An unworldly World of their own? A look at 20th-century Free Church life

Rebarbative as the public face and loudly trumpeted doctrines of the Free Church (FC) may appear to many people born in the 20th and 21st centuries, that institution is an inescapable part of the history of Lewis, and so of the family history of the majority of those with roots in Lewis, varied and scattered though these may be. There were other aspects to life on the island, but it was scarcely possible to live in Stornoway without some awareness of the FC and its beliefs - including the one about reaching out to those not already affiliated to it, and telling them off if their habits and customs deviated from its rules. Being a committed part of its demanding world and peculiarly rich emotional life was different, and its details can be viewed as casting an interesting sidelight on the 'history of mentalities', among other things. For an insider's view of Free Church life and thought in the first half of the 20th century, we turn one more time to the Diary of Kenneth A MacRae.

(Dates on the left are those of the diary, not its writer.)
Such marathon Communion sessions in various places feature largely in the book.

Still spreading the Word:
These items were found in a second-hand copy of the Diary.

Theological arguments will not be rehearsed here, nor will doctrinal differences (other sources are available for that sort of thing, e.g. The People of the Great Faith, by Douglas Ansdell, Acair, 1998). On the other hand, MacRae's constant reference to spiritual matters, in particular the state of his own "soul" and its travails, does become repetitive but has a certain fascination, not unlike that exerted by several fictional works attempting in different ways to describe the psychological state of the religious-minded. One might cite James Hogg's Confessions of a Justified Sinner, or numerous passages in the novels of Iris Murdoch, or rather more frivolously, Amos Starkadder in Stella Gibbons' Cold Comfort Farm. Not that any of these can fairly be compared to MacRae, who would have found much to blame in their doctrines: ultra-Calvinsim taken to extremes; Anglicanism and Roman Catholicism, unacceptable by definition; and populist evangelism. There is likewise interest in the language used, the behaviour expected and rituals practised, as well as, of course, the social attitudes evinced.

A page from 'Cold Comfort Farm', by Stella Gibbons, first published 1934

The following extracts and comments are again grouped by topics, often overlapping, not by date.

Interior World

2-6-1912 old 'offensive' preaching urgently required...

27-9-12 disagreement with the strictness and indeed unreasonableness of some of Miss Kemp's views
9-10-12 Edinburgh: new interests and temptations

15-4-1913 back to the university and my godlessness... Perhaps no specific sins. No time... Pride.

26-5-13 I must not quietly pass what I know to be out of accordance with God's laws; must be prepared to endure.

20-7-13 dread seeking souls for my own name as preacher.

9-8 craving for and lure of romance; pride... Vain wretch! (Referring to himself)

5-9-13 cycling not conducive to spirituality

7-9-13 preaching of the "law" - told Lowlanders will not suffer it. Will not alter, to the end: Calvary, judgment and hell.

31-12-13 "The groan or sigh is the prayer most pleasing to God, for there is the least of self in it." (He quotes; mot of his reading was of and by old-time preachers and ministers.)

19-1-1914. What mysterious power is in Gaelic melody?

20-1-14 old couple of old school, condemned in unreserved terms modern civilisation. Wife of strong mettle, uncompromising.
7-6-14 danger of being led away by imagination
25-10-14 I have a right to expect my prayers to be answered.

9-1-1922. Oh that I could be serious at all times!  10-1 spoke on revivals, their dangers.

23-1-22 spiritual benefit of diary: own soul must receive first interest.

World of Ministry, first experiences

28-6-1914 Lochgilphead. Knew I loved the people.
22-11-14 surprised at opinions sometimes held by Free Church people.

21-3-1915 Kildonan: feeling of desolation; the terrible change which has come over our dear land.

1-5-15 Aberdeen. Set forth the present deplorable state of Britain.

16-5 Tarbert, Lochfyne. An inquiry into the prevailing desolation.

1-8-15 the voice of my people; was afraid I was offending some. Feeling that I had set the people against me. 12-9 I had wonderful power. No-one spoke, I saw no smile on any face.

1-1-1916. In the prayer the tears rolled down my cheeks.
9-1-16 tired of preaching and all to no purpose.
14-5-16 If I can't get to preach I don't want to live.
30-7 desire to flee away to Skye or Lewis.

15-4-1917 to get away to the dear north land, God's own dear people.
11-8-17 The sight of Dingwall [his home town], quiet, lying in its peaceful valley across the water.
12-8 Ferintosh Communion. Saw many tears at the table.

13-7-1918 Skye. Man came forward, tears streaming down cheeks and falling on floor.

9-9-18 blight of Moderation everywhere present.

1-10-18 generally heard Free Church people [seen as] queer, prejudiced and narrow-minded. 

7-9-1922 A band of Plymouth Brethren began to sing at the street corner... was longing to go and join them.

Isle of Lewis, some early impressions and observations

MacRae had found much to approve in Lewis, before receiving the 'call' to Stornoway.
9-10-1919 Ness: size and beauty of church. Attendance 650, 1000. Native garb modest and becoming - exceptional today.
10-10-19 One said that those who felt it long at a Question Meeting would find it long in heaven.
12-10-19 Lewis singing... so like the song of glory.
13-10-19 ... amazed at the giving of the people. Black houses: did not think them so bad at all.
14-10 Bragar, Carloway, Callanish - enjoyable run.

6-1-1922 reports from Lewis re spiritual life very encouraging; in November found ministers mourning frivolity and decadence of the young people.

22,26-9-22 Crossbost, Lochs, Gravir. Church holds 1700, crammed to excess. Earnest attention; more brokenness under the Word with us in Skye.

