Islay Regatta 1870: sea sports and land sports

From Glasgow Herald, 5 September 1870:

'On Wednesday last, the 30th [August 1870] the annual regatta came off in Lochindaal Bay,  at the village of Bowmore. The committee displayed much activity, taste and energy in all their arrangements previous to the commencement of the proceedings of the day. At an early hour flags were hosted at the most conspicuous places nearby more and at some of the principal shops in the village. The wind was about SW by Southf and a strong breeze blew during the whole day. The weather was also very beautiful so that parties in great numbers, from all parts of the island, made their appearance on the ground at an early hour, avaling themselves of the most suitable stations to have a full view of the bay. 

The boat races started with one 'confined to skiffs 25 feet keel' which was won by Mr Fraser of Port Ellen's boat 'Annie'. Following this there was a yacht race won by Captain Graham of Port Ellen's 'Fion'. The third race 'confined to boats 16 feet keel' was won by Mr M'Affer [McAffer] of Bowmore's 'Spunkie'.   There was then an open race won by Mr M'Aulay [McAulay] of Portnahaven's 'Elizabeth'.

Finally there was a rowing match for 'four oared skiffs' - 'This was a very exciting race, as the men seemed equally matched for the natives of Portnahaven are a hardy, muscular and strong race and accustomed to the oar. The race started as fair as could be, the boats playing right in the wind's eye'. It was won by Mr Connolly of Portnahaven's boat 'Margaret'.

'This concluded the sea sports and thereafter commenced the land sports, the prizes for which were given by gentleman residing at present at Mr Campbell's hotel, Bridgend'. The races included a 300 yards boys race won by A.M'Gregor [McGregor] and a 400 yards race for men won by D. Ferguson. There was also a long jump (won by John Kirk) and a 'high leap', while Mr Samuel McIntyre from Bridgend won the 'putting the stone competition' involving an 18 lb weight.

Islay First World War Dead in De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour

Marquis De Ruvigny's Roll Of Honour was a privately published 'biographical record of all members of his majesty's naval and military forces' who died in the First World War. The first of five volumes was published in 1916. It seems that friends and family members paid for the entries, and it is not a comprehensive list of the war dead. But the volumes do include biographies of 26,768 Army, Navy and Air Force men, with many photographs. Some of the volumes are freely available to look at/download on archive.org (volume one here, volume three here) while the fulll text is also accessible to subscribers at genealogy sites such as ancestry and genesreunited.

I have searched all volumes for Islay connections and have come across four records:

David Dick, born at Foreland, Islay in 1888,  went to Calgary in Canada in 1907 and worked as a farmer. He enlisted in November 1914 and went to the Western Front with the 2nd Mounted Rifles, Canadian Expeditionary Force, and died at No. 2 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station in November 1917 'from wounds received in action at Passchendale'.

Henry McCuaig Lamont was born in Port Ellen in 1888 and his wife Maggie McCuaig was also from Islay, though he seems to have gone to school in Glasgow. He had been in the army before the war, and rejoined the Royal Scots regiment in 1914. He was killed in action at the Battle of Le Cateau in August 1914.

Neil McKerrell was born in Bowmore in 1897 and grew up in Glasgow. He enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery in 1915 and served as a driver with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in Palestine. He died of pneumonia in 1918, and is buried in the military cemetery in Beirut.

Murdoch Archibald Mactaggart was born in Islay in 1895, the son of Colonel Murdoch Mactaggart of Royal Bank, Bowmore and Flora MacGilchrist (whose father the Rev. John MacGilchrist had been Minister of the Kilarrow Parish Church in Bowmore - the round church). He worked at a solicitors firm in Bowmore before joining the army in 1913. A captain in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, he was killed in action at Roeux near Arras in May 1917.

First World War Dead on Islay Memorials

[update 4 August 2014 - this post lists Islay war casualties named on Islay war memorials - for a more detailed list of Islay First World War Dead, which includes this information and more, go to:

http://islayhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/the-first-world-war-dead-from-islay.html]

The War Memorial in Port Ellen

The  Scottish War Memorials Project has a list of memorials in Argyll & Bute, and from this people have transcribed the names of First World War dead from the following Islay memorials - Port Ellen (Kildalton & Oa parish), Bruichladdich (Kilchoman parish), Bowmore church (Kilarrow parish) and Port Wemyss (in Kilchoman parish but war memorial seemingly only listing Port Wemyss dead). I have collated this information into a single list of 167 entries as follows. A few things to note:

- the memorials record different information: only the Bowmore and Bruichaddich memorials have details of the place people came from on Islay; on the other hand the Bruichladdich and Port Wemyss memorials do not have details of regiments etc. That is why some names have more information than others.

