Ruthin Castle

On 20 April 1917, the converted trawler HMT Ruthin Castle was torpedoed east of Middlesbrough. The 275 ton vessel went down with the loss of 9 hands. Her wreck was dived in 2003 by the late Carl Racey, and her bell was retrieved. One of the casualties came from Barra (James Galbraith), I give details:

Leading Deckhand JAMES GALBRAITH
Seumas Iain Néill Iain Mhóir
Son of Neil Galbraith, of Allasdale, Isle of Barra.
Last known address in Barra: Cleat
Service unit: Royal Naval Reserve, HMT Ruthin Castle
Service number: 882/SD
Date of death: 21 April 1917
Ship sunk by mine laid by UC-50 off Skinningrove, east of Middlesbrough
Interred: Tynemouth (Preston) Cemetery, C. C. 9583
Local memorial: Barra & Vatersay

The Castle Bell shop in Ruthin (North Wales) was in touch to say that they have the bell on display in their shop. They have very kindly shared these images of the display.



The below image shows the bell being retrieved from the sea in 2003

1 May 1917

On this day, four sailors from Barra, Eriskay and Vatersay were lost in the sinking of SS Bagdale. The steamer was heading from the Clyde to Naples, when she was sunk by U-boat UC-66 off Ushant, Brittany, France, with the loss of 23 lives. UC-66 was lost about six weeks after the sinking of the Bagdale, on 12 June 1917. The story is that she was forced to dive and when she was depth-charged by HMT Sea King, her own mines blew up. Like in the sinking of the Bagdale, 23 lives were lost with UC-66, among them her captain, Herbert Pustkuchen.

Sailor John Macdonald
At the age of 17
Iain Néill Ghréitheir
Son of Neil MacDonald, of No. 14, Cleat, Barra, Oban, Scotland. Born at Barra.
Last known address in Barra: Cleat
Service unit: Merchant Navy, SS Bagdale
Memorial: Tower Hill Memorial
Local memorial: Barra & Vatersay

Sailor John Macdougall
At the age of 20
Son of Effie McDougall (nee McInnes), of Coilleac, Eriskay, South Uist, Inverness, and the late Donard McDougall.
Last known address in Eriskay: Eriskay
Service unit: Merchant Navy, SS Bagdale
Memorial: Tower Hill Memorial
Local memorial: South Uist

Able Seaman Donald Macneil
At the age of 23
Dòmhnull Iagainn Dhòmhnuill
Son of Angus and Ann McNeil, of The Square, Watersay, Barra, Oban, Scotland.
Last known address in Vatersay:
Service unit: Merchant Navy, SS Bagdale
Memorial: Tower Hill Memorial
Local memorial: Barra & Vatersay

Able Seaman Neil Macneil
At the age of 24
Son of D. McNeil, of The Square, Watersay, Barra, Inverness. Born at Barra.
Last known address in Vatersay:
Service unit: Merchant Navy, SS Bagdale
Memorial: Tower Hill Memorial
Local memorial: Barra & Vatersay

Remember, remember, the 11th of November

Armistice Day is nearly upon us, and I feel it is appropriate to post a reminder of my links that commemorate the Fallen from the Outer Hebrides in both World Wars.

Centenary of Sacrifice is an on-going project, which will post the names of all the Fallen from these islands on the date, 100 years later, on which they died.

Isle of Lewis

Faces from the Lewis War Memorial
A listing of the casualties from Lewis from WW1.

Lewismen lost in the Great War
A listing of the casualties from Lewis from WW1, including all available information (e.g. images of war graves, transcript of Stornoway Gazette tributes etc).

Roll of Honour, Isle of Lewis 1914-1919
A transcript of Loyal Lewis, Roll of Honour, listing all from the island who served during WW1

Tributes for the War Memorial
A transcript of tributes from the Stornoway Gazette to WW1 casualties from Lewis

Tributes for the War Memorial (WW2)
A transcript of tributes from the Stornoway Gazette to WW2 casualties from Lewis

John Macaulay RNR and SS Kenmare
The story of one WW1 casualty, the ship on which he died and the U-boat that launched the fatal torpedo

Lewismen in Australian service
A listing of those WW1 casualties who served with the Australian forces

Lewismen in Canadian service
A listing of those WW1 casualties from Lewis who served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force

Lewismen from the 2nd Seaforth Highlanders
A listing of WW1 casualties from the 2nd battalion Seaforth Highlanders , accompanied by transcripts from the battalion war diary for the day on which they died.

Iolaire Disaster 1919
Listing of all casualties who died in the sinking of HMY Iolaire on New Year's Day 1919

HMS Timbertown
About the internment camp at Groningen, Holland, where 105 Lewismen were interned during WW1

World War II tribute for Lewis
A listing of WW2 casualties from Lewis

Wargraves in Lewis
Photographs of all CWGC and private wargraves in Lewis and information on the casualties

War memorials in Lewis
Photographs of all war memorials in Lewis with transcripts.