Women and children - maybe not first, but not last either

Although predictably patriarchal in his attitudes, and restrictive in his assumptions about the role of women in the church, MacRae was not a misogynist, showing interest in and appreciation of many female members of his congregation as well as his own family. Women were also assumed to take full unmediated responsibility for their own spiritual development as individuals; there are frequent mentions of them being "awakened" and received into the church after the due process of being "troubled" and "exercised", with assessments of their characters. Women acting as elders and ministers were, however, numbered among the "hindrances to revival".

June 1916 Arran Striking girls, strong, hardy and intelligent; contrast with the poor, weakly dressed-up things [in towns].
Two young girls who vexed me with their inattention and restlessness.
15-8-16 married in Kyle Temperance Hotel. (His wife was a fellow member of the Free Church).
20-8 happiness engaging affections and interests too much.


p.221 on Monday evenings he tried to relax, play with daughter. -224 Wife's account: fortresses of wooden bricks, child became adept. Supply of troops was not meagre: regiments; and alien soldiers, not all of the smartest appearance. Hard peas for ammunition, shouts of victory when battle won, usually by 'Kilties', brought back new from city.


7-4-1932 finished the visitations; would like to reach all the servant girls, pupils and lodgers.

9-4-32 Two awakened. Girl from Back had to be carried out of the church, now serving in the Nurses' Cottage. Other on staff of girls' hostel.
23-10-32 Would that my own daughter were persuaded to come!

11-12-32 girl in tears [at the service], from Point, a gutter in the town.

29-12-1934 little Bayble girl - not easy to arrange private conversation.

28-11-1953 (Australia)... afternoon tea in the park, prepared by the ladies of the congregation.

Stornoway Free Church Sabbath School in the 1930s.

The noticeboard lists 3 services on Sunday (Sabbath) and a Thursday Prayer Meeting.

p.465 MacRae's editor tells us he believed "children enlightened by the Spirit can understand the preaching of the Word" and the Free Church expected quite a lot from its youngest attendees. They were encouraged to call attention to lapses and errors among their friends and neighbours.

15-1-1918 poor wretch, (I) cannot even talk to a child about his soul!

20-6-1932 examined 7 classes in the Nicolson [school, Stornoway] in R.I. (Religious Instruction) It was well done on the whole but no better than in Skye.

22-2-1936 movement in the town among the schoolchildren misguided by the 'Pilgrim Preachers'. I have no faith in it; cocksureness and self-sufficiency. Attendance upon concerts and 'the pictures' mark them off as the victims of a religious delusion.
30-5-36 opposed forming organisations to foster friendships among young people; gave warning as to the serious consequences...
13-6-1953 Melbourne, a very godless city. Restlessness among children.

5-2-1963 lecture on The State and Education

p.486-487 letter on Religious Instruction in schools. 15-3-63

p.480 notes of Address to children at Laxdale school: Holding On.

Evangelism, Revivals and Conversions

While looking forward to a genuine general "revival" and always keen to make the right sort of converts, MacRae was suspicious of many of the movements that arose in the aftermath of the First World War, and later., as indicated in the reference to schoolchildren above, and in other references:

31-3-1922 Reports of revival activity... Fear emotionalism and artificiality.

1925 Lectures on historical revivals; many questionings.

p 220 Kilmuir congregation: an element of Hyper-Calvinism.

Feb. 1928...ultra-Calvinism has generated a mysticism and drowsiness that is strangling the Gospel.

p 224 re Sabbath League, some ministers strangely lethargic.

25-11-1931 Baptism, father unwilling. In a way I respected his thoughtfulness...

2-11-1933 began winter's lectures; spoke on 'Religious deceivers'.  (p.268n other lectures this year included "The Sabbath Question".)

10-11-1934 since Spring Communion, Carloway, 10 men, some ringleaders in frivolity, and 7 female - influence of truth, so concerts etc. cannot now receive enough support to continue.

17-11-34 place of fear as a motive to religion, neglected.

Extracts from early 1933 (p.49 in the published Diary)
evoking the process of securing the right sort of adherent.
Note specialised use of 'concern', 'broken', 'wakened', 'relief':
it wasn't supposed to be too easy or painless.

2-5-1936... very much annoyed on Monday by a good woman (who complained about the church not being open at the former time on Sunday afternoon) ... Unreasonable spirit which refuses religion the right to adapt itself has done infinite harm in the Highlands. Strange, too, how good people can be the main hindrance...

October 1936 Arran: non-churchgoing has come in as a plague.  Renton: annoyed to see a vase of flowers and plants in the church.

pp.319-320 Report to Public Questions Committee: The great mission of some churches would almost appear to be to amuse their young people, but to neglect them and allow them to go their own way is almost as fatal.

p.363- re revivals. Address to the Young. -368 simply, what is medically known as mass hysteria. Young women, nervous reactions (1940). I shall give the 'swooners' no latitude.

10-3-1941 I am inclined... to think a great deal of this business is just a put-on.

p 443- contents of worship to be warranted by the Westminster book of praise. -451 All Scotland Crusade: SY Town Hall hired by Church of Scotland, relayed outside.  -458-9 a sad Assembly…  apprehension as to the future.

1960 report of Church and Nation Committee of Church of Scotland re "half-day Sunday": most devastating blow; Sabbath has been ruined in this land.

A few further animadversions on social life etc.

27-1-1922 unveiling of Clan MacRae war memorial... Doctrinal abuse... Another promising report as to religious conditions in Lewis, Back.

9-2-22 ... (re) marriage ceremony: indicated that the wedding must be over by midnight and have no dancing and such frivolity.

6-5-22 religious type of Highland soldier gone now. My regiment still has the old place in my pride and my affections.

29-12-22 case of the 'poor and the needy'... Thus was Satan foiled.

