Pentland Road - 2

Many a man with roots in the Outer Hebrides lost his life in the service of King and Country during both World Wars, without the link to the islands being acknowledged. One such example is Donald Mackillop Ridgway. A tribute in the Stornoway Gazette of 11 August 1944 serves to highlight the Harris connection. Mr Norman Mackillop, Dereaclate, has received news that his nephew, Lieutenant Donald Mackillop, Ridgway, died on Sunday 30th July in a military hospital in England after a short illness. Lieut Ridgway was the eldest son of Mr Alfred Rdigway, Brumley, Scanthorpe. His mother before her marriage was Miss Ann Mackillop, a daughter of the late Donald Mackillop, Dereclete. The deceased, who paid many visits to Harris was a young man of much promise. He was a qualified chemist and was settled in practice for two years before joining the army. He was 24 years at his death which is deeply regretted by many in Harris. Sympathy is felt for the parents and other relatives. Without the tr...

Stornoway Gazette, 23 June 1944 Rev Lachlan Macleod, St Columba's, Stornoway, visited St Kilda by Admiralty trawler last week to conduct a funeral service for ten airmen who lost their lives when a Sunderland flying boat crashed on St Kilda. The bodies were found at the summit of the second highest hill in the island, scattered round the wreckage of the flying boat. Bearer parties of RAF personnel who had gone to St Kilda for the purpose carried the bodies to the little jetty, whence they were transferred to the trawler and buried at sea. Several of the crew of the crashed plane were New Zealanders. The rest were English. [article ends] There were three planes that crashed on St Kilda during the Second World War, and those lost are remembered on a memorial on St Kilda . The names of the crew of Sunderland ML858 which crashed on Gleann Mhor on 8 June 1944 were: WO Cecil Osborne RNZAF F/O Richard Dillicar Ferguson RNZAF F/O William Alexander Thompson RNZAF W/O John Raymo...

Glasgow Herald 24 January 1881 THE STORM LOSS OF TWO FISHING BOATS AND TEN MEN Our Stornoway correspondent writes: A sad boat accident occurred on Friday week in Broadbay, resulting in the drowning of a boat's crew and the swamping of their boat. Early that morning, a number of fishing boats left Portnaguran and other fishing villages in the Broadbay for cod and ling fishing, and remained out most of the day. In the afternoon the weather became very thick with snow showers, and very squally, and all the boats having drawn their lines set sail for home. In making Portnaguran, a fishing boat, which was prevented from entering Coll on the opposite side of Broadbay owing to the heavy surf, was caught in a squall and upset a few hundred yards from the shore. The sheet of the sail being tied the boat floated, and the crew clung to her until rescued in an exchausted condition by a boat which put off from the shore. One of the crew is still under medical treatment. At night it was...

The Glasgow Herald, 24 January 1881, issue 20 THE STORM SUFFERINGS IN THE OUTER HEBRIDES Our Stornoway correspondent telegraphs as follows on Friday night regarding the effects of the snowstorm in the Lewis: The storm which we are no experiencing is the most severe which has been felt here for upwards of twenty years. The fall of snow is very great, and in some places, the wreaths [drifts] are from eight to ten feet deep, and the roads are scarcely passable. The post runner between Tarbet, Harris, and Stornoway, a distance of 34 miles, left the former place early on Wednesday on horseback with the mails, and only arrived this evening, thus taking three days instead of one for the journey. The depth of snow in some places was 12 feet. Several houses were snowed up on the outskirts of Stornoway, and in some instances the inmates had to be cut out. The cold is most intense, 23 degrees of frost [-5C] being registered today. The weather is clear, with the barometer registering as hi...

Stornoway Gazette, 4 February 1944 The Island Of Scarp Recently the Island of Scarp has suffered hardship, through the lack of communication with the mainland. The recent stormy weather has been the cause of this and only on one occasion between the 3rd and the 29th Januarv were the Island's inhabitants able to reach Hushinish, for the purpose of fetching mails and goods. This is the worst plight they have been in for years despite the fact that they are now provided with out-board motor boats. It has been said that some of the Islanders are anxious to leave the Island and settle On the mainland. Their recent experience may force a decision in the matter. Stornoway Gazette, 11 February 1944 Letter to the Editor Sir, As I feel my face somewhat hot since I listened to the BBC announcement on January 31st, regarding distress in the island of Scarp, I ...

