National Health in the Highlands and Islands

Addendum to previous post

The Highlands and Islands Scheme

            To provide a comprehensive medical service which would comply with modern standards special measures have been necessary in the sparely populated and poor area of the Highlands and Islands, where communications are still often extremely difficult. Inquiries made in 1850 showed that there was only one doctor to serve the 5,000 people who were scattered along 60 or 70 miles of the Sutherland coast.In the Isle of Lewis there were only three. Not only were doctors' fees impossibly high for the people, for it sometimes took several days to reach a case, but the medical men were desperately overworked and nearly as poor as the people they attended. Conditions were substantially the same after the [1914-19] war, when the scheme was launched [inexact].

            The Highlands and Islands Medical Fund, administered by the Department of Health for Scotland, has a total income of £80,000 a year - £70,000 from the State and £10,000 from the National Health Insurance Fund in respect of the mileage allowance which would normally be paid direct to the insurance practitioners. From these grants are made to doctors for attendance at reduced fees on families of insured persons and members of the cottar and crofter classes. This makes possible a visit from the doctor for a maximum fee of 5s [5 shillings = 25 new pence] - irrespective of the distance he has to travel. Care is taken to see that adequate income is provided for the doctors, who are panel doctors and often medical officers engaged in statutory health duty in addition. Transport by car and motor-boat has also helped to improve their positions, with the result that more highly qualified men are attracted to practices in the far north and west or in the islands of Scotland. Some indication of the value of the service is given by the fact that the proportion of uncertified deaths has fallen from 10.54 per cent. in 1911-13 to 4.51 per cent. in 1931-33.

            The service has also brought about a vast improvement in the nursing arrangements. About 200 nurses are now employed in the area, and close co-operation between them and the doctors has been secured. Hospital and specialist services have been centralised at the Royal Northern Infirmary at Inverness. This has been made possible partly by developing the wireless and telephone communications of the Highlands, and by creating an air ambulance service. All who have examined the service have been impressed with it, and the P E P Health Report commented: "The co-ordination of the services for doctors and nurses, the use of modern methods of communication, and the tentative development of a centralised hospital system are object lessons to other parts of the country."

 - pp.168-170 in Britain's Health by S. Mervyn Herbert, 1939, a Pelican Special based on P.E.P. (Political and Economic Planning) Report.

The Dewar Committee was formed in 1912.

From Saints and Sinners, by Iain Smith and Joan Forrest, Acair, 2017

Medical Service (Highlands and Islands). HC Deb 04 February 1913 vol 47 c2010W

2010W

§Mr. AINSWORTH 

asked the Secretary for Scotland whether his attention has been drawn to the necessity of an improved medical service for the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, and also to the fact, as made clear by the Report of Sir John Dewar's Committee, that the rateable value of the Highland counties is insufficient to meet the demands of modern local government, especially as regards medical service; and what steps he proposes to take to remedy the present state of affairs in these counties?

Mr. McKINNON WOOD 

I have carefully considered the Report of the Committee, and my knowledge of the Highlands and Islands leads me to agree entirely with their view that an improved medical service is urgently needed. The Report has also received the sympathetic attention of the Government. A special item for the current year dealing in part with this matter appears in the Supplementary Estimates, and the whole subject is receiving the most careful consideration.

SCOTLAND (HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS). HC Deb 07 July 1913 vol 55 cc22-3

22

43. Mr. CATHCART WASON 

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether, in view of the pressing needs of the Highlands and Islands for medical nursing and sanatorium treatment, and the recommendations of the Committee presided over by Sir John Dewar, and of the fact that these recommendations have been unanimously approved by the Scottish Liberal Members, he will state when he will introduce the Bill which he has promised, especially in view of the fact that it is stated the Bill will be non-controversial?

§44. Mr. AINSWORTH 

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware of the disappointment felt in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland that no practical effect has yet been given to, the recommendations of the Committee presided over by Sir John Dewar; and, seeing that the necessary money has been promised, will he say when the statutory authority to administer the Grant will be set up?

