M.E.M. Donaldson 1.
This picture of Ishbel MacQuarrie taken in about 1918
for Donaldson's book Wandering in the Western Highlands and Islands
(1920) has become an icon for the study of old photographs of the island
since it was used as the cover photo for Camille Dressler's book Eigg,
the story of an island (1998). Rightly so, for it captures in Ishbel's
dress and in her work a way of life which has disappeared entirely. Ishbel
is bring peat in basketwork panniers from the high ground down to the
MacQuarrie croft house in Cleadale. The MacQuarries were the last family
to live in a black house which is now a ruin on the cliff tops overlooking
Laig Bay. See Katie MacLean 3 & 4.
Katie MacLean 4
Ishbel MacQuarrie again with a horse carrying peat,
1914. Behind her the bare-footed boy with a second horse is Johnny MacKinnon.
Beside the track are stacks of peat ready to be carted.
Catriona White 2
Mary MacLeod, mother of "J.D." Campbell and housekeeper
to the laird R.L.Thomson, outside the family croft house, c.1900. She
wears a plaid shawl. The nail on which her basket hangs can still be seen
today on the wall near the front door.
I. & M. Campbell 15.
Katie and "J.D." Campbell, Cleadale, after a life-time
crofting, c. 1935.
Ishbel Anderson 5
A fine portrait of Donald MacLeod, R.L. Thomson's gamekeeper,
with his shotgun, at the lodge, 1912.
F. & S. Campbell 58.
Jessie and James ("Seumas Ban") Campbell, Kildonnan.
She died in 1928 and he in 1932. He was island registrar and overseer
of the poor.
Chrissie Oliver 20.
Angus MacCormick (died 1927) at the family's upper croft
house (now called The Tophouse) with the spinning shed behind which was
pulled down in the 1940s.
Tom Jamieson 68.
Donald Campbell outside his Cuagach croft house in 1952.
Duncan Ferguson 30.
Young people out for a walk, probably on a Sunday, in
1933. Walking sticks were regarded as an essential fashion accessory for
walks at the time. L to R: a visitor, Duncan Ferguson senior (Cleadale),
a visitor, Duncan Campbell (Kildonnan), and another visitor.
Barbara Barrie 62.
Mary MacDonald (nee MacLean) at Shore Cottage when it
still had a front garden, in the 1930s. For everyone coming ashore off
the ferry, the kettle was always on, with pancakes and scones available.
All were welcome.
Gavin Scott Moncrieff 2.
George Scott Moncrieff (1910-1974) with his children
Michael, Lesley and Gavin, c. 1945. George was a journalist, playwright,
novelist and the author of well-known books on Scotland, such as Stones
of Scotland and The Scottish Isles. George moved to Eigg from Edinburgh
in 1945 after his wife died at the age of only 29 and settled in Cleadale,
but moved back to Edinburgh in about 1951.
Tom Jamieson 38.
Archie MacDonald, the estate boatman, in the centre
with Tom Jamieson, island factor from 1950 to 55, and Tom's older son
Bill on The Dido in 1952.
Meryl Moore 25.
Mary Campbell at her Kildonnan Cottage in 1983. In World War II she had served as a nurse in India and Burma and earned the Burma Star for pulling wounded soldiers onto evacuating ships under Japanese bombing during the siege of Singapore.