Kenneth Macleod (1892-1947)
Coinneach, (Chaluim, Dhòmhnaill, 'ic Mhurchaigh)
By his grandson, Kenneth Burns
As I said in the introduction to my last article for "Fuaran", where I shared some fond memories and stories from the life of my maternal grandmother Barbara "An Carranach", we can have a special person in our lives from the moment we are born who gives us such wisdom, guidance and kindness that it fills our whole life. This is certainly true for people we know well, and I was of course referring to the grandmother I got to know and love so very well. However, there are other people who equally shape our lives in a similar way, though we may never meet or know them. In my case, I never knew either of my grandfathers.
My mother's father died when she was only ten years old - on 27th July 1947, and my father's father died on 26th December 1960, five months before I was born. I, sadly did not benefit from direct contact with either of my grandfathers. My parents, especially my mother, was always determined that the memory of both of these great men should be well preserved. After my father passed away, on 5th May 1993, she presented me with the letters that his own father had written to him when he was sailing "Deep sea" as a marine engineer in the Merchant Navy, in the mid-1950s. As she presented them to me she said "by reading these letters to your dad, you will gain an idea of what his father was like, a man I loved like a second father". These letters are among my most treasured possessions and I did capture something of his character. I am happy to be the custodian of these letters, and now the papers of my mother's father, given to her by her own mother, "Barbara An Carranach". These papers have been an invaluable source of refererence for this article and give support to the loving memories given to me from the people who knew and loved Coinneach, Calum, Dhomhaill, 'ic Mhurchaigh, best of all his wife, my grandmother, and his five daughters - my mother and my aunties.
My mother did not have very many physical things that belonged to her own father. But we have always had in our kitchen, his army-issued spoon from the First World War. There it is well used every day, his initials "KM" still visible and his memory is thus still alive and "literally" close at hand, the way my mother always wanted. Though she lost her father at the young age of ten, she had got to know him quite well and was able to remember so much about him. His passing had a profound effect on her and throughout the rest of her life she remained very emotional when thinking about him, but she was very keen to tell his life's story. I was a very keen listener. This man whom I was named after has been of very special interest to me, from my earliest years. I would now like to share the memories and stories of his life, as given to me by one who loved him very much, his youngest daughter, my mother, the late Barbara Burns (1937-2020).
Kenneth MacLeod, (Coinneach, Calum, Dhomhaill, 'ic Mhurchaigh), was born on 19th November 1892, at 50 North Shawbost. He was the third son of Malcolm, (1861-1949).(Calum. Dhomhaill, 'ic Mhurchaigh), fondly known as "Am Biùgan" (as it was said that Calum's hair was so dark and shinny it shone like a torch or beacon - am biùgan). My mother said he was a beautiful person, inside and out, was calm and serene. He was an elder in the Shawbost Free Church. His wife was Kenina Murray, (1861-1942; Ceanag, Aonghais, Choinnich, Aonghais Gobha). There were eight siblings in the family surviving to adulthood, four sons followed by four daughters. John Angus (1889 -1986), Murdo (1890 -1948), Kenneth (1892 -1947), John (1895 -1967), Mary (1896 - 1923), Dolina (1899 - 1973), Peggy Ann (1901 - 1923), and Catherine (1903 - 1989). I have written an article for an earlier Fuaran, about the two sisters who died so tragically at the former farm house at 1 Dalbeg, in May 1923 and December 1923.
Kenneth, (Coinneach), was named after his uncle, his mother's youngest brother, who had died a few moths before, he was born. My grandfather grew up in the close family and strong community of North Shawbost. Up to the summer of 1907, he attended the local school, at that time known as Shawbost Public School. He was taught an interesting and wide range of subjects, typical of rural Public School of the time, including English, Arithmetic, Handwriting, Laws of Health, The Empire, Nature Study, Geometry and Mensuration, Applied Arithmetic, and Navigation. This education was designed to provide a grounding in knowledge for future training and developing skills which would be utilized in career options and livelihoods. By all accounts he was fine scholar, with a keen interest for learning. This was a driving force which would lead to a life long career as a dedicated educator, teaching at every level he was always searching the best means of passing on his knowledge and skill to others.
In 1908, he attended the Nicholson Institute in Stornoway, for his secondary education. This meant leaving North Shawbost to lodge in Stornoway at 39 Keith Street, with his auntie Isabella (his mother's next older sister), and her husband Donald Montgomery, and their family. He did well with his secondary school work, concluding his time there by passing Higher Grades in English, History and Mathematics. Other subjects he was taught while attending the Nicolson Institute, were: Drawing, Latin, Gaelic, Shorthand, Book-Keeping, History, Geography, Music, and Physical Exercises. He left Secondary school in the summer of 1913 upon completeing Class Six. He was twenty years of age, which may seem late to be leaving school, but this much the order of the day and was not unusual for the time. Then began an interruption with his studies with the outbreak of the Great War.