§54. Mr. MUNRO 

asked the Financial. Secretary to the Treasury whether, looking to the urgency of procuring money for medical service and nursing in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and, to that end, of giving statutory effect to the Dewar Report at the earliest possible moment, he can now state when the Bill providing the money and setting up the authority to administer it will be introduced?

§Mr. MASTERMAN 

The Bill is already in an advanced state of preparation, and will be introduced as soon as the exigencies of Parliamentary time permit. 23The Estimates presented to Parliament include a sum of £10,000 only in respect of the proposed Special Grant for the purpose of providing for special charges in respect of insured persons pending the setting up of the new machinery. A Supplementary Vote for the balance of the Grant will be required when the Bill has received the Royal Assent.

MARQUESS of TULLIBARDINE 

May I ask, in view of the statement in Question No. 43, that the Bill will be non-controversial, whether the right hon. Gentleman has come to an agreement with the Secretary for Scotland on the full details of the Bill?

§Mr. MASTERMAN 

It is a Government Bill in every sense of the word, and is, I believe, non-controversial as between the two parties in the House.

See also: 

Crosfill ML. The Lewis hospital, Stornoway: some aspects of the development of medical care in an island community. Medical History 1973; vol. 17, no.1, pp.49-60. 

A Stornoway Girl in New York, 100 Years Ago

A world away from the war...?

A Letter from Canada, May 1916

The writer of the letter transcribed below, aged 22 at the time of writing, was the daughter of a Stornoway shopkeeper. After some time as a student at the prestigious Atholl Crescent College of Domestic Science in Edinburgh, in 1913 she married Joe Flett from Findochty, whose family's fish-curing business took him to Canada in August 1915. This was before the introduction of conscription, but his involvement in work of national importance (food supply) might have rendered him exempt in any case.

Outward Bound passenger records show Joseph Flett, aged 27, Fish Curer, sailed 20/08/1915 on the Tabasco from Liverpool to St Johns, Newfoundland. Country of last permanent residence England, intended future permanent residence Newfoundland.

Outward Bound passenger records show Mrs. Flett, H'Wife, sailed 23/04/1916 on the Tuscania from Liverpool to New York, not shown to be accompanied by husband or child: Country of last permanent residence “Br. Protectorates” [maybe they didn’t know where the (old) Hebrides were?!]; intended future permanent residence USA.
[Some of this doesn't quite fit, but perhaps her seasickness prevented her details being recorded properly if this was done after embarkation, and explains her child not being close by - see letter.]

In fact Mrs. Flett (Lizzie) had her 15-month-old daughter with her and they were going to join Joe in Canada. He met them off the boat in New York and they spent the next 4 days in the city.

Atlantic crossing record for Joe

Atlantic crossing record for Lizzie

Border crossing (Canada-US) for Joe, 27-4-1916

--------------------------

A. Flett & Co.

of Buckie Scotland

Herring Curers

Curling, Newfoundland

21st May 1916

Dear Ma,

            At last I have reached my destination & found time to write. It is more than a fortnight now since we landed; we spent a week in New York & took 4 days to go from there to St Johns where we stayed another few days & finally reached here last Wednesday.

            Marjorie is none the worse of all this moving about & is as fat & rosy as ever. The people in New York used to stand & gaze at her rosy cheeks, the children are all very pale & pasty there. She was not a bit sick on the "Tuscania" but I was bad the first two days. I don't know what would have become of Marjorie those days, but fortunately I fell in with an Irish girl who took a great fancy to her & looked after her all the time. She was going out to Bermuda as housekeeper to a naval doctor; she was one of the most decent creatures I have ever met. She thought that babies should get a bit of everything that was going & when I came up on the 3rd day I found Margie having a high old time with peppermints & ginger cake. She even used to get her share of biscuits & cheese at lunch.