5-5-1924 Influenza still prevails in the district.

4-6-24 Long prayers are ruining prayer meetings in the Highlands today. They are a weariness to the flesh and they tire the people by their unfitness and selfishness.

30-12-24 having to send up to HQ a report anent the state of religion and morals in the congregation.

1960 report of Church and Nation Committee of Church of Scotland re half-day Sunday: most devastating blow; Sabbath has been ruined in this land.

p.472 Greatest cause of emigration persistent propaganda... Ruin of the Highlands as the home of the Celtic race.  Tourism. 476 Sunday papers.


28-4-1956 Time will alter things in spite of us.

  
17-2-1925 [not on Lewis] funeral, amazed; did not see a tear.

MacRae died on 5-5-1964

May 1964. Reportedly the largest funeral ever seen in the island.

More from the Manse: a sideways look at Lewis social history.

In the more than sixty years since Calum Smith complained of the lack of ‘social history’ of his native island (see below), much has been published to remedy the situation, including his own well-received memoir, Around the Peat-Fire (Birlinn 2001 and 2010). It was not with the intention of adding to this body of work that Kenneth A MacRae kept his Diary or the Banner of Truth Trust published a book based on it, but there is much of general, secular interest to be gleaned from its pages, overwhelmingly preoccupied with the writer's religion though they are. Having looked at MacRae's observations in relation to the First and Second World Wars, here (grouped roughly by theme, not in chronological order) is some of what he noted about other aspects of life in the town of Stornoway and occasionally elsewhere.

(Extracts from the diary are paraphrased rather than verbatim, except when in inverted commas; page references are to editorial material in the book Diary of Kenneth A MacRae).

The Old Free Church manse in Stornoway, from the book of the Diary.
The minister's study was on the ground-floor, on the right here.

Mr (the title 'Rev.' was not generally used among Free Church ministers) MacRae noted some differences from his previous congregations and their environment in Argyllshire and on Skye, Lewis being in many ways distinctive. He was a partisan of the Highlands and Islands and of their inhabitants, believing in encouraging the Gaelic language and culture; his editor (pp.471-472) remarks on his concern with the misgovernment of the region and issues of depopulation and emigration, and on how he opposed the idea of a NATO airbase on Lewis, canvassed in the 1950s, saying that it would be an "absurd decision" to locate it so close to the town (echoing his similar anxieties during the war).

On leaving Skye, he recorded how some men were moved to tears at his departure, and shared their emotion. In view of the grimly unemotional image of Scottish Presbyterianism, it's surprising how frequently weeping and tears, especially those of men (including Lewismen), occur in his pages - usually in connection with religion. (Laughter, not so much, although we are assured he had a sense of humour.)

23-12-31...the case of a man, a proper rascal, who was seen in the Seminary.. with the tears streaming down his face. Should this man be brought in [to join the Church] I am told it will shake the town...

11-10-32 It is very seldom that I see tears after worship when visiting [people in their homes] here. Today i had that experience, more common in Skye... the woman in question was a St. Kildan.  The Lewis people never struck me as being emotional, they are too hard-headed for that.

12-4-34 Feeling homesick... makes this island seem very drab and dull.

29-5-54 'Flowers of the Forest' [traditional song/tune, heard in Australia] upset me entirely, I had to go outside.

He was well aware of issues such poverty, unemployment and housing, while not being inclined to take action outside what he saw as the remit of his ministry:

26-10-31  ... Also in the poorer quarters of the town, how miserable many of the houses are! 
24-11-33 Visit to New Valley [just outside the town]: the houses there are mostly poor and one wonders how they make a living at all.

1-10-33 Service - at the close spoke to the young men against the suggestion in the local newspaper that the ministers should busy themselves in providing employment for the workless.

The fishing industry, in decline since the First World War, was still important:

2-10-33 Tonight the first batch of ["herring"] girls leave for Yarmouth for 3 months [seasonal migrant labour], with two ministers [to cater for their spiritual welfare, and no doubt keep an eye on them].

5-6-32 English service in the church for the first time attended by [among others] some sailors from a warship. and some East Coast fishermen.
(English services had been held in a different building, the Seminary. Gaelic congregations were larger, hundreds-strong. Although not a native speaker, MacRae said he preferred the Gaelic, finding in it "a certain sweetness I cannot get in the English". He preached tirelessly in both languages.)

28-6-32 People are troubled because of the poor fishing.

The fixation on Sunday observance for which MacRae was most celebrated, or notorious, was of long standing but inevitably continued and intensified after his move in 1931 to the Stornoway Free Church (2-9-31 Induction. Church packed). He had already found support on the island, having received a letter in December 1930 from the Lewis presbytery congratulating him on the success of the Sabbath League.

Religious observance was of course not only for Sundays, and Thursdays were sometimes designated to be special too:
                2-11-31 Week of Humiliation and Prayer on account of the state of the country. 
[There were several such Weeks, and Days, ordained by the Free Church at national level].

26-11-31 Thursday. This being Harvest Thanksgiving had services just as on a Sabbath. Was glad to find shops and the school closed. Yet the scholars were too prone to regard it as a holiday and preferred to amuse themselves rather than attend church.

18-4-36 thankful to get the Lochness petition [against Sunday sailing] away last night. It bore 10,251 signatures. [Note, p.300: owners proposed mailboat should leave on Sunday night; petition successful.]

