A tale of two Donalds

On 9 June 1888, Annie Macleod, living in the village of Knock, Point (in Lewis), gave birth to another child, Donald. He was the sixth, and not the last child. Two more followed, and by the start of 1894, eight children, varying in ages from 1 to 15 years, crowded into the dwelling. It drove the father, Hector, to distraction, to such an extent that he ended his life in September that year. Three months later, Annie also passed away.

The eight youngsters were taken into the care of the Quarrier Homes in Glasgow, and emigrated to Canada two years later.

Donald signed up for the Canadian Expeditionary Force at Calgary in October 1914, and was injured during the Battle of the Somme. He was transferred to War Hospital at Napsbury, where he passed away on 4 August 1916, at 9.45pm.

Due to an error in the paperwork, his remains were transferred to Benbecula, rather than Lewis, and the next-of-kin notified. The next of kin was thought to be Alex Macleod of Gramsdale, but when Alex came to the quayside at Peter Port in Benbecula, he did not recognise the dead man as his son. Nobody came to claim the soldier's remains, so the authorities interred it at Nunton, Benbecula, after a week. Donald Macleod, son of Alex, was alive, also serving with the Canadian Forces, and under a service number that only differed from the Lewis man by one digit. The Benbecula Donald Macleod was 79119, the Lewis man was 79110. Donald Macleod, Gramsdale, lived until 1952.

It has taken a century for this mystery to be cleared up. This morning, three islanders stood by Donald's grave in Nunton Cemetery, and remembered his sacrifice. I did so from 64 miles away in Stornoway.

Emigrants

The Report from the Napier Commission in the Outer Hebrides contains a number of letters (contained in Appendix XXXII), sent by people who had been 'encouraged' to emigrate from Benbecula. When transcribing this section in 2010, I felt considerable cynicism over the veracity of the letters, if not the actual writing then certainly the spirit in which they were written. Lady Gordon-Cathcart has a very poor reputation in the Southern Isles, as the evidence, heard in Benbecula, South Uist and Barra bears out. Some landowners, as the Napier Report shows, actively felt that emigration was the only cure for the ill of the landless pauper in the Highlands and Islands.

However, a comment on this Appendix XXXII testifies that some of the emigrants were actually quite satisfied with the resettlement programme, resettlement at (amongst other places) Wappella Station in modern-day Manitoba, Canada. And, objectively speaking, there is no doubt that many of the emigrants would find conditions there a vast improvement to the congestion which they experienced in Benbecula.

Transposing this argument to the present day, I am reminded of two statues, one erected in Winnipeg, Canada and one at Strath Kildonan, Sutherland. I copy from the Manitoba Highland Dancers website:

This monument recognizes the Highland Clearances where Scottish villagers were forcibly removed from their homes and immigrated to Point Douglas in 1813. These settlers sought a better life in a far-away land and upon arrival fostered a relationship with the Peguis First Nation which was essential for them to prosper in this formidable land. Chief Peguis and his band taught vital hunting, trapping, clothing, shelter and winter survival skills without which the settlers would not have survived.

This 1813 immigration tallies with the second Clearance of Glen Loth (near Strath Kildonan) (the others being in 1809, 1813 and 1819). The story from Winnipeg does bear out frequent complaints, heard over the duration of the Clearances, that people were left to fend for themselves. And if it had not been for the humanity of the Peguis, those that had been left at Point Douglas would not have survived this first winter. 



A similar statue stands near Helmsdale, and I reproduce this image from the webpage for the community of Helmsdale.

Whilst recognising the undoubted achievements of the evicted Sutherlanders, the question does arise: why were these good people not allowed to make such achievements at home?


And which country in the world, in its right mind, throws its resident population off their land, and out of their own country? However, history should always be seen through the eyes of that time.