            It is a wonder to me she wasn't half dead, but she fairly enjoyed the trip & was the pet of the whole ship - "Red coat" was all the rage. You would have laughed to see her trotting down the deck in a breeze with the deep sea rowl & her head down in the approved style. Joe met us at New York & fortunately she went to him at once - I was quite thankful. He was wild because I did not travel first class & understood all the time that Mary was coming with me. We had a most glorious time in New York, it beats London & Paris to sticks - better shops, better theatres, better restaurants & better fashions & far nicer things to eat. I was just enchanted with the famous Broadway & 5th Avenue. We went about all the time with Mr & Mrs Vidvotsky wealthy Russians in the herring trade. They were awfully nice to us - their servant took Margie out in the afternoons & stayed with her at nights. We bought a nice small American pram which was most useful - you should have seen Joe pushing it down 5th Avenue - I wouldn't dare put my hand near it. We used to take her out ourselves in the mornings, then the girl took her to the park in the afternoon while Mrs Vidvotsky & I went to a matinee or shopping & our husbands did business. Then after we had put Margie to bed we would all go off together to dinner, the theatre & have supper at some dancing cabaret. Mrs Vidvotsky is awfully nice - she is only 24 & has been married 5 years - they have no family. She showed me round all the shops - I bought two nice hats & some white blouses also a white linen dress. The childrens clothes were simply lovely. I got some nice dresses for Marjorie - a fine yellow linen empire, with turned back cuffs & collar of white & a black velvet belt - short sleeves. She is a dream in it with blue socks & black patent slippers; I also got her a blue in same style & a white linen with blue smocking. All this description is for Mary A's edification.

            We came up to St John's by boat & of course I was sick again. It is quite a busy place but the shops are not up to much and the fashions very demodé. If I was old fashioned in New York, I was the biggest swell in St John's by a long chalk. This place is nearly a day's journey from St John's. It is very quiet, but pretty & I think I will like it all right. Joe is not yet sure whether we will be here for any length of time. He likes being here very much & says he has no desire to return to Scotland. He says I may go home for 2 months every winter if I like, but who would be bothered crossing the Atlantic in winter for that.

            Joe is quite balmy about Marjorie - I found that everyone in the place had seen her photo & knew her name, age & weight & one kid had a doll called after her. [...]

            I will be expecting a letter soon with all the news. [...]

                        Love from us all

                                    Lizzie

Birthplace of the couple's two younger children

"Curling is a sub-division of the city of Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador. Located in the humber arm of the Bay of Islands, Curling was originally a fishing community. It is the oldest section of Corner Brook."

Studio portrait of Joe

Studio portrait of Lizzie

Toddler Marjorie
in Newfoundland

The letter was addressed to her mother in Francis Street, Stornoway

SS Tuscania was a luxury liner of the Cunard subsidiary Anchor Line, named after a town in Italy. She was torpedoed in 1918 by the German U-boat UB-77 while transporting American troops to Europe and sank, sending 210 people to their deaths.^[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Tuscania_(1914)
See also; http://www.islayinfo.com/loss-troopship-tuscania-islay.html

A commemorative service was held on the centenary of the Tuscania tragedy (BBC Scotland news item 5-2-2018, also available in Gaelic.) [And see comment below].

When the NHS came to the Isle of Lewis

Thoughts of Calum Smith on the impact of the National Health Service on his home community.

(Some of these may relate to the Highlands & Islands Medical Service, forerunner of the national organisation.) 

A View of Stornoway, Isle of Lewis

From an unpublished letter written in July 1990:-

[...]

            About your query reference the National Health Service, my recollection is of a revolution in attitudes towards the seeking of medical attention. No longer did sufferers have to wait until at death's door, before calling a doctor, because of fear of the subsequent bill. Now immediate attention was freely available, with specialist or consultant expertise if required. A far cry from the days when, for example, in many villages, the only midwife available was an untrained local woman whose only claim to any qualification was personal experience. In my own family [myself and four siblings] were all delivered by Eilidh Mhor (Big Helen), a near neighbour. It was only after we left Shawbost and moved to the outskirts of Stornoway that my mother had the benefit of a District Nurse to help her.

