INHABITANTS OF THE ISLANDS OF ULVA GOMETRA & LITTLE COLONSAY CENSUS DATA by farm / settlement 1841 – 1861 ResearcH to 21 MarcH 2019 Map published in Meg Douglass, Lost Townships, Silent Voices: A Field Study of Mull. Argyll & Bute Library Service 2003 1 FARMS & SETTLEMENTS OF ULVA, GOMETRA & LITTLE COLONSAY CENSUS DATA 1841 - 1861 ULVA: SUMMARY InHabitants InHabitants InHabitants 1841 1851 1861 1. Sound of Ulva 36 44 21 2. Oddmoss 7 0 0 3. Ardellum 56 9 0 4. Park House 4 0 0 5. AcHadHacHara 6 0 0 6. AcHnacring 7 0 0 7. Ferinardary 54 0 0 8. Soriby & AcHadHaneoir 39 0 0 9. Aboss 33 0 0 10. CulinisH 52 8 0 11. Berniss 25 0 0 12. Baligartan 32 0 0 13. Glaicnagallan 35 0 0 14. Eolasary 32 0 0 15. KilvicHeun 57 0 0 16. Cragaig 43 5 0 17. Ormaig 52 64 0 18. Guarder 0 21 0 19. Ardglass 0 52 0 20. SoutH Side 0 0 16 21. ArdnacallicH 0 0 4 22. District Road Ulva 0 0 29 TOTAL 570 203 70 GOMETRA & LITTLE COLONSAY: SUMMARY 23. ArdskipnisH, Gometra 22 0 0 24. BailacHloidh, Gometra 44 0 0 25. Baliochdrach, Gometra 12 0 0 26. Gometra 0 31 0 27. Gometra Farm Road 0 0 23 28. Little Colonsay 16 15 26 29. Collonsay House 0 18 0 TOTAL 94 64 49 2 Note on sources used THis folder contains information gatHered on Ulva, Gometra and Little Colonsay in 1841, 1851 and 1861, during the first three national censuses in which information about individuals was recorded. It is a snapshot, if a detailed one, of a brief period in these islands’ long histories. The data is nonetheless of great significance, because it was during these two decades that the bulk of Ulva’s inhabitants—many of wHose families Had been on the island for generations—were subjected to a process of rapid, systematic and at times brutal clearance by then owner of the estate, Francis William Clark.1 From an enumerated population of 570 people in 1841, Clark used the legal, financial and pHysical instruments at His disposal to reduce tHe population to 70 souls (including his own household of 9) by 1861.2 The census records, especially those from tHe beginning of tHis period, thus capture the names and family relationsHips of entire communities of people whose ties to Ulva were abruptly severed shortly afterward, when they had to leave the island en masse for the colonies or for other parts of Scotland and Britain. They allow us a glimpse of life on this Hebridean island when it was Home to a bustling and populous Gaelic-speaking community of farmers and tradespeople, whose rich cultural heritage and unique knowledge of place endured despite increasingly cHallenging economic conditions, and whose names migHt otHerwise Have been lost to history. The situation during this period was different on Gometra and Little Colonsay, neither of whicH was bought by Clark. Gometra, wHicH remained in tHe family of Ranald McDonald of Staffa (see below), nonetheless saw its population 1 Francis William Clark (1801-1887) a lawyer in Stirling, purchased Ulva from the trustees of the late CHarles Macquarie (brother of LacHlan the Australian governor) in 1835. Gometra continued to be owned by the McDonalds of Staffa (latterly by Isabella McDonald, sister of Reginald “Staffa” McDonald) from 1807 until 1857, wHen it was sold to one Donald MacLaine, of tHe LocHbuie brancH of tHat family. Sinclair, A.M., The Clan Gillean (Haszard and Moore: CHarlottetown) 1899, p. 482. Between 1841 and 1861 Gometra’s population was reduced by two tHirds, in part tHrougH removals (see footnote 3 below) thougH it does not appear to Have been subjected to a process of systematic clearance. 2 Clark has been named among tHe most infamous clearers in Scotland by historian T.M. Devine. See Devine, T.M., Clanship to Crofters’ War: The Social Transformation of the Scottish Highlands (MancHester University Press: MancHester) 1994, p. 82. Mull historian Jo Currie also describes Clark’s evictions as brutal, and observes tHat despite his notoriety, “he seems to have had no conscience about his actions, for he spoke about them quite openly”. Currie, J., Mull, the Island and its People (Birlinn: EdinburgH) 2000, p. 378. 3 reduced by more tHan Half between 1841 and 1861 due to removals and emigration.3 THe census information laid out here was initially compiled from data tables generously sHared by Ian Phillips of Mull Museum and the Mull Genealogy website: Http://www.mullgenealogy.co.uk.4 Via tHis site, members of tHe public can searcH tHe same dataset for specific individuals and houseHolds. As He cautions, however, “census records can be far from accurate”. Errors may arise from tHe difficulties of transcribing sometimes barely legible Handwriting, and census takers were not always willing or able to obtain precise information on every member of eacH HouseHold. (Ages in particular were often rougH guesses, especially in 