Dr Alasdair Maclean

As resident GP in South Uist for thirty-two years, Dr Alasdair Maclean (1918–1999) became a kenspeckled figure on the island and like his elder brother Calum was a prolific collector in his own right.

 

Like the rest of his family, Dr Alasdair received his early education in the local primary school in Raasay, and later at Portree High School. For there he proceeded to St Andrews University where he studied medicine and graduated in 1941 MB ChB. His brother Norman also graduated in medicine and the both saw active military service in India and Burma with the Royal Army Medical Core.

 

After an engagement lasting a year, Dr Alasdair married Rena MacAskill of Drynoch in 1947 and had a family of five sons. After demobilisation he took up his chosen career, and worked for a time in Dingwall, Dundee, Laggan, Broadford, and Perth, before taking up medical practice in South Uist in 1950. He remained a GP there for the next thirty-two years and was also a medical superintendent of the Sacred Heart Hospital in Daliburgh.

 

Calum had been collecting in the Southern Hebrides some three years before Dr Alasdair came out to South Uist. Here, for example, is a dairy entry from the summer of 1950:

 

Dimàirt, 15 Lùnasdal 1950

Dh’fhuirich mi a-raoir ann an taigh Alasdair an Dalabrog. Bha seann-duine a-muigh air taobh a deas Loch Baghasdail agus bha Alasdair ag ràdha gun robh naidheachdan aige. Bha e airson gu rachainn a-mach ga choimhead. Bha Alasdair fhèin a’ dol a-mach ann agus chaidh mi a-mach còmhla ris. ’S ann air taobh a deas Loch Baghasdail a tha an duine seo. ’S e Iain MacDhòmhnaill a chanar ris, no Iagan Theàrlaich. Tha an duine bochd dall a-niste. Chaill e aon t-sùil le sgiorrag e chionn fhada agus as t-samhradh seo a chaidh, chaill e fradharc na sùla eile. Tha an duine bochd gu math truagh dheth an-diugh agus chan iongnadh ged a dh’fhairicheadh e an ùine fada. Chan eil e ach mu thrì fichead bliadhna a dh’ aois agus tha e gu math làidir fhathast. Bha taigh-tughaidh beag laghach aige agus tha e glè ghlan eireachdail na bhroinn. Tha a bhean beò còmhla ris agus nighean leis agus i pòsda a-staigh. Tha aon leanbh aca. Bha naidheachdan beaga laghacha aig Iain MacDhòmhnaill, ach chan e sgeulaiche mòr a th’ ann idir. Bha stòiridhean beaga èibhinn aige agus an-diugh agus mi gun an Eidifión agam, ghabh mi beachd air grunn dhiubh. Bha mi còmhla ris mu uair an uaireadair agus sgrìobh mi sìos ainmean nan naidheachd a bh’ aige. Gheall mi dhà gun tiginn air ais a-rithist leis an Eidifión agus gun toirinn sìos iad. Mu chòig uairean as t-oidhche thill sinn air ais gu Dalabrog. Bha dùil againn a dhol suas gu Beinne na Faoghla a-nochd ach dh’fhuirich mi a-bhos còmhla ri Alasdair.
 

Tuesday, 15 August 1950

I stayed last night at Alasdair’s house in Daliburgh. There was on old man out in South Lochboisdale and Alasdair said he had stories. He wanted me to go out to see him. Alasdair was going out and I went with him. This man stays out in South Lochboisdale. He’s called John MacDonald, or John Charles. The poor man is blind now. He lost one eye by accident a long time ago and last summer he lost the sight in his other eye. The poor man isn’t well off today and it’s little wonder that he should feel the time slowly going by. He’s only sixty years of age and he’s still quite strong. He had a neat little thatched house and it’s very clean and tidy inside. His wife is still with him and a married daughter who stays with them. They’ve one child. John MacDonald has nice little anecdotes, but he’s not a great storyteller at all. He had funny, little stories today but I didn’t have the Ediphone so I took a note of a number of them. I was in his company for an hour and I wrote down the titles of his anecdotes. I promised him that I’d be back again with the Ediphone and that I’d take them down. Around five o’clock at night we returned to Daliburgh. We had expected that I’d go up to Benbecula tonight but I stayed here with Alasdair.

 

With so many exponents of history, folklore, Gaelic song, culture, genealogy surrounding him, and no doubt with the encouragement of Calum, Dr Alasdair was inspired to research and write on many of these subjects. In 1982 he wrote his first book, A MacDonald for a Prince, the fascinating story of Neil MacEachen of Howbeg, who shielded Bonnie Prince Charlie and whose son was later to become Napoleon’s Marshall MacDonald and Duke of Tarentum. Jacobite history fascinated him and after his retirement, in 1992, his second book appeared under the title Summer Hunting A Prince.

 

Another book followed in 1994 when Dr Alasdair, edited meticulously, prepared a new edition of History of Skye, the extremely detailed study of the social history of that island written by his uncle, Alexander Nicolson. In addition to these works, he edited and consolidated William MacKenzie’s books Iochdar Trotternish and Old Skye Tales. He also made a contribution to a book about the Nicolsons of Scorrybreac. Genealogy, particularly that of South Uist families, held a particular fascination for him and he contributed a very interesting paper on this very subject to the Gaelic Society of Inverness.