            But always there was the prevalent fear of doctors' bills - probably stimulated in the Hebridean mind by the recollection of the drastic consequences that could follow any form of debt incurred, especially non-payment of rents. Your great-great-grandfather [named] was evicted from his croft in Uig for rent-arrears, and landed with his family on the inhospitable Atlantic coast at Shawbost. your great-grandmother [named] was twelve years old. (A digression!)*

            But among the G.P.s in rural Lewis there were some Robin Hoods - they made sure they were well paid by those who could afford it and sent no bills at all to the very poor. In fact my sister [A] tells me that there was one practitioner (who shall be nameless), who when he sent his bills actually sent a receipt to my mother.

            But in spite of all the generosity and dedication of many G.P.s, the great reluctance to ask for help remained.

            So I suppose the main impact of the introduction of the Health Service was the realization and acceptance by ordinary people that medical help was available and that they did not have to count the cost.

            I hope that this is a help [...]

* For background on the rent-arrears trap and its dire effects, see :-
1851 Diary by the Chamberlain (landlord's agent) - 

 

Extracts from: John Munro Mackenzie, Diary: 1851. Stornoway, Acair, 1994.

p.20 Thursday 23 Jany.  Wrote to the Lochs, Uig and Barvas Ground officers at considerable length on emigration, stating the offer made to the people by the Proprietor and directing them immediately to make a tour of their several districts to ascertain what number will be got to emigrate volun[t]arily -- There are two classes I would propose to emigrate, first of all bad payers, say those in two years in arrear of rent if able bodied & have no reasonable grounds of excuse for being so far in arrear -- Secondly -- I would propose to clear whole townships which are generally in arrear and are not conveniently situated for fishing and can be converted into grazings several of which are in the Parish of Uig...

p.32 Thursday 13 Feby.  Walked to the Manse of Uig... Went to the Parish School & found it quite crowded there being more than 40 schollars [sic] present, and on enquiring the cause was told that Mr Watson gave notice to the people that unless they sent their children to school he would pindfold *[sic] every sheep & cow of theirs he found on his grass – He expects to get the parents to attend his Church in the same way but I fear he will be disappointed -- Met with the people of [4 place-names] and explained to them the condition on which they were to emigrate... We fixed on sending four families from Braenish none consenting [further details follow]... The greater part of the people fixed on today for America are even now destitute of food, several families have not even one meal of food -- Carnish should be cleared altogether....

"*[pinfold] ...To confine in or as if in a pinfold. [Middle English pynfold, alteration of Old English pundfald : pund-, enclosure + fald, fold.]."

"No seer foretold the children would be banished/

That a degenerate lord might boast his sheep."
- Canadian Boat Song

The diary includes many such tables,
listing families' arrears and whether they were "willing" to emigrate

also 13/2 (p.32)  [R]eceived a dispatch from the Sheriff with a parcel containing the Census papers -- With Mr Camerons [sic] assistance divided the whole island into enumeration districts...

Friday 26 [September]  Proceeded to Shawbost... North Shawbost is one of the largest townships in the Lews, a portion of it occupied by people removed from Uig who I hope will do better here than in their former holdings... There are several in North Shawbost who I fear cannot pay rent... 

Ruthless as some of the above statements may sound, Mackenzie was far outdone in this respect by his successor as Chamberlain (Factor) of the Matheson estate, whose reign of terror and eventual overthrow are described in: None Dare Oppose: The Laird, the Beast and the People of Lewis, by John MacLeod (Birlinn, 2011). The eviction to which Calum refers would have occurred in the latter's time as Factor, c.1859. 

A beach at Uig, Isle of Lewis
(Photo: I.R.M.)

On medical services on the island before the NHS, see Stornoway Historical Society article:
 Early Medical Men of Lewis

Then It Could Be Told: book review

The Secret State: Whitehall and the Cold War, by Peter Hennessy. Allen Lane, The Penguin Press, London, 2002, xxi + 234 pp. ISBN 0 713 99626 9.

   Even before it starts, this book plunges the reader into the nightmare world it investigates, with endpapers (at front and back, produced more fully on pp 164-8) listing ‘Probable nuclear targets in the United Kingdom: Assumptions for planning’.  This 1967 document of the Joint Intelligence Committee names 65 ‘targets related to nuclear strike capability’ and 20 major cities, in every part of the country, so we can see just how close the perceived threat came to home.  The text fills in the details of what it would have meant.