His year out in Australia, 1953-54, and the process of getting there, inflicted some shocks to the system. The voyage out on the Orontes was a sore trial when it came to the Sabbath. He did not go so far as to object to the crew working to keep the vessel moving - "necessity and mercy" probably covered that - but he deplored the Church of England-style service, "mainly music and mummery" (12-5-53) A week later, to make things worse, at Port Said small boats came out to the ship in a "veritable pandemonium of bartering, buying and selling... But the people who bought were more guilty than the sellers .. Sabbath was a miserable day and I was glad when it was over." 
                 5-4-54 Sydney on the Sabbath is a sad place... even worse than Melbourne.

Back in Britain, things sometimes looked not much better.

1957 [Farnborough Air Show disaster, letter:] What alarms is the conduct of the promoters and attendees in carrying on after such a dreadful occurrence. Next day, the Lord's Day, a crowd of up to 150,000 attended. [There are other occasions where apparent 'callousness' at deaths strikes him, but this time the fact of the Sabbath evidently makes it even more reprehensible].

(p.471) Reference to hysterical reception in Glasgow on Sabbath night of American film star. “Britain, in abandoning the Sabbath, has lost her crown.”

Politically, it is no surprise to find that the minister was not well disposed to those of the left. This had been made explicit in his reaction to what must have been a lively election campaign, after the first few months of Labour government:

29-10-24 Cycled in to Uig to record my Parliamentary vote. For the first time on record, socialism is receiving uncommon support in these parts [his ministry was in Skye at this time] but this is mainly due to the activities of a few of the advanced type and to the fact that people have not come in contact with the thing itself. It is a solemn day for the country. May the Lord save us from the hands of the godless schemers who are trying to seize the upper hand in the land!
(A Liberal , Alexander Liviingstone, was elected to the Western Isles in 1924; the constituency had a Labour MP, Malcolm K Macmillan, from 1935 until 1970.)

He took a dim view of industrial action:

19-5-33  A dispute has broken out between curers and fishermen which threatens to have very serious consequences for Stornoway. Last night two trawlers and some of the drifters dumped their catch in the sea, a wicked act which is likely to bring its own punishment. Such a dispute in the present state of the industry is suicidal. May the poor not suffer from it!
(Twenty years later, during his year in Australia) 13-4-54  Sydney. Saw the Radnor which the dockers refused to load because she is going to Indo-China with arms to help the French - now being loaded by servicemen. Communism is active in Australia and the situation calls urgently for firm handling by the government.

Comments on the international situation between the wars are few; one stands out:

5-10-35  The wireless reported... the Italians bombing Adowa (Abyssinia [Ethiopia]). If ever there was an unjustifiable war in history this is it. Apparently it was a sheer massacre on a tremendous scale, and considering what modern weapons are, if the war is to continue it cannot be anything else. It will be a foul blot on the name of Italy for generations, and all to satiate the vain-glory of one ambitious, relentless despot! May Britain be kept out of it!
[Later, however, when Britain was at war, he was to castigate Neville Chamberlain for "betraying" Abyssinia among other places.]

23-10-48 [Another] Day of Humiliation and Prayer on account of the deplorable state of the world.

At national level, he may have been right-wing in some respects but was no respecter of worldly persons, whose behaviour he often denounced from the pulpit, and certainly no royalist:

25-1-36 The King yielded to a Greater on Sabbath..  I fear [Edward VII] will not be an influence helpful to true evangelical righteousness. Yet the Lord may change him.
11-12-36 [Abdication.] It is a great blessing and a merciful deliverance!

6-6-53 [Coronation, when he was on board ship heading for Australia] A day of extra vanity… Nonsensical observances… Country given over to vanity... Port wine, declined… Walked out after dinner. Retired early, heard things went to a great length.
[No doubt he would have had something to say about the announcement in a news item on 7-1-18 that yet another royal event was to be accompanied by extended licensing hours.]

While he was in Australia he criticised the fact that the programme for a royal visit was not affected by a train disaster in New Zealand in which 166 people lost their lives, “sport and pleasure” being paramount.

On the occasion of the royal visit to Stornoway in 1956 he declined to be presented to the Queen, on the grounds that she wasn’t someone he wanted to meet, having persistently violated the fourth commandment (“Remember the Sabbath Day…”) by attending polo matches in particular, and had also received Russian politicians. This principled stance caused “considerable public comment”.

Stornoway, showing part of the inner harbour.
The Free Church is building with the tower and roof on the left.
(The spire on the right would be Martin's Memorial Church of Scotland).

Locally, he had no hesitation in making his views known and asserting his influence beyond his own large congregation, believing it was incumbent on him to do so. (This included periodically testing the scripture knowledge of pupils in the Nicolson Institute, both primary and secondary, and conducting services in the boys' and girls' hostels.)

20-6-32 examined 7 classes in the Nicolson in Religious Instruction.

1-1-46 Peace has come, but the nations are restless and uneasy. Politically and economically the year promises to be a very difficult one. Memo re Sabbath night sailings of the Loch Seaforth. Sent copies of a pamphlet to the Provost and also to one of our Baillies who is a great opponent [this may have been Roderick Smith; Calum Smith was not a Baillie at this time].

16-11-46 Town Council agreed to go to the Free Church... Resolved to set before them their relationship as civic rulers to the law and sovereignty of Christ.
(Diary Editor's note) p.380 It was the custom for every new Town Council to attend one of the local churches in a body.

He later recalled postwar austerity when he met an exiled compatriot (13-2-54):  Miss M A MacRae "who sent so many parcels to us during rationing in Scotland". 

He was no pro-European when it came to postwar develpments:
31-1-63 Britain denied entrance to Common Market [preceding the European Union]. We are full of rejoicing.


One of the more commendable sides to his ministry and social concern, from the point of view of later generations, may be its inclusiveness, extending to the “underclass” of travellers, or tinkers.  

