Remembering the Islanders
I was surprised and very moved to come across this Remembrance Day article about my home town of Stornoway in The Guardian this weekend. The article briefly tells the story of the tragic loss of the HMY Iolaire, the ship that was wrecked within sight of Stornoway harbour on Hogmanay 1919, resulting in the death of 205 sailors and service men returning home from the war. (I've written about the Iolaire here before.) This is one of the very few times I have ever read about the disaster in the national press. It's only recently that the tragedy has been commemorated on the islands, when I was a child people only mentioned the Iolaire in hushed tones before turning their faces away.
The article also refers to the sheer scale of loss that the Hebrides suffered during the war, and the impact this had on island communities.
More men enlisted in Lewis, as a proportion of the population, than in any other part of the UK, Canada, Australia or New Zealand: just over 19% left to fight.
For a community built on agriculture and fishing, it was an extraordinary commitment from the young male labour on which the island’s life depended. The casualty rate was also proportionately the highest of any part of the UK and dominions. Every sixth man died, a total of 1,797.
My grandfather was one of the young Lewismen who enlisted at the age of seventeen, just a few months shy of his eighteenth birthday. He served with the Tank Corps on the Somme, but unlike so many, he was one of the lucky ones who returned to the islands.
Stornoway War Memorial
The article also refers to the sheer scale of loss that the Hebrides suffered during the war, and the impact this had on island communities.
More men enlisted in Lewis, as a proportion of the population, than in any other part of the UK, Canada, Australia or New Zealand: just over 19% left to fight.
For a community built on agriculture and fishing, it was an extraordinary commitment from the young male labour on which the island’s life depended. The casualty rate was also proportionately the highest of any part of the UK and dominions. Every sixth man died, a total of 1,797.
My grandfather was one of the young Lewismen who enlisted at the age of seventeen, just a few months shy of his eighteenth birthday. He served with the Tank Corps on the Somme, but unlike so many, he was one of the lucky ones who returned to the islands.
Stornoway War Memorial