   Peter Hennessy displays 'The Cold War state which British insiders built alongside the existing one, from roughly 1947 onwards' (p. xiii) and which his researches and discoveries, in the Public Record Office (PRO) and among surviving participant insiders themselves, have brought to light.  The nuclear factor was, as he says, central throughout the period and as such it is the focus of his study, presented in six fact- and figure-packed chapters (and earlier summarised to an appreciative audience in the Penguin History Lectures 2001).  Some of the material will be familiar, in general terms at least, to those who lived through that era, especially if they tried to expose and oppose the machinations of the Cold War state.  For surviving participant outsiders there may be a certain grim satisfaction in being shown how right they were, not only on the major issue of the scale of nuclear devastation and how close to the brink of it we came, but about the activities of Special Branch - they were watching quite a lot of us - and Civil Defence - no doubt many volunteers meant well, but what a grotesque farce it was.  These and other accoutrements of the Secret State are exposed extensively, though not exhaustively. 

  Although the author remains a corridors-of-power man, relishing contacts in the upper echelons, the unguarded remark of the once-powerful, and the machinations of government at the highest level, he accords sympathetic attention to the activities and viewpoint of dissidents, highlighting for example the ‘Spies for Peace’ episode of Easter 1963.  For him the surprising thing is not that a Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) developed, but that it took so long, and he cites official statements and analyses which he considers would have kick-started it years earlier, if made known to the public.  In this context the Strath Report of 1955 was a primary source which was still closed to him at the time of writing but has since been opened by the PRO, perhaps thanks to his efforts in getting at and publishing its gist.  Those reviewers who have drawn the inference that after all nuclear deterrence ‘worked’ (and that CND was wrong) are ignoring quite a lot of the story.  As Hennessy notes: ‘It is simple to the point of being seriously misleading to suppose that the creation of a nuclear weapons capability on both sides of what became the Cold War… offers an all-embracing explanation of why the nuclear taboo has not been broken…’  (p.xi)  It is easier to answer the question ‘what if’ x number of bombs had been used (see Table) than ‘what if’ they had never been invented or had remained the monopoly of one country plus or minus its allies, although in the second case, at least a vast amount of money would have been saved.

   The title gives a slightly exaggerated idea of the book’s coverage, largely limited as it is to the nuclear-armed aspect of the Cold War and to certain departmental sources - probably the most significant with regard to policy-making - in Whitehall: the Cabinet Office (which alone covers a multitude of sins), the Prime Minister‘s Office, and Defence.  One way in which the work could usefully be built on would be by looking in more detail at manifestations and ramifications of their policies.  For example, further material is available on surveillance of the peace movement, Admiralty reactions to anti-Polaris demonstrations, and on the war-games exercises and detailed plans drawn up by practically all and sundry.  To dip one’s toes briefly into these last, murky waters: the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF), as well as conducting elaborate Atom Bomb Target Studies all over the country (PRO: [National Archives ref.] MAF 99/562 1952 etc.) was diligent in considering matters ranging from seed supplies in wartime to monitoring of farm produce for radioactive contamination in wartime, the effects of radiation on bull semen, and the slaughter of livestock following nuclear attack.  All departments were required to think about and prepare for the prospect.  The Ministry of Labour would, via a National Service Officer, direct any person in Great Britain to perform any service of which he ['or she' is implicit] was considered capable, restrict workers from leaving jobs, and so on.  Defence Regulations covered nursing, police, fire, merchant navy; certain other industries and services.  The Home Office excelled both in scaring scenarios and hilarious absurdities, with its much-satirised sixteen pages of Advice to the Householder.  ‘Public control after attack’ was the subject of special consideration; Civil Defence Wardens, and/or your local Street (Party) Leader, would coordinate the effort and should be obeyed.  Church bells were to be rung to signify fallout coming within one hour.  Housing and Local Government proposed arrangements for emergency sanitation and storing of water.  Under a dispersal policy ‘priority classes’ including pregnant women, children, and disabled, totalling about 9.5 million or 43% of the population, were to be moved from major centres to reception areas.  Even the Ministry of Pensions and National Assistance was ready at one stage, if there was a nuclear war, for the NA Scheme to be modified and known as the War Assistance Scheme.  An Index of Official Announcements on such matters was held in readiness for eventual broadcasting. 