9-1-49 Tinker wedding at Marybank. The road to the house was awful and the rain was just slashing down. The house was full, but what surprised me most was the nice appearance of the young girls.In their best clothes they would never be taken for tinkers. The bridegroom, a young man aged 22, could not sign his name. This also surprised me. The best man signed army style, surname first, in great scrawling handwriting. The bride, a pretty young girl of 18 with a delicate pink and white complexion, came of the Newmarket Camp. She signed very readily with a quick running hand, as did her sister, the bridesmaid. They were very raw about matters and an onlooker no doubt would have seen much to amuse him, but they were very amenable to guidance and correction. I asked them to come to church, but I don't expect them. Somehow I feel very sorry for them all - outcasts, almost, from society.

11-10-47 Funeral of a little tinker boy who had died in hospital. In one of the erections of beaten-out tins which today are beginning to replace the traditional tents. Felt somewhat moved at the power of death which at a stroke sweeps away all the distinctions of class and station. Pity for the poor creatures who seemed so patient in their grief. As we returned, the Laxdale schoolboys were lined on both sides of the road to pay their respects to the dust of their little schoolfellow - the tinker boy. I thought the schoolmaster's gesture a very thoughtful and considerate one.

2-1-50 Conducted a meeting in a tinker's shanty on the Barvas road in which a death had taken place... Felt somewhat moved in that strange company, especially when I realised how  these poor creatures had an equal claim with ourselves to the blessings of salvation in Christ.

14-10-50 Weather: only about 390 at Gaelic service. Was surprised and touched to see the poor old tinker woman, who lost her husband some months ago, present in a black dress with a young girl beside her. Oh if the gospel would take root out there - !

Although it’s still a question of “them” as distinct from "us", not all his parishioners would have been equally sympathetic and well-disposed, and the tinkers’ problems are not over even now.

Alcoholism was a long-term problem,which he was not slow to tackle:
20-4-32 Lecture. Addressed the Drink question. 

(p.373) The Curse of Strong Drink: A traditional evil which MacRae was convinced was due to massive promotion campaigns. During the war it had disturbed him very deeply that unlimited quantities of free beer had been authorised for service men and women in Stornoway on Christmas day.
1-1-60 ...Drink has demoralised this generation, men and women.

Health in general was another inescapable preoccupation, and visiting the sick was a duty which he took seriously.
6-9-31 Service in the Sanatorium. (p.283: TB was a scourge on the island, the Sanatorium always full).
26-10-31 How well many of the poor creatures look and how pretty many of the girls are! Also in the poorer quarters of the town, how miserable many of the houses are! 26-12-33 visiting Sanatorium
20-1-32 It is a sad place. (- The Sanatorium, known as the Sanny or the ID, was the hospital for Infectious Diseases just outside Stornoway.)

11-9-31 Hospital; many poor creatures.
6-10 Meeting at Poorhouse (Coulregrein House, the former workhouse); most audience mental defectives.

11-1-34 Sick very numerous... getting beyond me.

18-1-34 Heard my visits to Sanatorium much appreciated by patients there.
20-4-35 Poor dying girl, last stages of consumption.
7-3-36 Town is full of sickness, and flu, complicated by septic throat or pneumonia, is rife... I have to go among such cases...

He had his own health probelms: (p.462) serious illness 1957-58; operation in Lewis hospital: "Treated here like a king. Matron, Sisters and most nurses are very nice; some of the girlies are pure gold."

Inevitably the weather could not always be ignored, although it was not always the worst place to be it was said that the mean temperature in Stornoway was higher than in Cambridge (p.229), and one year there was a drought on Skye (where he was visiting) in early March 1963. He often travelled back and forth to the mainland and to Skye, suffering several storm-tossed crossings of the Minch.

14-15/1-32 flooding; seldom seen such rain, unprecedented.
15/16-12-36 Tuesday might's gale: harbour blocked by masses of tangled nets. 90 mph wind.
14-3-47 (After 8 weeks of wintry weather and heavy snow -) view exceedingly pretty.

Clearing Snow. 
Really snowy winters were unusual, but this is Stornoway in 1955.

==============

The religious preoccupations and logging of Free Church life that make up the vast bulk of MacRae's diary entries during his more than 3 decades in Stornoway may be looked at, selectively, in a later post. 
 Extract from 'As Safety Saw It':- Historian Wanted

I REMEMBER at one time during the troubled years prior to the outbreak of the last war being involved in a discussion on the teaching of history; and to prove a point that I was making my fellows and myself decided to ask some schoolboys a few questions. We found that they could all tell us that Julius Caesar came to Britain in 55 B.C., and that the Battle of Hastings was fought in 1066. None of them could tell us the date of the Russian Revolution and only one could tell us when the late unlamented Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany. The relative immediate importance upon their lives of the events of which they had heard little or nothing was borne out by subsequent events. These boys found themselves fighting Hitler before 1945 and those that survived were involved in a “cold” war after the other one was over.

            The reason why my mind cast back close on twenty years to that discussion is that someone has just remarked to me how little we know of the history of our own island. For it must in honesty be admitted that the majority of us know very little of it. The name of the notorious Domhnull Cam [Macaulay] is almost a household word, but in how many of these households could anyone say in what century he carried out his bold and often nefarious exploits?

            Now if knowledge of history has any value, and if a historical education on a national or international basis bestows benefits – not the least of which can be the benefit of profiting by our predecessors’ mistakes and not repeating them – then surely knowledge of the history of our own community could bestow an equal or even greater benefit. It is even possible that some of the difficult situations that arise in Lewis today had their counterparts in the events of long ago, and that a better grasp of what happened then could help those concerned to decide what to do now. We should know what impacts were made on our island way of life and story by Scottish and even world history. And equally we should know what impact our island made in return.

