Archives special: Chronic poverty, the big story of 1923

While these events were widely chronicled in the columns of the Stornoway Gazette, there was little ongoing attention to the underlying reality of intense poverty throughout the islands. In 1923, this was intensified by failure of the potato crop and an unusually wet autumn and winter.

Even by the standards of the time, the closing stages of 1923 and the months that followed were exceptional for the poverty that accompanied them.

It was only in the Gazette’s last issues of the year that the scale of these conditions came to the fore, though this was not through the newspaper’s own observation or researches which did not extend much beyond the boundaries of Stornoway.

Instead, its coverage of conditions was prompted by an appeal launched by the Lord Lieutenant of Ross and Cromarty (of which Lewis was part) and the external media interest this generated.

By then, it transpired, committees were active in Edinburgh and Glasgow to raise relief funds for the impoverished islands and west coast. Appeals were also being made to islanders and their descendants in America to send money to assist those still at home.

The Gazette finally editorialised: “It is not surprising that the outside world has come to know of the sad plight in which so many in the Lews and the other Isles of the West are placed through the combination of adverse circumstances which have obtained this year.

“Following on the letter to the press from Sir Hector Munro of Foulis, the Lord Lieutenant of Ross and Cromarty, in which he drew attention to the circumstances and appealed for assistance on behalf of the sufferers, the subject has been dealt with in special articles in several of the leading newspapers.

“Special correspondents have been sent north and west to ascertain the facts and their reports are now appearing in their journals … The various reports show that grave distress exists in a number of districts and to a lesser degree in many more.

“The greatest distress exists in those places, especially in Lewis, Harris, the Uists, Barra and Benbecula, and on the west coast of Ross-shire, where there have been the double failure of the land and sea harvests, with the addition of lack of peats. Peats are scarce for the same reason that has caused the failure of the corn and potato crops – the consistently wet weather throughout this year’s summer and autumn … there has not been a rainier year within the memory of those living”.

Without any hint of irony, the Gazette editorial greeted “the handsome gift of venison which has been sent to the Ness district of Lewis by Captain John Stirling of Fairburn – the head of a house well-known as among the most kindly and generous of our Highland county families”.

Apart from Sir Hector’s appeal and Captain John’s generosity, there was little reporting in the Gazette of the symptoms of distress though a brief report headed “Relief Measures” gave some indication of what was unfolding in the country areas of Lewis.

“A first consignment of potatoes for the Parish of Uig, supplied by the Scottish Board of Health, arrived from Leith by the SS ‘Glendun’ on Saturday. The potatoes are destined for the Carloway and Loch Roag district and will be supplied, in lieu of wages, to men employed on relief works.

“Considerable quantities of clothing arrived last week for distribution and over 30 hinds of a consignment of 100 which is expected. The distribution of the clothing etc is in the hands of a Central Ladies Committee in Stornoway of which Councillor Mrs Julia M. Fraser is convener and Mrs Cameron, Free Church Manse, secretary.

“The committee have invited the local Nursing Associations, of which there are 17 in the island, to co-operate with them in the matter of distribution”.

There were also some signs of political stirrings in response to the desperate conditions with reference in the Letters column - but not elsewhere - to a Labour meeting in Ness, following which the speaker had been attacked by an anonymous scribe signing himself “Ex-Militiaman”.

In response, a signed letter said: “We are proud as Lewismen for Mr Gunn’s attitude on behalf of the destitute of that area…. Let him carry on the good work on behalf of the destitute. We feel his noble service will not be in vain. We are told to rescue the perishing and care for the dying and the sooner ‘Ex-Militiaman’ appeals for mercy, the better for his ignorance”.

While the headlines of 1923 had featured the Metagama and Marloch, Lord Leverhulme and the embryonic Stornoway Trust, the real story for the vast majority of islanders was one of grinding poverty, unemployment and – even where relief schemes provided work – of potatoes “in lieu of wages”.