Remarkable diaries from St Kilda revealed for first time

“My window was left wide open as the day was so lovely,” wrote the heavily pregnant young wife. “All at once I heard the most terrible cries…”

What transpired on that day in 1909 would cast dark shadows over the remote island community, plunging tight-knit families into grief and punching a hole in even their astonishing resilience to keep going in one of the harshest of environments.

And of the five men who had made the short trip across the water from Hirta to Dùn – a journey made many times to capture birds or eggs to sustain hungry bellies – only two would return.

Alice’s distressing record of how three villagers – two of them brothers – perished on a glorious day is among the enthralling collection of St Kilda archives held by the island’s caretakers, the National Trust for Scotland.

And although it is more than 90 years since families left St Kilda to seek new futures on the mainland, such is interest in their unique way of life that even now fresh items are being added to the Trust’s collection.

“St Kilda is an amazing place, and the fascination that people have for it is huge,” says NTS archivist Ian Riches.

“We continue to receive items related to St Kilda that someone has found, and while most of it tends to be from more recent times and after the evacuation of islanders in 1930, it shows the fascination that remains for the island.

“The St Kilda archive is not a huge collection of items, but it is incredibly significant.”

Home to nearly one million seabirds, the isolated archipelago around 40 miles west of North Uist was abandoned after living conditions and an ageing population made it increasingly hard for islanders to remain.

In August 1930, the little steamer Dunara Castle was loaded with livestock and the villagers’ scant belongings, while the Admiralty sloop, Harebell, took the 36 residents to new lives on the mainland.

St Kilda was then taken over by the Earl of Dumfries - later the 5th Marquess of Bute – a passionate ornithologist who turned into a nature reserve.

The islands were then handed to the Trust’s care in 1957, along with a collection of letters, books and other items known as the ‘Bute Box’ which is now the heart of its archive.

Alice’s diaries are particularly poignant, adds Ian.

“The great thing about Alice’s diaries is that they offer a personal viewpoint of someone living on the island.

“She wrote about and named other islanders in a way that records how they lived at that moment and offers an eyewitness account on their way of life – you can hear her voice talking to you as you read.”

Her three volumes of diaries reveal initial misgivings about her husband Peter’s posting to the island, and document everything from the simple tasks of looking after the hens, to the challenges brought by illness, death and, at the other end of the spectrum, the joy of childbirth and neighbourliness.

The events of March 1909 are particularly poignant. “The suspense at home was awful,” wrote Alice, of the aftermath of the signal being raised that something was wrong.

“The women were all down & the anguished weeping and wailing I cannot describe. Our worst fears were realised; worse than we ever imagined.”

The men were within touching distance of Dùn when their small open fishing vessel struck a rock, capsized and threw all five into the crashing waves.

“Donald McDonald, Norman & John McQuien were all drowned,” wrote Alice. “Neil McKinnon & John Gillies were rescued in a very exhausted condition.

“Donald McDonald’s body was found floating in the water, but poor Norman & John had gone down gripping each other. The scenes are indescribable.”

Also contained in the Bute Box is the beautifully handwritten journal of St Kilda schoolteacher John Ross, who arrived on the island in summer 1889.

He observed all that was happening on the islands, including ‘Steamer Day’, when visiting ships carrying tourists would land at Hirta. He noted how islanders, who had previously spent time producing goods to sell to the tourists would “crowd to the shore carrying eggs and others cloth stockings to be offered for sale to visitors …”

Another extract describes the houses the islanders inhabited in not terribly flattering terms.

“As they are, the inside of a St Kilda house is anything but inviting,” he wrote. “The great fault is their filthy condition which is noticed immediately on entering the door.

“It does not say much for them to have their ash and refuse heaps almost on the doorstep.”

The Bute Box archives also contains correspondence to the Earl of Dumfries, including letters requesting permission to visit, questions relating to the island birdlife, and in one case, an appeal from an Edinburgh-based solicitor asking to purchase “pure Soay sheep” in order to help preserve the breed.

Far from being a sealed time capsule, its contents have been swelled by recent donations from members of the public anxious to keep St Kilda’s captivating heritage alive.

Among them is a travel journal and photographs kept by St Kilda visitor, Elizabeth Ferguson, who documented her trip to the island in 1931, and which was donated to the NTS archive in 2010 by her niece.

In one extract, she tells of her disappointment at not visiting St Kilda prior to the evacuation while conceding that it would have been a ‘pitiful sight’.

Another donation in 1999 includes letters, photos, newspaper clippings and correspondence between the donor’s father and Donald Gillies, a former inhabitant of St Kilda.

Among the archive’s most touching items are photographs taken by Robert Milne, who visited the Outer Hebrides including St Kilda in 1907. As well as image of Alice and her husband Peter, the capture the ghostly images of islanders going about their day to day tasks of hunting and preparing birds for food.

It has been supplemented by a further album of photographs handed in just five years ago, which includes images of St Kilda taken at the end of the 19th century and early 20th century.

St Kilda is the UK’s only dual UNESCO World Heritage Site, recognised for its heritage and natural significance. In an average year, it sees around 5000 visitors either as day trippers, from cruises, work parties or researchers.

Three staff from NTS, which this weekend marks is 90th anniversary, have just arrived on the island for the 2021 season, including an archaeologist, ranger and seabird ranger.

Mr Riches adds: “It is incredible that items relating to St Kilda are still coming into the archive.

“St Kilda holds an amazing fascination for many people.”

www.nts.org.uk/stories/the-national-trust-for-scotlands-st-kilda-archives