            If one only considers what a great deal of archaeological research has been carried out in Lewis it is astonishing that so very little of these researches is known to the people who should be most concerned – the people whose history is being unearthed and revealed. What is wanted, in my opinion, is a new history of Lewis; a history that gives us first of all the story produced by co-ordinating and giving continuity to the findings of archaeologists, and secondly gives us the later story as pieced together from all the written material available.

            Dr Macdonald, Gisla, has done a commendable amount of research covering several centuries; and he has written and published tales that are invaluable in giving an insight into what was going on in some areas of Lewis at certain times. For very often one paragraph from an old manuscript or letter dealing with everyday affairs of ordinary men and women can throw more light upon a country and its people than can whole chapters dealing with the speeches of statesmen or the conduct of wars.

            Within the short compass of one small book, G. M. Trevelyan has given us, in my opinion, the most readable and the most educative history of England that is available today – covering six centuries from Chaucer’s time to 1939, and depending a great deal for its illuminating quality on an apparently inexhaustible fund of quotations covering the period involved.

            A book on Lewis, on similar lines, could be produced in much shorter compass than Trevelyan’s “Social History.”  And if it were as readable it would be as much sought after as was “Clarsach an Doire” [“The harp of the Grove” – Title of a book of Gaelic poetry] at the beginning of this century when an almost inconceivable number of people in Lewis knew huge tracts of it from memory, and even the illiterate could “read” poems and stories from it while holding the book upside down!

19 & 22/06/1956

[Dr Macdonald, Gisla, known locally as ‘Dolly Doctor’, also wrote letters to the Gazette on historical subjects; a collection of photographs from his collection has recently been published.]

Reaction: A letter appeared from "MacThomais", Stornoway, on 10^th and 13^th July (p.7) endorsing and expanding on much of the above. 

[The writer, Calum Smith, who cane of a Free Church family, used to say that he stopped going to church because he couldn't heckle the minister. Perhaps MacRae was one that he had in mind.]

POSTSCRIPT on Opposition to the NATO base:
"I recall asking the late Rev.Kenneth MacRae, when he told me he wanted a chairman for his protest meeting against the NATO base in Stornoway who must be 'generally respected and acceptable to all', where he could hope to find such a figure. He smiled and answered simply 'John Smith.'  And who in our community would have disputed his choice and judgment?"
 - 'A Memory enshrined in the Heart' by M. K. M. [Malcolm K Macmillan, Labour MP for the Western Isles from 1935 to 1970] in a Stornoway Gazette obituary for John, elder brother of Calum Smith. (1970)

In and Out of the War: the Free Church and Conscription, 1914-1918

A search for 'Presbyterian' on the online database of First World War conscientious objectors yields well over 100 records, as previously noted. A few of these have already been looked at in some detail, notably those of Murdo Macleod from Cromore on the Isle of Lewis and Angus McIntyre from Portree on Skye; "Diviinity student" Donald Morrison, also from Lewis, is very likely to have been Presbyterian too. Although the Free Church (hereinafter FC) in Scotland did not as a body oppose the war, and many of those who belonged to it were among the casualties, there were several like Murdo, taking his stand on the testimony of the Reformed (Presbyterian) Church and the Revolution Settlement of 1688, and 'Covenanter' Angus (referring to the same history) who could not reconcile their beliefs with participation in the conflict.

The view of the Free Church (n.b. other brands of Presbyterianism were and are available, including the established Church of Scotland) on war is described by the editor of the published Diary of FC minister Kenneth A MacRae, already cited with reference to the 'Lewis Sabbath'. According to this, war, "however just" was (pp. 103-4) “a national calamity and divine judgment....” This was not one of the few Christian denominations which took a pacifist stance. A failure to condemn killing outright was not incompatible with the Sixth Commandment in the interpretation set out in the Shorter Catechism, inserting as it does the qualifications ‘lawful’ and ‘unjustly’ which crucially modify the four-word ‘law’:

Q67. Which is the sixth commandment? A. The sixth commandment is, Thou shalt not kill.

Q68. What is required…? A. The sixth commandment requireth all lawful endeavours to preserve our own life, and the life of others.

Q69. What is forbidden…? A. The sixth commandment forbiddeth the taking away of our own life, or the life of our neighbour unjustly, or whatsoever tendeth thereunto.

(The Westminster Confession of which this is part dates after all from 1647, in the context of the 'English Civil War', and was agreed by men strongly committed to a belief that their side was amply justified in fighting).

MacRae himself of course also professed the 'Reformed testimony' and honoured the Covenanters, and shared the general Free Church* view as outlined, while having no fundamental problem with militarism. Rather the contrary: Chapter 1 is titled “A son of the army”. He spent much of his boyhood at Fort George, where his father was a Recruiting Officer (RSM, albeit one who didn’t see action) in the Seaforth Highlanders, and he himself had joined the Royal Scots Territorials. When war was declared he was studying for the ministry at the Free Church (FC) College in Edinburgh, completing a simultaneous Arts degree at the university and spending a lot of time travelling as a preacher invited to address numerous FC congregations in Scotland.

*For an account of the origins and history of the FC in the Highlands and Islands, see The People of the Great Faith by Douglas Ansdell (Acair, 1998).

Believing he had been called to the ministry and the work of God, he did not join the rush to the colours, and from 1916 he was the FC minister at Lochgilphead, in Argyllshire. In August 1914 he noted: “Some of the hard things shown the Lord's people”, placing War at number 6 and commenting that while some "scourge" was inevitable, there might be some hope yet, since troops were having to say prayers - the hope being of a turn to God (23-8-1914). Two months later (4-10) he was bemoaning, not for the only time, the nation's “lack of repentance, provocation of the Most High.” There is no record in the book of him exhorting others to join the fighting, although he evidently accepted that many would do so, and had a certain admiration for those who did, as well as concern for their physical and especially spiritual welfare. 