Aberdeen Weekly, 19 May 1877 THE DISTRESS IN ST KILDA ARRIVAL OF HMS FLIRT IN ABERDEEN Yesterday afternoon HM gunboat Flirt arrived in Aberdeen from Stornoway. She left Greenock on Tuesday 8 May for St Kilda, with provisions and seeds for the inhabitants. The island of St Kilda consists of three rocks, only one of which, however, is inhabited. It belongs to Macleod of Macleod. It is situated in the Atlantic 36 miles from the nearest island of the Hebrides - the Monach - and 70 miles from the mainland. As we have reported from time to time, great privation existed on the island, and owing to the publicity given to the state of matters by the press, the Government took the matter up, and the result was the despatching of the Flirt with food. The Flirt arrived on the following Saturday night, and the captain got out the provisions, put them in the ship's boats for transference to the boats belonging to the islanders - the Flirt's boats being unable to reach the shore owing...

Glasgow Herald, 24 October 1874 WRECKS IN THE HEBRIDES TWENTY-FOUR SEAMEN DROWNED - SEVEN BODIES WASHED ASHORE Telegraphing last night, our Stornoway correspondent says: The effects of the gale have been more disastrous than at first expected, and it is feared several wrecks, involving great loss of life, have occurred along the Western Islands. After Wednesday's gale, a large three-masted vessel was seen in the Atlantic, a long distance off Barvas, about twelve miles west from Stornoway. She appeared to be quite helpless, and to be driving towards land. On Wednesday, the gale increased, with heavy showers of rain, and next morning no vessel was to be seen. In the afternoon large quantities of wreckage were found on the beach at Barvas, together with men's clothing and women's apparel. Later on  in the day a man's body, dressed in sailor's clothes was found and the following among other articles discovered: A seaman's cap with "forty-five" sti...

The Glasgow Herald, 22 July 1874 THE BERNERA EVICTION RIOTS ACQUITTAL OF THE FISHERMEN AND CONVICTION OF THE SHERIFF OFFICER Angus Macdonald, Norman Macaulay, and John Macleod, fishermen, Bernera, have just been tried before Sheriff Spittal and a jury, at Stornoway, for assaulting Colin Maclennan, sheriff officer, in revenge for serving summonses of removings, in March last, upon 58 crofters in Bernera, "by surrounding him in a violent and excited manner, seizing hold of him by the breast or collar, or parts of his person, and pulling and jostling him, and also seizing hold of his topcoat, waterproof coat, and leggings, and maliciously tearing and rendering the same useless, thereby putting him into a state of great terror and alarm." Mr Ross, Procurator Fiscal, prosecuted, and Mr Charles Innes, solicitor, Inverness, defended. The accused pleaded not guilty. In the course of the trial, which lasted eleven hours, it came out that the present crofters in Bernera and their ...

The below article from the Pall Mall Gazette of 15 July 1867 paints a reasonably dispassionate image of the Hebrides at the time. Particularly noteworthy is the reference to the disappearance of superstition under the influence of the minister, who (with other local worthies) appears to have taken over from the clan chiefs as heads of the community. THE HEBRIDES. THE isolation of the Hebrides sufficiently accounts for the comparative ignorance of most Englishmen in regard to them, as well as for the peculiar character and habits of the people. Skye, indeed, may be easily reached, but the traveller who seeks to penetrate its recesses or to explore the outer islands must prepare to encounter a formidable array of discomforts, hardships, and even perils. Mr. Alexander Nicolson, who has just written a very able and interesting report on this part of the kingdom for the Scottish Education Commissioners, gives us some idea of the difficulties of travelling. In going from Eigg to Coll, a v...