A fascinating insight into life on St Kilda in the early 1900s is to be revealed through a schoolteacher’s diary.
Alice MacLachlan taught on the archipelago of St Kilda, the remotest part of the British Isles, between August 1906 and May 1909.
She was married to Peter MacLachlan who was St Kilda’s minister during that time.
Now the extracts and transcripts of the handwritten diaries of Mrs MacLachlan are being presented by the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) for publication online.
Three volumes of her journal cover the couple’s time on St Kilda and also the six months prior when Mr MacLachlan was in his first position as minister at Garve, 20 miles north of Inverness.
On January 1 1906 Mrs MacLachlan wrote: “Garve where we have spent three very happy years. Had a New Year’s Day service in schoolhouse at 10.45am. Not many there.”
On January 3 1906 she continues: “Very stormy. Kept home all day. Busy knitting stockings. Bed early.”
An NTS spokeswoman said: “The decision was made to show the diaries as they were written by Alice MacLachlan including leaving in any abbreviations, spelling mistakes or other errors. It has not been possible to undertake a great deal of research into any of the people that Alice mentions in the first part of the diary extracts although if anyone has any information on this or on Alice and Peter during their time in Garve, please do contact the NTS archivist, Ian Riches on iriches@nts.org.uk”
The St Kilda extracts, which will begin being shown online in August this year, approximately coinciding with the 85th anniversary of the evacuation of the islands, reveal an extraordinary insight into day-to-day St Kildan life, mentioning a number of the then residents of the island.
The diaries were presented to the NTS by the executor of Susan MacLachlan, the couple’s only daughter, and copyright in the diaries is vested in the National Trust for Scotland.
Initially Mr and Mrs MacLachlan had their misgivings about this new posting but soon settled into island life as her diaries show.
While on St Kilda, Peter took the morning classes from 10am, and Alice taught in the afternoon until 4pm, also trying to teach the girls to sew. There were 22 children attending the school.
The first diary extracts and transcripts from January 1906 will be available to read on 19 January 2015 at www.nts.org.uk