On 30-5-1915 he found himself in Aberdeen, addressing in Gaelic, as a learner of the language, a hall full of soldiers of the Camerons and Seaforths, whose native tongue it was; he got on better than he had feared. On the 2^nd of January 1916, a ‘Day set aside for national prayer’, his “discourse bore upon national sin and the need for national repentance.” Later that year he noted some of the side-effects of war on the home front: (22-7) the new permit* requisite to get beyond Inverness and (8-10) the difficulty of finding supply preachers owing to most of the students being away upon military service.  In March 1917 he reported that students were not now protected from military service. The Church did not accept the rationale for this where its own students were concerned, having its own set of priorities. The FC College was closed and the students posted to congregations as having there a better chance of claiming exemption at local tribunals – not as COs but as doing work where they could not be replaced.

* On 25 July 1916, the area north of the Great Glen was declared ‘The North of Scotland Special Military Area’, and access to non-residents was restricted. 

As the slaughter increased one may discern a tendency to dwell on the tragedy rather than the judgment, and even a hint that the divine chastisement may be excessive or misdirected. Chapter 5, 'The Shadow of Death, 1917-1918', has frequent expressions of sorrow over individuals known to him and records of condolence visits to bereaved families. His brother George was killed in action at Arras in April. On 21-6 he wrote about other deaths of young men: “Truly the Lord has a controversy when such lads of promise are being cut away... Who next? What awful times!” and on 14-9 “This is an awful world... One taken away after another.”

From time to time he made observations on particular battles and on what he saw closer to home. On 3^rd May 1917 Arran sailings were suspended due to “mines or submarines in the Clyde” and on the 7^th he saw 12 minesweepers. In December he heard of his remaining brother Duncan's “amazing escapes” (which sadly did not mean survival in the longer term). The 1^st of January 1918 was “appointed a Day of Humiliation and Prayer by our Church, and more resembled a Sabbath”, which he greatly approved, considering it a happy venture as it would test the people, to sacrifice their usual festivities.

.

In February 1918 he was (8-2) at West Loch Tarbert en route for Islay, and saw 100 American troops who had come ashore on the Islay coast from the torpedoed troopship Tuscania*. He learned that the death toll out of 2500 was about 210 missing, having feared it was worse. His hotel was “completely occupied by troops”. On 9-2 a “great funeral” of 48 American soldiers was held, and it was not over - on 13-2 another dead American soldier was found among rocks on the island. Also around this time, “heavy firing was heard [one] afternoon to the south” and he found that (1-3) in Glasgow the shortage of food was much more apparent than in Islay.

* The Tuscania has been referred to previously in her earlier role of transatlantic liner.
A commemorative service was held on the centenary of the tragedy 
(news item also available in Gaelic.)

In March he was astounded at “deplorable heresies” in a book God and the Soldier declaring we should pray for the dead including those in hell, and later wrote of a dreadful battle which led to much anxiety in the village about the lads in France: (3-4) “What fearful havoc! What devastation! How is it all going to end?”

It was in April 1918 that he and other ministers of the Free Church found themselves under threat of conscription: disturbed (10-4) at the appearance of Parliament's Military Service Bill calling upon ministers (among others) for military service, MacRae declared himself “prepared to resist to the utmost”, pointing out next day that no mention was made of consulting denominations. All under 51 [and over 18] were to be deemed enlisted on a certain date, with only the choice of non-combatant or combatant service. It was not that he ruled out service with the forces for himself; he had in fact offered to go out as a chaplain if a suitable replacement could be found to carry on what he saw as his main responsibility, the work of his ministry with the local congregation. But against the demands of the state, the “rights of the Redeemer” and the autonomy of the Church were paramount.

He was not alone. On 16-4 the Presbytery meeting passed a resolution “asserting the freedom of the Church of Christ from the control of the civil power in respect of things spiritual especially re military service”. As it happened (Note, p.134) the offending clause had been dropped the previous evening, so the staunchness of the resistance was not put to the test. MacRae did not think the protest had been a waste of time; he was “overjoyed that we were able to raise our testimony before this was known”. Before the war ended “some were suggesting that the Free Church minister should be away at the battlefront” (p.147), but this was only going to happen on his terms, and in the event he was not called to a chaplaincy with the forces. Left to carry on with the sad catalogue of casualties and bereavement, he recorded among others the death within a month (10-5) “of John Munro, the [probably FC College] student from Lewis, killed in action. Those to whom we looked are falling upon the field of battle.” (It is not unlikely that another student from Lewis, who was a CO, also studied at the FC College.)

The cover shows a view of Lochgilphead

What MacRae thought of non-clerical conscientious objectors (COs) to military service is not recorded, at least in the published extracts. There are two COs known to have had addresses in Lochgilphead and so virtually certain to have been known to the minister, so that their stories fit in here – Duncan McDonald and Duncan Campbell McTavish. The latter’s ‘motivation’ is even given as “Free Church”, along with subsequent affiliation to the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Judged by Military Service Tribunal to be “unconvincing” as a CO, he was sentenced after Court Martial to detention with hard labour and served time in Stirling Military Prison and Edinburgh Civil Prison before accepting employment under the Home Office Scheme, which sent him to the Work Centres at Ballachulish, Wakefield and Dartmoor. (His record of “war service”, WO363, has not survived, but that of his brother Hugh in the Royal Garrison Artillery has, indicating that the family as a whole were not pacifists.)