- the highest number of those who died (50 out of 115) served with the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders (abbreviated to A&SH on the list)

- there may be some duplication, with a few people appearing on more than one more memorial - e.g. I guess that it is the same Corporal D. Bell of the Canadian Highlanders on Bowmore and Port Ellen memorials.

- there is the usual Scottish historians' curse of different spellings of same names - some using Mac and some Mc etc. - so if you're looking for MacTaggart also look for McTaggart and so on.

- this is a list of people from Islay who died in the war - it doesn't include those from elsewhere who died around Islay during the war as a result of the Tuscania sinking and other shipping disasters.

- I'm sure this isn't a full list of the Islay dead. For a start it doesn't include any for Kilmeny parish - is there a memorial there with names (maybe in the church)? If any one wants to help, please take a photo of it or better still transcribe the list and send it to me I will add details here. Likewise any other people who appear to be missing. My email is neilgordonorr at gmail.com (replace 'at' with @).

Rank	First name	Surname	Memorial	Place	Regiment
L/Cpl.	James	Anderson	Bowmore	Carnain	A&SH
Pte.	John	Anderson	Bowmore	Carnain	A&SH
Pte.	D.	Anderson	Port Ellen		A&SH
	James	Baker	Bruichladdich	Kilchiaran
	Samuel	Baker	Bruichladdich	Port Charlotte
Bomr.	Andrew	Barr	Bowmore	Gartbreck	Royal Garrison Artillery
Cpl.	Duncan	Bell	Bowmore	Bowmore	Canadian Highlanders
Corpl.	D.	Bell	Port Ellen		Canadian Highlanders
Pte.	R.	Black	Port Ellen		A&SH
Pte.	P.	Brown	Port Ellen		A&SH
Seaman	J.	Burns	Port Ellen		Royal Naval Reserve
Pte.	John	Cameron	Bowmore	Newhouses	Royal Highlanders (Black Watch)
Pte.	Neil M.	Cameron	Bowmore	Newton	Royal Scots Fusilers
Pte.	N.	Cameron	Port Ellen		Scots Guards
	Archibald	Cameron	Bruichladdich	Gruineart
	Archie	Cameron	Port Wemyss
L/Cpl.	William	Campbell	Bowmore	Newhouses	A&SH
Pte.	J.	Campbell	Port Ellen		A&SH
Pte.	Willm.	Campbell	Bowmore	Balitarsin	Royal Highlanders (Black Watch)
Seaman	D.	Campbell	Port Ellen		Royal Marines
Pte.	Arch. J.	Campbell	Bowmore	Bowmore	Seaforth Highlanders
	Alexander	Campbell	Bruichladdich	Tayvullin
Lieut.	John	Cullen	Bowmore	Bridgend	A&SH
Pte.	A	Currie	Port Ellen		Gordon Highlanders
Gnr.	Robert D.	Currie	Bowmore	Bowmore	Royal Naval Vol. Reserve
	Alexander	Currie	Port Wemyss
	David	Dick	Bruichladdich	Foreland
	George Craig	Dickie	Bruichladdich	Greineal
Pte.	J.	Donald	Port Ellen		Gordon Highlanders
Pte.	James	Dunlop	Bowmore	Raw	A&SH
Pte.	J.G.	Ferguson	Port Ellen		A&SH
	Alexander	Ferguson	Bruichladdich	Machrie
	Donald	Ferguson	Port Wemyss
Lieut.	Bruce	Forbes	Bowmore	Eallabus	A&SH
Pte.	N.	Fraser	Port Ellen		A&SH
Pte.	John	Gilchrist	Bowmore	Bowmore	A&SH
Ch.Officer	O.	Gilchrist	Port Ellen		Merchant Service
