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Category Archives: Stornoway History
Four Victorian Stornoway Shops
The receipts published here relate to purchases made between 1868 and 1880 by Christina Morrison (Mrs Charles Morrison), then living in Cromwell Street in Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, with her shopkeeper husband and growing brood of small children. With their … Continue reading
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Introducing Charles Morrison, A Stornoway Shopkeeper
The Stornoway shopkeeper Charles Morrison (1838-1920) came from a family of farmers and meal dealers living at Cyderhall near Dornoch, on the east coast of Scotland. Around 1855, aged 16, he set off for Stornoway, a fishing town on the … Continue reading
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Remnants of Victorian Stornoway: the Lews (now Lewis) Hotel
It is intriguing to imagine how the Hebridean town of Stornoway would have looked in the 1860s, when Charles Morrison was writing his diary. The Lews Hotel, located close to Macdonald & Morrison’s shop on North Beach Street, was Stornoway’s principal … Continue reading
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Angus Macdonald’s Cash Book, 1864 to 1873
Angus Macdonald (1836-74) was an enterprising shopkeeper in Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, for a brief period during the 1860s and the early 1870s. From 7 May 1864 until 1873, shortly before his death from phthisis (tuberculosis), he kept a ‘Cash … Continue reading
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William Macleod: Stornoway Photographer
Many Stornoway families treasure photographs depicting their Victorian and Edwardian ancestors, attired in their Sunday best. These sepia portraits, usually in the small format of cartes de visite, are often stamped on the border or on the reverse, ‘W. Macleod, Stornoway’. Sadly, … Continue reading
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The Iolaire Disaster: Kenneth Macphail’s Story
. . . future generations will speak of it as the blackest day in the history of the island . . . (Loyal Lewis Roll of Honour 1914-1918, 1920, 311) It was the final day of 1918. After four traumatic … Continue reading
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A Visit to the Druidical Stones, Callanish, October-November 1863
On Friday 30th October 1863, four young people from the town of Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, set off on a short holiday to Callanish, famous – then as now – for its standing stones. They were two unmarried couples: Charles Morrison and Christina Gerrie; Donald McRae … Continue reading
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A Journey by Steamer and Train, 11-13 August 1884
Transcribed from 16-year-old Margaret Ann (Maggie Ann) Morrison’s manuscript record of a journey taken in the company of ‘Pa’ – her father, Charles Morrison. In later years Maggie Ann studied music on the Continent and played professionally. She married Alexander … Continue reading
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Building Our Past 