 

He made many other contributions to journals and periodicals, and often contributed to radio and TV programmes. He was also in much demand as a guest speaker.

 

Many of his recordings made by him, mainly Gaelic songs for which he had a great love, are available on the Tobar an Dualchais / Kist o Riches website. Like his brother Norman, Dr Alasdair also had a great love of bagpipe music, and was a regular attender at the Silver Chanter, the Northern Meeting and Blair Castle competitions.

 

Dr Alasdair Maclean made a great contribution to collecting Gaelic folklore, especially songs, and if it had not been for his dedication in doing so then we would have a far poorer picture of the strength of Gaelic oral tradition in South Uist at that time.

 

References:

NFC 1301: 524–26

William MacKenzie; Alasdair Maclean (ed.), Old Skye Tales: Traditions, Reflections and Memories: With A Selection from Skye: Iochdar–Trotternish and District (Aird Bhearnasdail, Maclean Press, 1995)

Alasdair Maclean, A MacDonald for a Prince: The Story of Neil MacEachen (Stornoway: Acair, 1982)

–––––, ‘Notes on South Uist Families’, Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, vol. LIII (1984), pp. 491ff.

Alasdair Maclean; John S. Gibson, Summer Hunting A Prince: The Escape of Charles Edward Stuart (Stornoway: Acair, 1992)

W. David H. Sellar & Alasdair Maclean; C. B. Harman Nicholson (ed.), The Highland Clan MacNeacail (MacNicol): A History of the Nicolsons of Scorrybreac (Waternish: Maclean Press, 1999)

 

Image:

Mrs Kate MacDonald, styled Bean Eairdsidh Raghnaill, with Dr Alasdair Maclean. December 1975. The photograph belongs to Ishbel MacDonald. Courtesy of the School of Scottish Studies Archives.

Annie Johnston: A Barra Tradition Bearer

Born in Glen, near Castlebay, Barra, in 1886, Annie Johnston, styled Annag Aonghais Chaluim, came of a family (Clann Aonghais Chaluim) of four other sisters and three brothers, one of whom, Calum Johnston, was also a renowned tradition bearer.

 

Unlike some of her contemporaries, Annie remained in Barra and became a schoolteacher at her local primary school in Castlebay. She followed this profession throughout her working life and was, by all accounts, an extremely well-respected and loved individual. Sir Compton Mackenzie wrote of her:
 

Annie Johnston … whom no better teacher of small children every lived. She was renowned throughout the Gaelic world on both sides of the Atlantic, for her ability to teach children was just as much for teaching the grown-ups who attended each year the Gaelic Summer School. She was a perennial spring of Gaelic folk-lore; her tales were inexhaustible. A truly lovable woman, she was utterly unspoilt by the esteem in which she was held.

 

Annie excelled in songs and she knew a great deal about òrain luaidh, or waulking songs, used in order to lighten the burden of work when fulling cloth. She also had reams of anecdotal stories and knew many òrain bheaga, or little songs, which was especially useful when it came to entertaining children. A great deal of her repertoire was recorded for the School of Scottish Studies Archives as well as many other visitors who came knocking at her door. In addition to these many recordings, Annie greatly contributed to Gaelic folklore research and was an active member of the Barra Folklore Committee set up through the initiative of John Lorne Campbell and others. With her excellent local knowledge and contacts she willingly facilitated all manner of folklorists and scholars who came to collect songs and much else from the best women folksinger then available in Barra, who, if it were not for Annie’s efforts to cajole them and make them comfortable, would have been far too reticent to have a microphone placed anywhere near them.
 

Calum Maclean in his very first trip to the Western Isles recollected in a typical diary entry a meeting he had with Annie Johnston on the 3rd of September 1946. Maclean at this period kept his diary in Irish Gaelic and here the translation is given:
 

I got up at ten o’clock as I was feeling a bit tired from the night before. I went out in the morning to take the place in. I had to collect my luggage from the pier. I waited until eleven o’clock for the chauffeur to turn up but he didn’t make an appearance. He turned up at three o’clock. I then began writing letters. Afterwards, I began transcribing material recorded on cylinder. I met Annie Johnston at seven o’clock. I went up to talk to her for a while after that. There were a crowd of women present in the house. Annie Johnston’s a lovely woman. She talked about Ealasaid Eachainn [Elizabeth MacKinnon] who died a short time ago. Her traditions went with her to the grave.
 

Some decades previously, one of the very first collectors to whom Annie gave a helping hand was none other than Marjorie Kennedy-Fraser (1857–1930), styled Marsaili Mhòr nan Òran, who, in conjunction with the Rev. Kenneth MacLeod (1871–1955) subsequently published Songs of the Hebrides (1909–21) in three volumes. Annie and her brother Calum’s contribution to this work was recognised by Kennedy-Fraser herself when she referred to Annie as her ‘indefatigable collaborator’ and where she paid a tribute to the Johstons for ‘the many fine tunes.’ Kennedy-Fraser would later recollect that:
 

Annie would invite a group of older women to a cèilidh at her parents’ home and encouraged them to sing while Kennedy-Fraser recorded them. Annie wrote down the words of more than 20 songs sung that evening.
 