	Donald	Gillies	Port Wemyss
L.Cpl.	N.	Graham	Port Ellen		A&SH
Pte.	John	Grant	Bowmore	Gartachossan	A&SH
Pte.	J.	Grant	Port Ellen		A&SH
Pte.	James	Gray	Bowmore	Gartmain	American Army
Pte.	Donald	Gray	Bowmore	Knockanbiorch	Royal Highlanders (Black Watch)
Pte.	James	Gray	Bowmore	Knockanbiorch	Royal Highlanders (Black Watch)
Gnr.	Neil	Hamilton	Bowmore	Bowmore	Royal Field Artillery
	Douglas	Harvey	Bruichladdich	Bruichladdich
Pte.	A.	Heads	Port Ellen		A&SH
	John	Holmes	Port Wemyss
Cpl.	J.	Hunter	Port Ellen		A&SH
Pte.	J.	Hutchinson	Port Ellen		Highland Light Infantry
Pte.	Dugald	Johnston	Bowmore	Bowmore	A&SH
Pte.	D.	Johnston	Port Ellen		Cameron Highlanders
Pte.	R.	Johnston	Port Ellen		Gordon Highlanders
Seaman	A.	Johnston	Port Ellen		Royal Naval Reserve
	Alexander	Justice	Bruichladdich	Bruichladdich
Pte.	N.	Kennedy	Port Ellen		A&SH
	Donald	Lamont	Bruichladdich	Port Charlotte
Capt.	N.	Leitch	Port Ellen		Highland Light Infantry
Pte.	Donald	Logan	Bowmore	Bowmore	Seaforth Highlanders
Q.M.	H.	MacAllister	Port Ellen		Royal Naval Reserve
	Hector	MacAllister	Port Wemyss
Pte.	H.	MacArthur	Port Ellen		A&SH
Pte.	D.	MacArthur	Port Ellen		Highland Light Infantry
Pte.	R.	MacArthur	Port Ellen		King's Own Scot. Borderers
Seaman	D.	MacArthur	Port Ellen		Royal Naval Reserve
Pte.	John	MacArthur	Bowmore	Bowmore	Scottish Rifles
	Neil	MacArthur	Port Wemyss
	Peter	MacArthur	Port Wemyss
Pte.	J.	MacCallum	Port Ellen		A&SH
Gunner.	A.	MacCalman	Port Ellen		Royal Garrison Artillery
Pte.	N	MacDonald	Port Ellen		Highland Light Infantry
Pte.	D.	MacDougall	Port Ellen		A&SH
Pte.	J.	MacDougall	Port Ellen		A&SH
Pte.	M.	MacDougall	Port Ellen		A&SH
Pte.	H.	MacDougall	Port Ellen		Gordon Highlanders
Pte.	D.	MacDougall	Port Ellen		Gordon Highlanders
Gunner.	A.	MacDougall	Port Ellen		Royal Field Artillery
Pte.	Duncan	MacDougall	Bowmore	Bowmore.	Scottish Rifles
Pte.	J.	MacDougall	Port Ellen		Scottish Rifles
L.Col	D.	MacDougall	Port Ellen		Seaforth Highlanders
Pte.	C.	MacEachern	Port Ellen		A&SH
Seaman	A.	MacFarlane	Port Ellen		Royal Naval Reserve
Seaman	D.	MacFarlane	Port Ellen		Royal Naval Reserve
Q.M.	J.	MacGibbon	Port Ellen		Royal Naval Reserve
Seaman	J.	MacGibbon	Port Ellen		Royal Naval Reserve
Pte.	Gilbert	MacIndeor	Bowmore	Lyrabus	Machine Gun Corps
Pte.	J.	MacIntyre	Port Ellen		A&SH
Sdt.	J.	MacIntyre	Port Ellen		Royal Field Artillery
Sgt.	Walter	MacKay	Bowmore	Bowmore	A&SH
Sgt.	John	MacKay	Bowmore	Bowmore	A&SH
Pte.	D.	MacKay	Port Ellen		Machine Gun Corps
	Alexr	MacKellar	Port Wemyss
Pte.	D.	MacKerrell	Port Ellen		A&SH
Lieut.	A.	MacKinnon	Port Ellen		A&SH
Pte.	A.	MacLachlan	Port Ellen		A&SH
	Duncan	MacLean	Port Wemyss
	Neil	MacLean	Port Wemyss
Pte.	J.	MacLellan	Port Ellen		A&SH
Corpl.	D.	MacMillan	Port Ellen		Canadian Infantry
Ch.Off.r	A.	MacMillan	Port Ellen		Merchant Service
Pte.	J.	MacMillan	Port Ellen		Royal Engineers
Seaman	D.	MacMillan	Port Ellen		Royal Naval Reserve