   One finding that emerges from documents and interviews is that the state was not so monolithic, and did not present such a united front with its allies, as opponents often tend to assume. There are recurrent allusions to anxiety about the chances of US over-reaction to Soviet ‘provocation’, and the USA wais frequently portrayed as a threat to world peace (plus ça change), needing to be restrained by British reasonableness (well, perhaps some change there), for which British nuclear clout – ‘enough nuclear power to prevent foolish decisions to our detriment by the US’ (p. 62) – was seen to be required. 

   In spite of the end of the Cold War and its effects on international relations, the final chapter reminds us powerfully that this is far from being all over, past history in a supposedly, in some ways, more secure world.  Several nuclear bunkers may now be derelict or refurbished as tourist attractions, but the top people still have their bolt-hole and every British Prime Minister has to decide whether to authorise, for posthumous implementation, mass murder on an awesome scale.  Nuclear submarines carry sealed orders, ready in the event of that say-so to go and kill - whom? - when the rest of us are dead. 

  In spite of its subject, this is an entertaining and not an over-long or difficult read, with the bonus of sharing the author’s pleasure in his research, and triumph at finding the odd significant gem whose ‘sensitivity’ seems to have escaped notice, lurking in an obscure file.  While it is an excellent introduction, there are several areas in which the story could be expanded, and it is reasonable to hope is likely to be, with researchers taking an interest in the topic.  Many files are there to be explored and new ones being released all the time, so that more works of this quality and accessibility may be produced on Britain’s nuclear past, reaching as it does into our present and future.  

L.W.

First published in the journal Medicine, Conflict & Survival, 2003.

From inside the book's back cover

Extract from PRO file HO 226/71:

Casualties from a heavy nuclear attack on the United Kingdom  1958

HO Scientific Advisers’ Branch

 Casualty estimates for ground burst 10 Megaton bombs, Table1:

No. of Bombs	No. killed (no evacuation) 000s
5	7,479
10	12,216
20	17,735
30	21,051
40	23,487
45	24,884

 The comment is added that estimates are almost certainly too low.

Stornoway and the Strategists

Masters of War

When the Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic (SACLANT) chose to develop Stornoway out of fifteen possible airfields for NATO's use, officials in the Air Ministry and Ministry of Defence found that such a proposal was likely to arouse strong local opposition. For some, in this unemployment black spot, the prospect of job creation would outweigh other considrations, but there were enough dissenting voices to send a good few memos and minutes flying around Whitehall. How to deal with those ungratefully reluctant participants in the Cold War effort? - without of course telling them much about what that effort consisted of, and what risks closer participation in it might entail. There were security objections to explaining "operational reasons" for the plan, nevertheless a local enquiry might have to be held.

Pesky Politicians and Contumacious Clerics

Secrecy was prominent among the concerns of the by then long-established Labour MP for the Western Isles. Malcolm K Macmillan, who wrote in September 1958 to complain of the mysterious activities of "surveyors and officials running loose" worrying his constituents, and to request details about the prospects of demolition. Croft lands, with some (Ross & Cromarty) County Council and croft houses, were being looked at in May that year, and the men at the Ministry had cannily decided to extend the lease on Melbost Farm, on the outskirts of the town, to save compensation later. (Melbost Beach, formerly a cherished amenity for townspeople, had been lost in the MoD takeover, along with other land including the old golf course, during the Second World War. Militarisation of the wider area dates back at least to the First World War and it continues.) 

A view of Stornoway in 1959

                With the national ban-the-bomb movement still in its early days there was not much sign of specifically anti-nuclear activity in the Western Isles, but it was clear to many that having defence planners eyeing up your back yard as a place to park and service state-of-the-art equipment was undesirable on several grounds. By early 1959 the Free Church Presbytery of Lewis was taking a principled stand; in a letter they outlined their fears, from noise to risk of war: the threat to existence itself as well as to "moral and spiritual welfare" and the traditional way of life. They blamed the policy of sacrificing the Hebrides to the interests of the industrial south and insisted that, if it came to the worst, it would be better to lose young men from the island through emigration - to seek employment - than to have hydrogen bombs stored there.