Calum Maclean’s brother, Dr Alasdair Maclean, who was a resident GP in South Uist for more than thirty years, wrote of Annie Johnston in the following terms:
 

An interesting survival in Barra was a Gaelic version of another international folk tale known in English as Cinderella. The Barra version is a more attractive and perhaps more credible one and curiously although differing in detail it has much more in common with the one published by the Grimm brothers entitled "Ashputel" than with the Cinderella story. It was recorded from the late and much talented Annie Johnston.

John Lorne Campbell paid a fitting tribute to Annie and Calum Johnston with these words: 

Those who had the privilege of knowing Annie and Calum will treasure the recollection of highland hospitality, warmth of personality, generosity of spirit, and love for and knowledge of the oral Gaelic tradition, all at their very best and all expressed with completely natural spontaneity.

 

Her obituary notice is hereby reproduced in full and is an eloquent testimony by John Lorne Campbell to a well-loved and highly-respected personality:

Loss to Highland

folklore

 

THE LATE MISS ANNIE

JOHNSTON, BARRA

 

The Highlands and Islands, and Barra in particular, have suffered a grievous loss through the passing last week of Annie Johnston, the witty, charming and talented lady whose name is well-known among folklorists far beyond the bounds of Scotland.
 

Annie Johnston possessed the rare combination of a modern educational training–she was a highly successful school teacher–with the completely natural recollection and grasp of the rich oral tradition of Gaelic folksong and folktale that has made Barra so famous.
 

In this respect she resembled her Nova Scotian cousin, Rt Rev. Mgr. P. J. Nicholson, president-emeritus of St Francis Xavier University at Antigonish, who in his spare time had made substantial contributions to the preservation of Gaelic folktales in Cape Breton.
 

In her profession of school teacher Annie Johnston was invaluable in a Gaelic-speaking island where many of the children came to school with little or no English, and many of her former pupils must remain very vivid memories of her, and her help was invaluable, indeed indispensable, to the many folklorists and students of Gaelic who used to visit the island of Barra or, whom she taught at An Comunn Gaidhealach Gaelic summer school.
 

Mrs Kennedy Fraser, who first met her in 1908, refers to her as a “valued friend and invaluable collaborator. Others, including the writer and many of his friends, will echo these words with heart-felt agreement. Not only did Annie Johnston gladly impart here own store of tradition, including many unusual and beautiful songs she had learnt herself from her mother and from neighbours who came originally from the isolated island of Mingulay, she was also indefatigable in brining forwards others to be recorded, coaxing them over their shyness and getting them in the right humour, interpreting and explaining when this had to be done. She was the kind of collaborator whose goodwill and help are absolutely indispensable to a visiting folklorist. In addition she was herself most hospitable and entertaining hostess and inimitable raconteur, and her house was an immediate objective for any visitor who came to Barra with the slightest pretension to an interest in the culture and tradition of the island.

Annie Johnston and her brother, Calum, were of great assistance to Mrs Kennedy Fraser and contributed substantially to “Songs of the Hebrides”.
 

When the broadcasting of Gaelic became organised Annie Johnston came into her own, and a wide and appreciative audience was able to hear her singing the natural traditional versions of the folksongs of her native island. At various times between 1937 and 1962 she recorded over 40 such songs for the writer.
 

When the School of Scottish Studies was founded at Edinburgh University in 1951 she and her talented brother, Calum, were among the first to record such material for its archives. Acknowledgement of her help can also be found in the foreword of several books by collectors of Hebridean folklore. She visited Nova Scotia and Boston a few years ago at the invitation of transatlantic friends and got a tremendous welcome from the Highland people there.
 

Her many friends hoped she would be spared for many years to continue her work in retirement and perhaps to write, in Gaelic or English, the memories of her early years. It was not to be. There must by many in Barra and outside it who feel her passing as a deep personal loss; their heartfelt sympathy will go out to her brother and sister-in-law and her sisters, nephews and nieces in their bereavement.
 

                                                      “A cuid de pharas di”
 

                                                                                       J.L.C.
 

References:

John Lorne Campbell, ‘Loss to Highland Folklore THE LATE MISS ANNIE JOHNSTON, BARRA’, The Oban Times (14 March 1963)

Scottish Tradition Series, vol. 13, Songs, Stories and Piping from Barra, Calum and Annie Johnston (Greentrax Recordings, CDTRAX9013, 2010)

Tocher, vol. 13 (1974) (a volume dedicated to Calum and Annie Johnston)
 

Image:

Annie Johnston photographed in May 1947 by George Scott-Moncrieff in her classroom, Castlebay, Barra. Courtesy of Cnuasach Bhéaloideas Éireann, Coláiste Ollscoile Baile Átha Cliath / National Folklore Collection, University College Dublin. Courtesy of Cnuasach Bhéaloideas Éireann, Coláiste Ollscoile Baile Átha Cliath / National Folklore Collection, University College Dublin