C.Q.M.S.	J.	MacNab	Port Ellen		A&SH
	John	MacNiven	Port Wemyss
Pte.	R.	MacPhail	Port Ellen		A&SH
R.S.M.	N.	MacPhail	Port Ellen		Gordon Highlanders
Capt.	Murdoch A.	MacTaggart	Bowmore	Bowmore	A&SH
Pte.	D.	MacTaggart	Port Ellen		A&SH
Pte.	H.	MacTaggart	Port Ellen		Gordon Highlanders
	John	MacTaggart	Port Wemyss
	Gilbert	McArthur	Bruichladdich	Fornaseig
	John	McArthur	Bruichladdich	Fornaseig
Piper.	C.	McCalman	Port Ellen		Cameron Highlanders
	Alexander	McCalman	Bruichladdich	Gruineart
	Gilbert	McCalman	Bruichladdich	Gruineart
	Ronald	McCormick	Bruichladdich	Conisby
	Gilbert	Mccormick	Bruichladdich	Port Charlotte
	Archibald	McFadyen	Bruichladdich	Gruineart
	Donald	McFadyen	Bruichladdich	Port Charlotte
	James	McFadyen	Bruichladdich	Port Charlotte
Lieut.	M.	McGilvray	Port Ellen		Royal Eng'eers West Africans
	Peter	McIndeor	Bruichladdich	Port Charlotte
Seaman	A.	McInnes	Port Ellen		Royal Naval Reserve
Lieut.	M.	McIntyre	Port Ellen		Cameron Highlanders
	Alexander	McIntyre	Bruichladdich	Tayvullin
	Charles	McJay	Bruichladdich	Port Charlotte
Pte.	J.	McKerrell	Port Ellen		Australian Imperial Forces
Pte.	John	McKinnon	Bowmore	Bunanuilt	Highland Light Infantry
	Archie	McLean	Bruichladdich	Bruichladdich
	Malcolm	McLean	Bruichladdich	Carnduncan
Pte.	Angus	McLellan	Bowmore	Blue House	A&SH
Pte.	A.	McLellan	Port Ellen		Seaforth Highlanders
	Alasdair	McLellan	Bruichladdich	Bruichladdich
	John	McLellan	Bruichladdich	Foreland
	John	McLellan	Bruichladdich	Port Charlotte
Pte.	Willm.	McMillan	Bowmore	Bowmore	A&SH
Pte.	D.	McMillan	Port Ellen		Machine Gun Corps
	John	McMillan	Bruichladdich	Octamore
	Alexander	McMillan	Bruichladdich	Port Charlotte
	Duncan	McMillan	Bruichladdich	Port Charlotte
Sgt.	P.	McNeill	Port Ellen		Royal Engineers
Pte.	Arch.	McNiven	Bowmore	Knockanbiorch	A&SH
	Peter	Mcniven	Bruichladdich	Conisby
Pte.	Alex.	McPhail	Bowmore	Gartnatra	Australian Army
	John	McPhail	Bruichladdich	Port Charlotte
	Robert	McPhail	Bruichladdich	Port Charlotte
	Alexander	McPhee	Bruichladdich	Kilchoman
	Angus	McTaggart	Bruichladdich	Port Charlotte
	Malcolm	McTaggart	Bruichladdich	Port Charlotte
Pte.	James	McVorran	Bowmore	Bowmore	A&SH
Pte.	J.	Morrison	Port Ellen		Seaforth Highlanders
	Peter	Morrison	Bruichladdich	Port Charlotte
Seaman	R.	Paul	Port Ellen		Royal Naval Reserve
Pte.	D.	Quintin	Port Ellen		A&SH
Pte.	G.	Quintin	Port Ellen		A&SH
Sgt.	Angus	Shaw	Bowmore	Carnain	A&SH
Pte.	Neil	Shaw	Bowmore	Monachorra	Highland Light Infantry
Pte.	Alex.	Shaw	Bowmore	Islay House Square	Royal Scots Fusilers
Pte.	D.	Sinclair	Port Ellen		Highland Light Infantry
Pte.	A.	Smith	Port Ellen		A&SH
Pte.	A.	Torrie	Port Ellen		A&SH
	John	Turner	Bruichladdich	Port Charlotte
	Alexander	Watt	Bruichladdich	Port Charlotte
Pte.	George	Weir	Bowmore	Bowmore	A&SH
Pte.	J.	White	Port Ellen		A&SH
Pte.	D.	Whyte	Port Ellen		A&SH
L.Cpl.	W.	Whyte	Port Ellen		A&SH