                In a response addressed to the Reverend Macaulay on 10 February, Number Ten offered the assurance that Prime Minister Harold Macmillan felt the "inconvenience" would be less than predicted, and would be "loyally accepted". In contrast to the church stance, the Town Council debate on the issue was apparently swayed by the "jobs first and foremost" line (advocated forcefully by a local schoolmaster) if not by the spirit of patriotic self-sacrifice, and it decided to take no action.

More trouble than it's worth?

Without seriously entertaining the notion that the people who lived in the place should have a real say in what was going to happen there, the chaps at the desks, ready as they were to do SACLANT's bidding, were having a few second thoughts. All this fuss being stirred up might lead to Parliamentary Questions (and answers) and "other political transactions". The Scotsman on 1 April 1959 published a description of the proposed airfield. There was some worry as to how the paper had got the information, and surmise that the leak might be not unconnected with the recent visit of US and RAF personnel to Lewis, which had included an overnight stay at a hotel in Stornoway - the suggestion being that conviviality may have overcome discretion. Altogether the "present project" might prove troublesome and should perhaps be re-examined. It showed signs of being expensive, inconvenient, and a political embarrasment: in fact "Stornoway could be a thorn in our side".

                Pressure was on for an early decision, and surveys would be required. On 21 April a statement was obtained of aircraft that would use Stornoway in war - not of course for public distribution, although Macmillan, the MP, was to be "reassured" that NATO only came in for occasional exercises, "or, of course, for war". The files do not record his reaction to this consoling thought. In any case he and others continued to express opposition. They were told in May that plans were not yet firm enough to say if anyone would be evicted; anyone who was would receive compensation but no firm decison had yet been made. In June the County Council of Ross and Cromarty expressed support for a Free Church protest of two months earlier and voiced complaints over the lack of information. It was regarded as doubtful whether a public enquiry would satisfy the Free Church.

                Behind the secrecy, admittedly, there seems to have been a genuine absence of clarity. By now "root and branch reappraisal" was being advised, for whatever mix of logistical, bureaucratic or policy reasons. Occasional unexpected or intriguing comments crop up amid the files' officialese. A confidential note, signed "Tom", to the head of Special Branch asks "Could we have a word? - about precisely what, or whom, remains unspecified. Another note-writer in what presumably is an example of Civil Serive humour would like an assurance that the "Brahan Seer or any other Gaelic clairvoyant has nothing to say that would save us wasting our time." Meanwhile, although some think there is no alternative, other locations are being canvassed, Benbecula among them.

                In the USA, where else, the Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic eventually opined that although Stornoway was the only one suitable among those offered originally "for wartime support", they could perhaps use Lossiemouth. Whitehall sent Lord Forbes on a visit and observed that while there were political objections to Stornoway and financial ones to Lossiemouth, the latter was becoming more favoured as the recipient of this dubious honour, with Stornoway relegated to being a "hideaway" due to its perceived lack of logistic facilities. A "Siting branch" would be set up there in May 1961, while lucky old Macrihanish airfield in Argyllshire came under "development for NATO" in its turn in the early 1960s, attaining the status of "probabIe nucIear target" by 1967.

Cold War Coasts

As early as November 1948 the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the RAF agreed that Stornoway aerodrome would be available for use in emergency by short-range aircraft on Atlantic flights. It featured in TOP SECRET and NATO SECRET documents, and was marked on homegrown UK Coastal Command (CC) plans dated 1957 as providing facilities including storage tanks. A visit was made on 19 and 20 March 1959 with the remit of considering it with regard to deployment of one CC Shackleton to Stornoway on outbreak of war and at periodic intervals in time of peace, and determining its suitability as a wartime (supporting) operational base for No. 210 Squadron. Formal agreement for use in war had not yet been reached at Air Ministry or Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation level, but permission had been granted for an on-site review.  "Tentative agreement" had been reached on Shackletons deploying to Stornoway in peacetime, on condition, among other techinical specifications, that there should be no interference with civil aircraft movements.