Duncan Campbell McTavish

Age        25

Birth year            1891

Year       1916

Soldier Number                -

Address               Castleton Cottage

Address 2            Lochgilphead

Local authority  Lochgilphead Burgh

County Argyllshire

Country                Scotland

Latitude               56.03

Longitude            -5.43

Ordnance Survey reference        NR860880

Motivation          FOR-Dartmoor Branch; Free Church of Scotland;

Military Service Tribunal                MST (Military Service Tribunal) Central Tribunal at Calton CP (Civil Prison), Edinburgh, 1.9.16 - CO class B

Central Tribunal                Central Tribunal Nos. W.1096 Class: B - unconvincing

War Service        Depot A and S Highlanders; CM (Court Martial) Glasgow 31.5.16 - 2yrs detention com.to 1 yr. Stirling Detention Barracks; CM (Court Martial) Perth 30.6.16 - 18 months HL (With hard labour) com.6 months, Edinburgh CP (Civil Prison)

Prison   Stirling MP (Military Prison)*; Edinburgh CP (Civil Prison) July 1916;

Work Centre      HOS (The Home Office Scheme, administered by the Brace Committee) 19.10.16 to Ballachulish; 7.8.17 at Wakefield; Dartmoor 1917

WO363 false

Sources                Tribunal 15.6.16; FOR Dartmoor Branch in Liddle CO 044; NA/WO86/70/65, 70/173; *Reference to his time in Stirling MP (Military Prison) in FH/FSC(1916/20)/SER2 - R. Barclay Murdoch, Scottish Quaker Chaplain's Report 26.6.16 ; Not found in NA/WO363; NAS/HH31/29/1 - COs in Scottish Prisons July 1916; NAS/HH31/29/6 - Central Appeal Tribunal 1.9.16; NA/MH47/1 Central Tribunal Minutes; FH/SER/VOPC/Cases/5(937)

Record set          Conscientious Objectors' Register 1914-1918

The case of Duncan McDonald is a tragic one, since he had the sad distinction of being, according to the Register, the first member of the Non-Combatant Corps (NCC) to die in France, reportedly of accidental injuries. Aged 28, he had been granted exemption from combatant service only (ECS) in March 1916; he died in early June, a few days after being sent abroad. He and his father were both tailors, so that the family would have been well known in the small town.

Duncan McDonald

Marital status    Single

Occupation         Tailor

Age        28

Birth year            -

Year       -

Soldier Number                1471

Address               Daill Cairnbaan

Address 2            Lochgilphead

Local authority  Lochgilphead Burgh

County Argyllshire

Country                Scotland

Latitude               56.03

Longitude            -5.43

Ordnance Survey reference        NR860880

France  Yes

Motivation          -

Military Service Tribunal                MST (Military Service Tribunal) Mid-Argyll 9.3.16 ECS (Exemption from Combatant Service)/NCC (Non-Combatant Corps)

War Service        NCC (Non-Combatant Corps)(1 Scottish) Stirling Castle 23.5.16; To France 30.5.16 Died of accidental injuries in France 4.6.16 - found dead on the railway in France - the first NCC (Non-Combatant Corps) casualty

WO363 true

Sources                CD-Rom Soldiers died in the Great War; See also www.britishwargraves.org.uk; Daily News and Leader 27.7.16; NA/WO363 - on line;

Record set          Conscientious Objectors' Register 1914-1918

His WO363 service record is available, including a Ministry of Pensions form stating that he died or was killed on active service.

Duncan McDonald

Birth year            1888

Age        28

Death year          1916

Death date         04 Jun 1916

Number               1471

Rank      Private

Unit       No. 1 Scottish Coy.

Regiment            Non Combatant Corps

Grave reference              Plot C. Row 1A. Grave 8.

Cemetery or memorial  Calais Southern Cemetery

Burial country    France

Additional information  Son of Donald and Margaret McDonald, of Daill Cairnbaan, Lochgilphead, Argyll.

Link        https://www.cwgc.org/find/find-war-dead

War        First World War, 1914-1918

Record set          Commonwealth War Graves Commission Debt Of Honour

Category              Military, armed forces & conflict

Duncan Mcdonald

Age        28

Birth year            1888

Service number                1471

Regiment            Non Combatant Corps

Unit / Battalion 1st Company

Year       1916

Residence county            Argyllshire

Residence country          Scotland

Series    WO 363

Series description            WO 363 - First World War Service Records 'Burnt Documents'

Archive The National Archives

Record set          British Army Service Records

Category              Military, armed forces & conflict

McDonald’s family may have been among those to whom MacRae made visits of condolence. There were many, including one which had lost six members, and "a woman with a brother in the asylum as a result of the war”. In August 1918 he heard of the death of his own brother-in-law, wondering again: “When will this horror of war cease?” Not that he expected peace to be without its problems, fearing “a very black day to come” after the war. By now he had found that the "preaching of consolation was becoming sweeter than warming" of the wrath of God.

On November 11 1918 there was no note of victorious triumph in his reaction: “At midday news came that peace had come at last… The first we heard was church bells in the early afternoon.” He found himself ”strangely unmoved, sad and pensive...” indeed "crushed", and fearing the future...

==================
Note on surnames: In the Highlands generally the Mac form, with no capital letter after the prefix, was until recently the spelling most commonly used when writing in English.

Previously on this blog:

Already linked in text above - 

http://smothpubs.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/conscientious-objectors-from-lewis.html [Lewis]
http://smothpubs.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/first-world-war-conscientious-objectors.html [Skye]

Other posts on COs in Scotland and elsewhere (Ealing) and what happened to them include -
Scots Against War, 1914-18 style (Scotland - book review)
Conscription Comes to Britain, 1916 (General - with more links)