Mary MacPherson

Last updated
Mary MacPherson
BornMàiri NicDhòmhnaill
10 March1821
Isle of Skye, Scotland
Died 8 November 1898
Portree, Isle of Skye, Scotland
Nationality British
Other names Màiri Mhòr nan Òran
Education Glasgow Royal Infirmary
Occupation Nurse and midwife, poet
Known for Poetry
Political party Highland Land League
Spouse(s) Isaac MacPherson

Mary MacPherson (Scottish Gaelic : Màiri Mhòr nan Òran (Great or Big Mary of the Songs); 10 March 1821 – 7 November 1898) was a Scottish poet and singer-song writer from the Isle of Skye who worked in Scottish Gaelic. Although she could read her own work when written she could not write it in Gaelic. [1] She retained her songs and poems in her memory until others wrote them down for publication. [2] She often referred to herself as Màiri Nighean Iain Bhàin (Mary, daughter of fair haired John), the name by which she would have been known in the Skye of her childhood. [3]

Scotland Country in Europe, part of the United Kingdom

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Sharing a border with England to the southeast, Scotland is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, by the North Sea to the northeast and by the Irish Sea to the south. In addition to the mainland, situated on the northern third of the island of Great Britain, Scotland has over 790 islands, including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.

Scottish Gaelic Celtic language native to Scotland

Scottish Gaelic or Scots Gaelic, sometimes also referred to simply as Gaelic, is a member of the Goidelic (Gaelic) language branch of the Celtic languages native to the Gaels of Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish. Most of modern Scotland was once Gaelic-speaking, as evidenced especially by Gaelic-language placenames.

Contents

Life

Born at Skeabost Skye in 1821 to John Macdonald and Flora MacInnes. [4] [5] She moved to Inverness in 1844 where she married Shoemaker Isaac MacPherson on 11 November 1847. [5] She and Isaac had five children who lived to maturity. Following the death of her husband in 1871 [6] Mairi Mhòr took employment as a domestic servant with the family of an army officer. She was accused of stealing clothes belonging to the officer's wife, who had just died of typhoid, and sentenced to 40 days imprisonment. All court documents relating to the case appear to have been lost and it is unclear exactly what happened. It is often claimed that another servant with a grudge against her planted the stolen clothes in Mairi Mhòr's box. She protested her innocence for the rest of her life and was almost universally believed by the Gaelic speaking community. At the time of her trial she was supported by John Murdoch, campaigning journalist and founder of The Highlander. Charles Fraser-Mackintosh, Inverness solicitor and politician, is also said to have acted on her behalf but it is unclear in what capacity. This marks the start of a friendship between the poet and the politician that lasted for the rest of her life. Her brush with the law and the feeling it aroused is recorded in Tha mi sgìth de luchd na Beurla (I'm tired of the English speakers). She said that the humiliation (tàmailt) she endured brought her muse to life. [7] [8]

Inverness City in the Scottish Highlands, Scotland, UK

Inverness is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Inverness lies near two important battle sites: the 11th-century battle of Blàr nam Fèinne against Norway which took place on the Aird and the 18th century Battle of Culloden which took place on Culloden Moor. It is the northernmost city in the United Kingdom and lies within the Great Glen at its north-eastern extremity where the River Ness enters the Moray Firth. At the latest, a settlement was established by the 6th century with the first royal charter being granted by Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim in the 12th century. The Gaelic king Mac Bethad Mac Findláich (MacBeth) whose 11th-century killing of King Duncan was immortalised in Shakespeare's largely fictionalized play Macbeth, held a castle within the city where he ruled as Mormaer of Moray and Ross.

John Murdoch (editor) Murdoch, John (1818–1903), journalist and customs and excise official

John Murdoch was a Scottish newspaper owner and editor and land reform campaigner who played a significant part in the campaign for crofters rights in the late 19th century

Charles Fraser-Mackintosh was a Scottish lawyer, land developer, author and Liberal and Crofters Party politician. He was a significant champion of the Scottish Gaelic language in Victorian Britain.

On her release in 1872 Mairi Mhòr moved to Glasgow, aged about 50. Here she seems to have learned to read and write in English, and qualified with a nursing certificate and diploma in obstetrics from Glasgow Royal Infirmary. [5] In 1876 she moved to Greenock to work but often returned to Glasgow for cèilidhs and other gatherings of Skye people. Both Glasgow and Greenock had sizeable Gaelic-speaking communities at the time. It is thought that she probably sang at many of these ceilidhs as there is evidence of her frequently doing so after she retired to Skye in 1882. By this time she had acquired a reputation for her songs and her championing of the crofters in the increasingly heated debate over land rights. She sang at the first ever National Mòd in Oban in 1892 but did not win a medal. [9] [10]

A cèilidh or céilí is a traditional Scottish or Irish social gathering. In its most basic form, it simply means a social visit. In contemporary usage, it usually involves dancing and playing Gaelic folk music, either at a house party or a larger concert at a social hall or other community gathering place.

