This is a story about resilience and love, each empowering the other no matter what. It provides a glimpse into the lives of two of my Macmillan generation’s Hebridean ancestors. Its main intention is to shine a light on our grandfather Alexander Macmillan. The blog explores what a Scottish identity might have looked like from their perspectives, and contemplate how their values, beliefs and personal qualities could have influenced my own sense of being Scottish. As I began to find out about Alexander – limited though it was – the more I became intrigued by him …
The blog’s contents
Exploring my Scottish identity draws on archive material and provides a factual background and broad sweep of Alexander’s family and working lives – within the limits of what I was able to discover.
The historical context is based on my reading and subsequent interpretations of publicly available research material about the historical context of Grandfather Alexander’s life leading up to and during the period between his early years in Benbecula and his mid-life on the …
Alexander’s merchant navy service began on 11.10.1871 when he was seventeen years old and continued for precisely four years until 11.10.1875. He was registered as No. 50272 on the Silver Craig boarding from Glasgow. He was examined in Kirkundbright by a Dr J Sproat, whose name was thereafter referred to as ‘the person to whom he was bound’.
Alexander’s personal and family records indicate that he was employed as an Engine Fitter and it can be surmised that this is the qualification he obtained from his four-year apprenticeship…
From birth to age 17 (1854-1871) – Childhood
Grandfather: Alexander Macmillan, born 1854 Benbecula, died on 8.4.1940, 68 East Barns St, Clydebank
Father: Michael Mor Macmillan, born 1816, Benbecula, crofter and died at Glasgow poorhouse on 24.5.1901
Mother: Margaret (Walker) Macmillan, born 1830, Kiphelder, S Uist and died 5.8.1897, Glasgow InfirmarySiblings: Catherine …
From Birth to age 34 (1849-1883)
By the time Catherine was 20 she had experienced the loss of four uncles and two infant brothers. Her father’s only sister, Flora, died the year Catherine was born.
Only uncles Malcolm and Peter remained in Benbecula as she grew into adulthood.
When she was 21 her older brother, Angus died of measles and one year later her younger brother Alexander left Benbecula to join the …
The images in this photo folio are taken from the records of a variety of Clydebank shipyard companies and are sourced from the Public Domain website, Creative Commons. They provide a sense of what life in the shipyards was like for the workers – demanding physically but possibly quite fulfilling and even exciting when the finished product was launched.
See the men working in a Clydebank shipyard drawing office which could resemble the one where our father was employed as a naval …
Recent Posts
These posts are additions to the blog section, Letter to Great Aunt Catherine, and as such are personal reflections on how my current experiences and surroundings could resonate in some way with how I have imagined hers to have been.