Lewis pupils create Iolaire memorial for Stornoway

Stones have been collected from the home village of each of the 201 sailors lost on the Iolaire and will be incorporated into a unique memorial in Stornoway town centre to be unveiled later this month.
As part of their research the Nicolson pupils visit the Iolaire Memorial site.As part of their research the Nicolson pupils visit the Iolaire Memorial site.
As part of their research the Nicolson pupils visit the Iolaire Memorial site.

Stornoway Amenity Trust, in partnership with The Nicolson Institute, and supported by Stornoway Historical Society, has been working on the Iolaire Memorial Project (Pròiseact Carragh-Cuimhne na h-Iolaire) to create a memorial to mark the Centenary of the sinking of the Iolaire on New Year’s Day in 1919 – the worst peacetime maritime disaster in British waters.

The memorial will be situated in Carn Gardens, close to the Town Hall and will consist of a slate engraving on a wall and a stone cairn which will include stones to represent each man lost. A bench donated by Stornoway Port Authority will also be put in place nearby.

The plan to include stones from the home village or town of all victims was devised by pupils of The Nicolson Institute who have spent the last few months working on those collections.

Some of the stones collected from Ness and the West side of Lewis.Some of the stones collected from Ness and the West side of Lewis.
Some of the stones collected from Ness and the West side of Lewis.

Stones have now been collected in villages all over Lewis, Harris, Berneray (North Uist) and also from the home towns of the 20 victims who were not from the Isles – a project which has involved communities across the UK.

The memorial is currently under construction and will be unveiled at 11am on March 23rd by descendants of some of those lost in the Iolaire.

A procession of 201 pupils from The Nicolson Institute will walk to Carn Gardens where the cairn, the engraving and the bench will be unveiled.

All are welcome to attend this event.

The Nicolson pupils selecting stones for the memorial from Bayble beach.The Nicolson pupils selecting stones for the memorial from Bayble beach.
The Nicolson pupils selecting stones for the memorial from Bayble beach.

Stornoway Amenity Trust would like to thank the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Western Isles Lifestyle Lottery, Stornoway Port Authority for providing funds for the project.

Youngest Sailor

The youngest sailor lost on the Iolaire was 17 year old David Macdonald from Aberdeen. He was the Signal boy.

The Amenity Trust contacted Aberdeen Grammar School for assistance in getting a stone to mark his loss.

Some of the stones collected from Ness and the West side of Lewis.Some of the stones collected from Ness and the West side of Lewis.
Some of the stones collected from Ness and the West side of Lewis.

The school’s history department undertook some research about him and provided a granite stone for the Stornoway Memorial.

From one island to another

Two stones were sent from the Isle of Wight to be part of the memorial.

Royal Naval Reserve Lt Leonard Edmund Cotter, 49, and Mercantile Marine Reserve Chief Petty Officer and cook Alfred William Henley, 45 were both lost.

The Nicolson pupils selecting stones for the memorial from Bayble beach.The Nicolson pupils selecting stones for the memorial from Bayble beach.
The Nicolson pupils selecting stones for the memorial from Bayble beach.

Chief reporter of the Isle of Wight County Press, Emily Pearce assisted in ensuring stones were sent from the island and local schools in the villages where the two men lost were from agreed to collect stones and send them to Stornoway.

http://www.iwcp.co.uk/news/news/stones-to-mark-yachtandrsquos-poignant-sinking-318233.aspx

Bell ringer lost in Iolaire

Fred McCarthy from Hartlepool, England was part of the Iolaire’s crew and was lost on that fateful night.

Back home he had been a bell-ringer at Stranton Church (All Saints), Hartlepool and a member of the Durham and Newcastle Association of Bell-ringers (D&N).

He is commemorated on a plaque in Newcastle Cathedral.

Stornoway Amenity Trust received a stone commemorating him and were informed of the D&N Ringing for Remembrance project which is commemorating bell-ringers who fell in the First World War.

This is done through commemorative bell-ringing performances on the centenary of each bell-ringer’s death at the towers where they had rung the bells.

This will be done at Stranton Church on January 1st 2019 in memory of Fred McCarthy.

London stones collected by Isles MP

Three of those lost on the Iolaire were from London.

Twenty two year old Albert Richard Matthews, 19 year old William Joseph J Stanley and 33 year old Alfred Samuel E Taylor.

Western Isles MP Angus MacNeil assisted in finding three stones from the shores of the Thames to be included in the memorial to commemorate the three London men who were lost in the Iolaire off Lewis.