Royal National Mòd

The Royal National Mòd is the most important of several major Mòds that are held annually, mostly in Scotland. It is the main festival of Scottish Gaelic literature, song, arts and culture and one of the more notable peripatetic cultural festivals in Scotland. It is often referred to simply as the Mòd.

Photograph of Mairi Mhor with her spinning whorl Mairi Mhor nan Oran.jpg
Photograph of Mairi Mhor with her spinning whorl

On returning to Skye she lived with a friend, Mrs MacRae of Os, until Lachlann MacDonald, laird of Sgèabost provided her with a rent free cottage. She then became actively involved in the Crofters' War and the Highland land issue, which provided the themes of some of her best known songs. She is known to have been present at Highland Land League meetings and to have been actively involved with campaigners such as Alexander Mackenzie and her friend Charles Fraser-Mackintosh in the run up to the Napier Commission of 1883-4 and the Crofters Act of 1886.

Highland Land League

The first Highland Land League emerged as a distinct political force in Scotland during the 1880s, with its power base in the country's Highlands and Islands. It was known also as the Highland Land Law Reform Association and the Crofters' Party. It was consciously modelled on the Irish Land League.

Alexander Mackenzie, was a Scottish historian, author, magazine editor and politician. He was born on a croft, in Gairloch. He had little opportunity for education and initially earned his living as a labourer and ploughman. In 1861 he became apprenticed in the clothes trade selling Scottish cloth in Colchester. In 1869 he settled in Inverness, where he and his brother set up a clothes shop in Clach na Cudainn House. From his business premises he derived his nickname 'Clach na Cudainn' or simply 'Clach'. He later became an editor and publisher of the Celtic Magazine, and the Scottish Highlander. Mackenzie wrote numerous clan histories. He was a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. A founder member of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, Mackenzie was elected an 'Honorary Chieftain' in 1894.

The Napier Commission, officially the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Condition of Crofters and Cottars in the Highlands and Islands was a royal commission and public inquiry into the condition of crofters and cottars in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.

In one of her songs of this period, ‘'Nuair chaidh na ceithir ùr oirre’’ Mairi describes a crossing of Strome Ferry with Fraser-Mackintosh, Alexander Mackenzie (Clach na Cùdainn), his son and Kenneth MacDonald to gather support for the land struggle. ‘’Clach’’ tells her that the boat will sink if she gets on board with the rest as she weighs in at 17 stone (108 kg). Instead she is to wait behind and the boatman will return for her alone. She was 5 ft 9 inches tall (172.5cm) tall so the epithet mòr can refer to her physique as well as to her status in Gaelic poetry. [11] Among other well known and frequently sung songs from her Land League period are ‘’Oran Beinn Li’’, ‘’Coinneamh nan Croitearan’’ and ‘’Eilean a’ Cheò’’

Like her contemporary Gaelic bard and activist, Mary Mackellar, Mairi Mhòr greatly admired and became friendly with Professor John Stuart Blackie. She was a skilled spinner and wool worker and made Blackie a tartan plaid. Later she devised a tartan which she called’’The Blackie’’. Blackie gave her a beautifully crafted cromag (shepherd’s crook). She also presented Charles Fraser-Mackintosh with a woollen suit. She had done the spinning and dying but not the weaving. [12]

Mary Mackellar Scottish poet

Mary Mackellar was a prominent Highland Scottish poet, Scottish Gaelic-English translator and campaigner for the Gaelic language and culture of the 19th century.

John Stuart Blackie Scottish scholar and man of letters

Prof John Stuart Blackie FRSE was a Scottish scholar and man of letters.

Her last known address, at Beaumont Crescent, Portree in the building now called the Rosedale Hotel, is commemorated today with a blue plaque. [13]

Plaque on the Rosedale Hotel, Portree to Mairi Mhor nan Oran Plaque to Mairi Mhor nan Oran.jpg
Plaque on the Rosedale Hotel, Portree to Mairi Mhor nan Oran

MacPherson died in Portree 1898 and was buried in Chapel Yard Cemetery in Inverness beside her husband. A gravestone was erected by Charles Fraser-Mackintosh, M.P. [14]

Beaumont Crescent, Portree. Last known address of Mairi Mhor nan Oran Beaumont Crescent.jpg
Beaumont Crescent, Portree. Last known address of Mairi Mhor nan Oran

