this earlier post on this blog. It was learned in Stornoway on Monday that Mr Alex Macrae, Chief Freezing Engineer on the British merchantman Rangitane, was among the 500 people marooned on Emirau Island, Terr. of New Guinea, by a German raider and rescued by a British ship from Australia. Great anxiety had been felt for Mr Macrae's safety for some weeks, after it became known that his ship had been sunk by an enemy raider in the Pacific. The news that he is safe has given great pleasure to many acquaintances in his native town. Another well known Lewis seaman for whose safety anxiety has recently been felt is Capt Roderick Mackenzie of Sandwick, formerly of the Esperance Bay. Capt Mackenzie retired from the sea and settled down in Australia early in 1940, but the call of his old professio...

The sinking of the Rangitane Stornoway Gazette - 9 May 1941 Every member of the community rejoiced with Mrs Donald Mackay, Lighthouse Road, Portvoller, on receipt of the news that her son, Donald, was among the survivors landed in Australia from a British ship sunk by German raiders. Donald was an AB on the Rangitane when she was trapped by three German raiders. There was one to each side and one in front so thefate of the Rangitane was sealed. They shelled her from both sides and in a short time she was burning in three places. There were some casualties among the crew and passengers, some of them fatal, but Donald was fortunate enough to escape uninjured. Along with others, he was picked up by one of the raiders, and on board were some of the crews of several other vessels, all victims of this nefarious form of warfare. Among them were two other Lewismen, D. Macleod, Ranish, Lochs (Christchurch, New Zealand); and D. Macdonald, Skigersta, Ness (Wellington, New Zealand). They we...

This account of the sinking of the Rangitane (full story on link) seems to make fairly light of the incident and its aftermath. For historical record, it is worthy of a read though. Stornoway Gazette, 28 November 1941 THE SINKING OF THE RANGITANE FROM S. THEODORE FELSTEAD'S ACCOUNT IN "THE PEOPLE" The brief dark hours of a November night last year "down under" were nearly over. At radio stations in Australia and New Zealand, operators, earphones clasped to their heads sat bored but alert. The night had been uneventful except for routine traffic. Then out of space came a message which was to prove the prologue to a drama of murder and piracy almost unparalleled in the annals of the sea. Rangitane calling - Rangitane calling - suspicious vessel in sight. Stand by for further news. It was 3.40 am and the captain had retired to his cabin when suddenly the lookout man saw a dark blur on the port bow. The officer of the watch rang for Captain Upton, and in...

During its session at Letterfearn, Kintail, in August 1883, the Napier Commission was hearing some breathtaking tales of abuse of crofters and tenants in the villages of Bundaloch and Carndhu. I copy part of the reply from witness John Macrae (in reply to question 31277 by Sir Kenneth Mackenzie). [...] After that we met with the factor at the schoolhouse, Dornie, but all he did was to make fun of us, telling us to take crops out of the rocks, and to imitate the earth worms who were splendid drainers. And further he told us that the blood went from the heart to the top of the head, and then went downwards to the soles of our feet. This signified that men now-a-days were asking too much, but that they would be checked. A vessel was sent to the country loaded with potatoes by the proprietor, but the factor went amongst the better class of people to give them a supply, and kept from the poorer classes all knowledge of it ; and had it not been for the parish minister, who through charity ...

One cause for eviction in the 19th century would be that the tenant was in arrears with his rent. During the Napier Commission's hearings at Letterfearn, Kintail, in August 1883, the following was said on the subject by witness Farquhar Macrae of Bundaloch. Sir Kenneth Mackenzie is asking the questions: 31276. What have you to say on behalf of these people? —I have not much to say, but I have been left destitute as well as my father, who was paying rent before my day. I was the head of the family after my father died. My sheep were taken from me for a trifle, and the whole of the people were treated in the same way. We have been robbed. The proprietor did not wait to see what we might be able to do. We are told that the proprietor declares we were largely in arrears of rent; but the arrears were not so large as represented. Many of these arrears were two hundred years old, lying always in the book, handed over from one proprietor to another. Another thing is, they wished to get ...

I have found that there are quite a few casualties with connections to the Isle of Lewis than are officially recognised as such. No fewer than three such examples arose from an article in the Stornoway Gazette of 10 April 1942 . The CWGC records for Ivor Morgan Macleod Rees , Walter Lewis Macleod Gilmour and Angus Victor Macleod Gilmour show no obvious connection to the island. Ivor's demise was noted in the Hampstead and Highgate Express. The Gazette adds the family relations, in that Walter and Angus are two cousins of Ivor's who also made the supreme sacrifice. The former two's parents originally came from Portvoller. The names of all three men have now been added to the online WW2 tribute for Lewis.

As I was perusing the witnesses to the Napier Commission from Benbecula and South Uist, I came across the death record of a John Mcleod from Buailedhu, one of the Iochdar villages in South Uist. Below his entry on the record, I found one for a little girl, aged 3, who had died of whooping cough on 12 May 1916. She had been suffering from the ailment for 24 days. Her name was Ann Macdonald, of Stilligarry, South Uist. Her mother was called Mary (nee Macinnes), and it was she that had to report the death. The girl's father was Sergeant Donald Macdonald of the Cameron Highlanders, at that moment fighting at the Western Front. A quick glance at the war casualties of South Uist confirms that Mary Macdonald suffered a second blow some three months later on 23 August 1916, when her husband Donald was killed in action . Serjeant Donald Macdonald Son of John and Catherine MacDonald, of South Uist; husband of Mary MacDonald, of Stillgary, Lochboisdale, South Uist. Last known address in...