                A "third use" for this handy outpost, UK, was that it would be required to implement CC dispersal plans for Phase 1 of a future war: as a war station to provide fuel and refuellers, domestic and technical accommodation, weapon storage, essential commmunications and heavy ground equipment. One may speculate whether, as seems likely, the existence of this list would have brought the place to the interested attention of Soviet intelligence.

                Reporting on 14 April 1959, the visitors gave their verdict that Stornoway could be used as a hideaway base in "extreme emergency" only, scheduled to supply fuel to enable eight Shackletons to fly back to Ballykelly. Operations were at present out of the question due to deficiencies of accommodation and of medical and other facilities. Stornoway was, hjowever, noted as being earmarked for development by NATO, with £2.5 million already allotted in the sixth tranche of NATO's Infrastructure Programme. If this went ahead as planned the deficiencies would be made good. It was decided that transfer of fuel should proceed anyway, in case of delay. A newspaper account about the airport being flooded by the sea in December 1959 was added to the file, and may have increased misgivings, but "rehabiitation of Stornoway airfield" went ahead. CC planned that when completed it would be used as a deployment base, under Air Ministry control within CC and under RAF command in peacetime (as at Macrihanish).

Brave Britannia's Bombers, or, Anyone for Plane-Spotting?

An update in July 1963 particularised aspects of wartime use as an RAF/CC dispersal base for Shackleton Squadron, i.e. six aircraft with air and ground crews, and as a US Navy dispersal base for one  Squadron, P2V (Neptune) and emergency land-on facility for carrier-based aircraft. Occasional essential use in peace was also planned, for both NATO and national exercises and in national surveillance operations in time of tension, as part of the North Norwegian Sea area. Transits (flying over) would be necessary in peacetime for practice, to familiarise pilots with the area. An RAF Holding Party would be in place.

                Much of the subsequent business concerns the minutiae of maintaining personnel in the style to which they were accustomed (the idea of bomber-command type caravans was found not to be practical in the rugged climate) and a certain amount of sorting things out with the Americans and between ministries. The record of modifications and delays goes up to 1967. "Local political difficulties experienced during early development planning" were relegated to background briefings; the project's history from November 1955 was cited to explain why plans had now to be modified at a late stage. Stornoway was deemed "likely to be an important NATO base for some years to come" in view of the input of resources. It had its spot on a swathe or continuum from Ballykelly in Northern Ireland through Macrihanish (an emergency deployment, wartime, base for two Shackleton Squadrons), although unlike those places it does not feature on the Joint Intelligence Committee's list of "where the nuclear bombs would fall in wartime". (1)

                The early 21st century has brought plenty of reminders that the Hebrides sea area is still a favourite arena for war games. Exercises are mounted with scant regard for the convenience or safety, even in the shortest term, of the islands' inhabitants.Incidents such as those of 2002 - the civilian aircraft ordered to change course, the damaged nuclear submarine - could no doubt have been worse, and that is perhaps also the best that can be said in summarising the history, so far, of Lewis in its strategic context.

L.W.

Based on research in the National Archives

Originally written around late 2002.

Previously unpublished.

1. Peter Hennessy, The Secret State. Allen Lane, 2002; endpapers [below].

"Probable nuclear targets" including Macrihanish

Postscript: Apparently Orkney was in the running too...

"Nor did anything come of newspaper reports at the end of 1957 that Orkney might be chosen as a missile launching site and that the United States was interested in the former RNAS airfields... Orkney was going through a bad economic patch at the time with the consequent depopulation problems, but even so the idea of a missile site in the islands was received with very mixed feelings - but it did not happen either." - W.S. Hewison, This Great Harbour: Scapa Flow. Birlinn, 2005; p.335 (Orkney Press 1985)

Further documentation on the militarisation of many areas of the country
(June 20040. No relation to the 'Heritage' publication of the same title.

A 13-year-old writing in Stornoway school magazine 1961.
Latin: melius = better; dulcius = sweeter; semper = always; ludere = to play.