Harkness – MacGillivray Stories

These are perhaps two topics I should focus more on here. The military war service of my ancestors is quite a complicated subject. I have received emails from my first cousin, Dawn, and second cousin, Ted Moyes, about the MacGillivrays of Acharacle, amongst other things.

Of course, in one sense, Morag Campbell also did ‘military service’ indirectly during World War I when she worked as a land girl and tram driver.

Morag’s ‘husband to be’, Hector MacGillivray, my grandfather, served in World War I. He lived at Woodend Cottage in Acharacle. Archarcle is on the mainland, just a few miles from Eigg, as the crow flies. My Great Aunt Ann lived together with her nephew, Hector, at Woodend Cottage. As mentioned above, Ann worked at Ardtoe School. Ardtoe is a neighbouring village to Acharacle. If Ann had glanced out of the classroom window while teaching, she would have caught sight of the isles of Rhum and Eigg. The picture shows a view of Rhum and Eigg from Ardtoe.

The Family of MacGillivrays

But before I do that, I will say a little about Morag’s ‘future husband’. Before they met, he was living at Acharacle with his father and mother, John MacGillivray and Flora MacGillivray, nee MacNaughton. 

My second cousin, Ted Moyes, whose grandmother is Flora MacGillivary, my grandfather, Hector’s sister, sent me some very interesting emails, photos and images, about the Acharacle MacGillivrays. 

Macgillivray Family Photo

One very interesting photo is of the MacGillivarys taken sometime around 1900. One wonders why the father John MacGillivray is not in the photo? The eldest boy, Hector, is my grandfather, and future husband of Morag from Eigg. The youngest girl in the photo is Flora, Ted Moyes’ grandmother.

Ted mentioned that he still has contact with the daughter to Bella, Flora, who is aged 100 (in 2024)! This is fantastic in itself, in that she is perhaps the only one of a generation that has memories of the MacGillivarys of more than one hundred years ago! John’s sister Anne, the teacher, around 50 years old, is also shown. This is also of interest in relation to the discussion above regarding what kinds of jobs women could do.

In addition, the children in the photo all look very well-dressed. Hector even has a pocket watch and chain! Of course, this might have been a ‘studio photo prop’. Nevertheless, they look prosperous. John MacGillivray was a mason. However, I might imagine this term is somewhat misleading. He was perhaps rather a ‘master builder’, a person skilled in the design and construction of buildings; that is a self-employed builder who employed labour. This seems more likely, as, according to my mother, he constructed several houses in the Acharacle area. 

Also in the photo is William, 11 yrs. old. According to my mother, when he married many years later, he also had an illegitimate child. I won’t describe this in detail here, but at least include a photo. The girl in the sailor’s cap is Willie’s illegitimate daughter, but my mother never mentioned her name. But in a conversation with her, she described her as a ‘little bugger’ (see footnote). The photo must have been taken around 1923-1925. An interesting point about this photo, is that although my grandmother, Morag, lived in Glasgow, she probably kept in close contact with people in Acharacle, and on Eigg. 

In the MacGillivray family photo, John is about seven years old. Ted Moyes points out that he knew Uncle John, Hector’s brother. He says that John was a piper in World War 1 and he stayed with Hector for a while afterwards (this is shown in the 1921 census). He also says that John’s daughters Flora and Isobel are still living.

The second eldest son in the photo is Alexander MacGillivray, who is 11 years old in the 1901 census. Things get more complicated here, as it relates to his military service. 

It seems that most of John MacGillvary’s children reached a mature age, as contrasted to the children of Roderick and Morag Campbell (the parents of Morag who married Hector MacGillivary). This could be due to improved health and medical treatments around 1900, better health services on the mainland, the ‘prosperity’ of the MacGillivarys, or even due to genetic factors, as it seems most of the MacGillivarys lived to a ripe old age.  

Teachers in the Family

The 1901 census for Eigg shows that Naomi Ross (22 yrs) was the schoolteacher, and her sister, Henriette (18) was housekeeper. Moreover, Ann MacGillivray looks very impressive in her outfit – quite an imposing figure! As far as I know, Ann is the first in the extended family to work as a teacher. Both my mother and father worked as teachers. I have been employed for almost thirty years as a teacher and professor of English at various schools, colleges and universities in Norway, Australia and the United States.

My ex-wife, Natasha Harkness, has also worked as a full-time teacher of English, and still does, but now as an ‘extra’ job (2024). Her mother Tanya also worked as head teacher. Moreover, Natasha’s sister, Maria (‘Masha’), also worked as a teacher in a Norwegian university college. My sister-in-law, Catherine Harkness, has also worked as a teacher. My son, Alan MacGillivray Harkness is also studying to become a teacher (2024). In other words, this is a profession that runs in the family. 

Ann MacGillivray must have been well into her sixties when the author writes about when he attended her class. He notes that “she walked daily from Woodend Cottage, Acharacle, hail, rain or shine.” For those who are not acquainted with the local area, they wouldn’t be aware of the fact that this wasn’t just a ‘walk to school’; it was a hike of four miles that must have taken at least one and a half hours! She was thus a woman of iron, which is also suggested from her stern but friendly expression in the photo above. 

Speaking Gaelic

On reading this excerpt, it suddenly became clear to me that both of my grandparents, Hector and Morag, must have been Gaelic speakers, and no doubt spoke Gaelic in their home, from the time they married in 1918, until the time of Hector’s death in 1950. My mother didn’t speak any Gaelic, and as far as I know, her siblings didn’t either, despite the fact that they visited Eigg in the summers, where people mainly spoke Gaelic. But Katie MacKinnon said that my mother understood Gaelic.  

I continue discussing my family’s military war service in the succeeding posts.