From the many and detailed papers relating to his army record, he was "Embodied", on the 14th October 1914, thus answering the call to serve in "The Great War", with the local regiment, The Ross-shire Mountain Battery. Like many of his contemporaries he had earlier joined up as a reservist, as confirmed by his "Attestation", of 23rd May 1912. It is interesting to note that he was using the address of his Stornoway lodgings, that of his auntie Isabella, and uncle Donald Montgomery, 39 Keith Street, Stornoway. Off to the war he went training initially in Bedford.
He saw action at Gallipoli in 1916. He was a bombardier. My mother told of his great liking for motorbikes, developed when he rode as a dispatch rider in France, thereafter he held a desire to have a motorbike, a wish that never became a reality.
On the 19th February 1919, he was "Disembodied on Demobilization", thus having survived the war. He was able to resume his academic career, enrolling in a B.Sc Degree, course at Royal Technical College, Glasgow. Here he began his studies, in Science, Chemisty, and Natural Philosophy, (which included many disciplines of science such as Biology, Physics, Astronomy), Mathematics, and Engineering Drawing.
Ordinarily at this time it might have been impossible to know what his personality or character was like. However we have a little window on his nature, written in the fascinating insight that is the memoir of his cousin Calum "Safety" Smith, "Around The Peat-Fire", first published in 2001 by Birlinn Limited. In Chapter Six, "No croft", there is a vivid discription of the aftermath of extracting blubber and oil from the remains of the huge whale which had been washed ashore at Bragar in 1920. Its jawbone was incorporated into the arch over the gate to the house at "Lakefield".
"...My great-uncle Calum occupied a nearby croft and I was on hand when he was extracting the oil. What I remember about the process is his son Kenneth dipping a stick in the pot and carefully smearing oil on his fine black leather shoes, his father remonstrating with him and saying, 'These shoes will never take polishing again,' and Kenneth replying: 'Perhaps not, but they won't let the water in either. Whale oil is the best treatment there is for leather.' "
I can just hear my grandfather whom I never met, demonstrate this air and attitude, it prevails still in the family. What my mother referred to as Bolshiness, a sort of "Well I'll have the last word on the matter, thank you very much", response. Though it is never said with rudeness or disrespect.
Between 1919 and 1922, Kenneth, was a student in Glasgow. Intially he lodged with his auntie Christina (his father's younger sister), and her family, in Shamrock Street, near the gushet with New City Road. Later, he had a lodging in Parliamentary Road. (Both of these locations now no longer exist, but have been removed by the urban renewal and motorway development embraced by Glasgow in the mid-twentieth century). Back in the early 1920s the young student Kenneth MacLeod, was still rather naive and not really ready for the urban world, despite the experiences of The Great War. There is a story that he was pickpocketed, as a spectator at a football match, losing most of the money of his first bursary.
Upon the successful conclusion of his studies, in 1922, he had attained a First Class Certificate, Batchelor of Science Degree (B.Sc., 1st). Together with a Post War Training in teaching, which was the qualifation needed to teaching in schools at that time.
From October 1922 to October 1926, Kenneth, had his first teaching post at Sir E Scott, Intermediate School in Tarbert, Harris.
1923, was a very sad year for the family. Losing two sisters from Tuberculosis, at their new home, the former farm at number 1 Dalbeg. Peggy Ann passed away on 11th May 1923, and Mary, passed away on 31st December 1923. The tragic deaths of their two sisters had a devasting effect on the remaining siblings.
I wrote an article outlinning the sad stories of those two sisters which was included in Fuaran number 82, Winter 2024, entitled " The SS Metagama Also Came Back".
But happiness was restored for the family, when, On 16th April 1926, Kenneth married Barbara MacNair, my Dear Grandmother, in the Shawbost Free Church.
In October 1926, Kenneth, took the post of Headmaster of Paible, Intermediate School in North Uist,
He and Barbara started a family on 25th January 1927 with the birth of twin daughters Mary Edith and Peggy Ann. They were followed on 25th February 1928 by Annie Mary, and on 30th May 1929 by Malcolm Murdo, their only son who died on 16th January 1930, aged only 7 months. A third daughter, Malcolmina (Mina), was born on 12th October 1931. The birth of his youngest child, Barbara Ena (Barbara Bheag), occurred on 17th July 1937, in Southampton. The family had relocated there, in 1932, when Kenneth got a post in the Southampton Technical College, the forerunner of Southampton University. Sometime in 1937, the awful legacy of the First World War became a serious health issue for Kenneth, when the tubercular kidney, which had developed during his time in the trenches, had to be removed. At the time he was given a poor prognosis with only six months to live, had the operation been a success. In the event he survived a further ten years.