Southern Isles
Outer Hebrides losses in the Great War
A listing of military and personal details of the WW1 casualties from Harris, Berneray, North Uist, Grimsay, South Uist, Eriskay and Barra

Berneray to Vatersay tribute
A listing of the WW1 and WW2 casualties from Berneray, North Uist, Grimsay, South Uist, Eriskay and Barra

Harris War Memorial
A listing of the casualties from Harris from WW1 and WW2.

Western Isles wargraves
A listing of all wargraves in the Western Isles, listed by cemetery

Western Isles war memorials
A listing of all war memorials in the Western Isle

Other
Lyness Royal Naval Cemetery
A listing of photographs of wargraves and military information of  the casualties, interred at the Lyness Royal Naval Cemetery in Orkney

Second World War casualties from the Southern Isles

Completed the WW2 listings from the Southern Isles.

Barra & Vatersay: 55 (51 served in the Merchant Navy).
Benbecula: 6
Berneray: 4
Eriskay: 5
Grimsay: 3
Harris: 62
North Uist: 30
South Uist: 41
Total: 211 (there is a degree of cross-over between the islands)

1939: 4
1940: 44
1941: 36
1942: 25
1943: 19
1944: 20
1945: 11
and 4 died in 1946 and 1947
There are 48 casualties on whom I have very little information.

Of the 211 casualties:
121 were in the Merchant Navy
55 were in the Army, of whom 28 in the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders
13 in the RAF
19 in the Royal Navy or Royal Naval Reserves
4 were women

A tale of four islands - Sandray

Sandray is the northernmost of the Bishops Isles, a mile or so south of Vatersay.
Between 1851 and 1901, its population did not rise above 10.

In 1851, there was a family marked as 'Camron', presumably Cameron, consisting of cow herd Murdoch (48) and wife Janet (45), both originating from Bracadale in Skye. They had four daughters, all born in Skye; and two young sons, born in the parish of Barra. Alexander Macmillan (67) is marked as a visitor - occupation: vagrant.

In 1861, the resident family on Sandray is now 'Mckennon' (Mackinnon), with shepherd Hector (50) and wife Mary (45), together with their five daughters and one son. Hector's sister Elizabeth Macneil is also present.

Ten years later, the same family remains in Sandray.

In 1881, the shepherd family is Donald (56) and Mary (52) Mcmillan, with their four daughters (aged 14 to 24) and four visitors.

In 1891, Donald Macmillan remains as shepherd (now aged 69), with three of his children in his home; In 1901, the total population at Sandray is 3, with 82-year old Donald Macmillan and two of his children.

Sandray has been uninhabited since 1934. 


Image courtesy www.goxplore.net

Berneray to Vatersay

A new site is currently being compiled on the Fallen from World War I and World War II from the islands of Berneray, Boreray, North Uist, Grimsay, Benbecula, South Uist, Eriskay, Barra and Vatersay. All information welcome.

Poverty

If you want to read a description of what poverty was like in the Isle of Barra in 1883, read this account by Allan McIntyre, aged nearly 60 at the time. Contrast that with the condescending attitude of one of the major farmers in the island, Dr McGillivray of Eoligarry comes out with this beauty of a statement in his interrogation by the Commission, only a few minutes before McIntyre's questioning.

10803. [...] Do you think there is more disinclination to emigrate now than there was at that time?
—Well, I think that if the people saw they were to be assisted they would go. The general impression now is that the population is getting thronged again.

10804. How is it getting thronged ?
—In the way I have mentioned, by their intermarrying, and not leaving the country.

It was perceived by some of the ruling classes that the sovereign remedy against overcrowding and poverty in their landed property was to get the people to emigrate. As the Commission correctly highlights elsewhere in Dr McGillivray's quizzing, many of the emigrants arrived in Canada in a state of destitution.

Mingulay

Mingulay, one of the Barra Isles or Bishop’s Isles, is currently unoccupied. The last permanent inhabitants left in 1912, leaving the island as a haven for wildlife and a place for grazing sheep. The reason I am flagging this up in passing came about through researching the First and Second World War roll of honour for Barra. One of the sons of Mingulay appears in the listings for WW1:

Seaman Roderick Gillies
Son of John and Flora Gillies, of Mingulay, Barra
Husband of Mary Macdougall Gillies, of Caolis, Vatersay, Barra, Inverness-shire.
Military unit: RNR, HMT Robert Smith
Service number: 3560B
Date of death: 20 July 1917, at the age of 35
Memorial: Portsmouth Naval Memorial, panel 27
Local memorial: Barra & Vatersay, Nask, Barra

Mingulay's former settlement, image courtesy isleofbarra.com

Remembering - WW2

Today is the 70th anniversary of the invasion of Poland, a military campaign that sparked off the Second World War. In the 6 years following, many thousands would lay down their lives in the defense of freedom. The Western Isles, once more, stood in the breach and supplied dozens of its young men to the services between 1939 and 1945. The death toll makes for sobering reading - having just transcribed the war memorials for all of the islands in the Western Isles (courtesy the Scottish War Memorials Project).
Lewis - 448
Harris - 58
North Uist & Berneray - 36
Benbecula - 6
South Uist & Eriskay - 51
Barra - 54
Total: 653
Lest we forget.