1841). THe information presented here about later and former addresses of some people named in tHe censuses (whicH allow tHeir movements to be tracked through time) was put together by Ian, aided by family Historians witH genealogical ties to these islands. It is hoped tHat furtHer researcH and tips from visitors will reveal wHat Happened to many more of the families who had to leave Ulva and Gometra in the 1840s and 50s. If you Have any information you would like to sHare please contact Amiria Salmond: [email protected]. The 1812 map5 recording many of Ulva and Gometra’s ancient Gaelic-Norse placenames, as well as the location and boundaries of named farms and settlements, was commissioned by Ranald “Staffa” McDonald, Himself a native speaker of Gaelic, who inherited Ulva and Staffa in 1800 from His fatHer, Colin McDonald of Boisdale in South Uist,6 purchasing Gometra in 1807. Staffa had grand plans for the estate and lived well for a time off the profits of its booming kelp industry, whicH his father had helped to develop. He set up a genteel household on the island, run by his motHer and sisters, welcoming a steady stream of well-to-do visitors wHo came to tour the Island of Staffa’s geological wonders and to experience the rustic delights of authentic Highland hospitality. 3 Jo Currie (2000, p. 394) notes that “tHe McDonald sisters in Gometra” were among tHe Mull Heritors of tHis period wHo “Had not been sHy in ‘losing’ tHeir people”. THis reference is indexed as “some evictions from G[ometra]” (ibid. p. 438). 4 The data has subsequently cHecked against digital copies of original census records. 5 Plan of the Islands of Ulva, Gometra, Colonsay, Inchkenneth and Staffa, the property of Reginald McDonald Esq., Surveyed by John Leslie & Son, 1812, National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, Shelfmark: Map.Rol.d.17. (High resolution digital copies can be ordered for a modest price from the NLS: [email protected]). 6 Boisdale had purcHased Ulva in 1785, less tHan ten years after it was sold for tHe first time at tHe insistence of hereditary cHief McQuarrie of Ulva’s creditors. 4 But Ranald’s enthusiastic pursuit of a nostalgic chiefly idyll (abetted and eulogized by his friend the writer Sir Walter Scott) was not to last. THe golden years of his early lairdsHip, during which Ulva’s people prospered and their Gaelic culture was celebrated, were already sHowing signs of strain by tHe time He commissioned John Leslie & Son, surveyors, to accurately map His estate. The purpose of the 1812 map indeed seems to Have been to enable Him to rent out large tracts of the island’s grazing to external investors. THese measures were insufficient to meet Staffa’s mounting liabilities as the kelp industry declined, however, and by the early 1820s Ulva was among tHe assets over wHicH His father-in-law, Sir Henry Steuart of Allanton, had assumed complete legal and financial control. Staffa gave up the life of a Highland laird and moved to His wife’s family’s lowland estates, where he was known as Reginald. Though his motHer and sisters retained tHeir ties to Gometra, it is not known if he ever returned to visit his erstwhile island chiefdom. The other details of maps reproduced Here come from tHe following tHree sources. In attempting to identify particular ruined Houses in wHicH a given family may Have lived, it would be best in the field, if possible (depending on internet access), to use these printouts together with the live websites and/or applications tHemselves, as tHese allow zooming between scales in a manner tHat makes it mucH easier to recognize and compare specific ruins and otHer features: PastMap is a freely accessible online web resource whicH allows Ordnance Survey maps of Scotland to be viewed at multiple scales, including mark-ups for listed buildings, arcHaeological sites, monuments and mucH more. See Https://pastmap.org.uk Google Earth Pro is a free-to-download application which allows satellite images of tHe eartH’s surface to be viewed at multiple scales. For Ulva there are HigHly detailed images from 2009 and 2012, on wHicH tHe remains of many settlements and individual Houses around tHe island are clearly visible, as are traces of extensive agricultural “run-rig” style cultivation. See Https://www.google.com/eartH/download/gep/agree.Html Heritage Paths provides zoomable access to a number of Historical maps as part of its project “to collect as mucH knowledge of old patHs in Scotland as possible 5 and to promote tHe existence and tHe Heritage of tHese patHs”. Among tHose available from a drop-down menu on tHe site is “OS Six IncH, 1843-1882”, the Ulva and Gometra part of wHicH contains mucH useful information, including many of tHe Norse-Gaelic place-names wHicH also appear on tHe 1812 map.