Significance of her work

During the Highland Land League, song was a key mode of spreading information to local Gaelic speaking communities in Skye, many of whom were not literate in Gaelic. Furthermore her poetry now provides a significant body of evidence about the crofters' uprisings. [5]

Published work

Grave Stone of Mairi Mhor in Chapel Yard Cemetery, Inverness MAIRI MHOR1.jpg
Grave Stone of Mairi Mhòr in Chapel Yard Cemetery, Inverness

Critiques of her work

Donald Meek quotes Sheriff Alexander Nicolson in his ‘’History of the Island of Skye’’ as saying that Mairi’s songs had little permanent value after the events they commemorated has passed. Nicholson felt that ”few of her productions are worthy of preservation…. her imagery was too fleeting and superficial” [16]

Sorley Maclean, on the other hand, wrote of her work that “Its greatness consists of the fusion of social and private passion…..with extra-ordinary vitality and ‘’ joie de vivre’’; for of all the Gaelic poets not even Alexander MacDonald (Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair) had more vitality and ‘’joie de vivre’ than Mairi Mhòr…. Mairi’s poetry is rich in imagery and symbol although it is not very rich in metaphor … Mairi Mhòr’s poetry has always been greatly moving to the ‘sophistocated’ as well as a great many of the ‘unsophistocated’ among those who know her language”. [17]

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References

  1. ↑ Somhairle Mac Gill-eain, "Ris a' Bhruaithaich The Criticism and Prose Writing of Sorley MacLean" (Stornoway : Acair, 1985)251-2
  2. ↑ Dòmhnall Eachainn Meek,“Màiri Mhòr nan Òran : Taghadh de a h-Òrain” (Dùn Eideann : Comann Litreachas Gàidhlig na h-Alba, 1998)51-56
  3. ↑ Dòmhnall Eachainn Meek,“Màiri Mhòr nan Òran : Taghadh de a h-Òrain” (Dùn Eideann : Comann Litreachas Gàidhlig na h-Alba, 1998)31&186
  4. ↑ Norman,, Macdonald,. The great book of Skye : from the island to the world : people and place on a Scottish island. Maclean, Cailean,. Portree. ISBN   0952868792. OCLC   897503159.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. 23 September 2004.
  6. ↑ Mary MacPherson, DASG.ac.uk, Retrieved 29 January 2016
  7. ↑ Dòmhnall Eachainn Meek,“Màiri Mhòr nan Òran : Taghadh de a h-Òrain” (Dùn Eideann : Comann Litreachas Gàidhlig na h-Alba, 1998)23-27
  8. ↑ Somhairle Mac Gill-eain, "Ris a' Bhruaithaich The Criticism and Prose Writing of Sorley MacLean" (Stornoway : Acair, 1985)251-2
  9. ↑ Dòmhnall Eachainn Meek,“Màiri Mhòr nan Òran : Taghadh de a h-Òrain” (Dùn Eideann : Comann Litreachas Gàidhlig na h-Alba, 1998)pp27-28 &30
  10. ↑ Somhairle Mac Gill-eain, "Ris a' Bhruaithaich The Criticism and Prose Writing of Sorley MacLean" (Stornoway : Acair, 1985)251
  11. ↑ Dòmhnall Eachainn Meek,“Màiri Mhòr nan Òran : Taghadh de a h-Òrain” (Dùn Eideann : Comann Litreachas Gàidhlig na h-Alba, 1998)19 &186-9
  12. ↑ Dòmhnall Eachainn Meek,“Màiri Mhòr nan Òran : Taghadh de a h-Òrain” (Dùn Eideann : Comann Litreachas Gàidhlig na h-Alba, 1998) 19 & 29
  13. ↑ Mary MacPherson, Waymarking.com, Retrieved 29 January 2016
  14. ↑ Dòmhnall Eachainn Meek, “Màiri Mhòr nan Òran : Taghadh de a h-Òrain”(Dùn Eideann : Comann Litreachas Gàidhlig na h-Alba, 1998)30-31
  15. ↑ "(1) - Blair Collection > Dàin agus òrain Ghàidhlig - Early Gaelic Book Collections - National Library of Scotland". digital.nls.uk. Retrieved 2018-10-19.horizontal tab character in |title= at position 6 (help)
  16. ↑ Dòmhnall Eachainn Meek,“Màiri Mhòr nan Òran : Taghadh de a h-Òrain” (Dùn Eideann : Comann Litreachas Gàidhlig na h-Alba, 1998)45-46
  17. ↑ Somhairle Mac Gill-eain, "Ris a' Bhruaithaich The Criticism and Prose Writing of Sorley MacLean" (Stornoway : Acair, 1985)253&257
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