At the outbreak of the Second World War, Kenneth attempted to join up again, but was turned down on account of being medically unfit through having had life threatening surgery only three years before. But he proudly served in the Local Defense Volunteers, and Home Guard in Southampton, for the duration, with the location a busy target of the Luftwaffe.
The family home in the village of Totton, on the edge of The New Forest, near the ports of Southampton and Portsmouth, would soon become a welcome retreat for the many island service men and women who would find themselves in the vicinity. Kenneth and Barbara provided traditional Hebridean, or Lewis, hospitality there in the far south of England. A chicken from their back garden, along with vegtables from Kenneth's well-stocked garden and allotment would be made into a good meal. He would lead the household in prayer, to complete the welcome. The kindness was well remembered for many years, related back by those who were so grateful for it, and the reflection would be made on those who had not returned, from the awful conflict of the war. An outstanding example of this hospitality was shown early in June 1940, in the aftermath of the evacuations from Dunkirk. The family awoke one morning to find a group of sailors asleep on the grass outside the house. Everyone was invited in and quickly a chicken or two, and fresh vegtables from the garden and allotment were prepared for a pot of soup. The sailors' tunics were soaked and encrusted with salt from the sea, from where they had been rescued. All throughout the Second World War their home at number 3 Coblands Avenue, Totton, near Southampton was by all accounts a lively place full of welcome and kindness.
My grandfather would use the downstairs front room of the semi-detatched house to provide a place of study and extra tutelage for his senior students, who were gaining more knowledge, required as they joined the various services. But it had an emotional toll on both himself and his wife Barbara, when they would learn, in the days and weeks that followed, as the war progressed, of the sad passing of these young men. They were so willing to do well and give service.
In November 1940, the family home in Totton was severely damaged by a German landmine that destroyed other properties in the street. I often heard my mother's vivid account of this traumatic event. When, as a three year old, she was sat on a bed by an older sister and commanded " Not to move!" - there was shattered glass everywhere, and the place was in total darkness. Soon after, her mother, Barbara took her daughters to the safety of her own mother's home in South Shawbost, leaving Kenneth, at his work lecturing in the college and overseeing the repairs to their rented home. Again my mother often gave a vivid account of that long and oft delayed wartime rail journey to Kyle of Lochalish. Constant queueing and hoping for a cup of tea, missing their father, but rejoicing on arrival in Stornoway upon seeing the white hair of her own granny, Mary MacNair, who would come to meet and greet any member of the family coming "Home".
That time in the safety of Shawbost, surrounded by so many relatives, family and friends had a profound affect on my late mother, and laid the formative foundation of her passion for her roots. She returned to Totton, speaking Gaelic, and enjoying new friends in Shawbost.
Towards the end of the Second World War, Kenneth's health began to decline markedly. He had a major heart condition and at least one heart attack. In these pre-NHS days, calling for or visiting the family doctor came at a hefty price. There was no financial help with the fees, if one was off work. My grandfather was a life-long socialist. He was a proud supporter and member of the Labour Party, and also of the NUT (The National Union of Teachers). As a child my mother remembered lifting her bike above the gravel path in the garden, so that her father would not hear her going to call the doctor when he was really ill and fighting to breathe.
Then the war was over. The family planned a little break to the "holiday hut", at Calshot, on Southampton Water, they rented each summer before the conflict brought an end to such fun. In the summer of 1947, they headed to Calshot. They had just settled in, cleaned and prepared the hut, when Kenneth took ill with a threatening heart attack. They had to return the short distance home. There on the evening of 27th July, Kenneth indeed succumbed to a large heart attack, from which he sadly did not recover. It was one of the hottest recorded days when Kenneth passed away. My own dear mother, was just ten years, and ten days, of age. Now, the bedrock of the family was gone, each and every member of their family's life would be different from then on without the influence and support of their father.
My grandfather, Kenneth MacLeod, was a great teacher and educator in every way. He delighted in spreading useful knowledge to people of all ages, from young children to adults. Sadly he was only fifty-four when he passed away, and clearly had much still to offer his family, friends and a world in need of enlighted education.
Kenneth in 1910
Kenneth in WW1 army uniform
Below: the army issue spoon, now 111 years old - and still in daily use
