Starting out in life as the illegitimate child of a housemaid and a farm labourer in Lossiemouth isn’t generally the recipe for attaining the top office in British politics.
But this was the story of Ramsay MacDonald, who was the first Labour prime minister in the UK, for a few months in 1924, and then from 1929-1931.
MacDonald has long fascinated Lossie native and film maker, Yvonne Findlay.
When she moved to Moray from a career in nursing in Aberdeen hospitals, she started up a social enterprise, Creative Visons Moray to use film, dance, music, literature and storytelling to capture and narrate local history.
Every film maker’s dream
Then came every film maker’s dream: the invitation to have a look at a dusty old box of cine reels found kept under the stairs of a family home.
Always an exciting thought, especially when the cine reels belonged to Ramsay MacDonald’s family, and were filmed by his young daughter, Ishbel, when he was Prime Minster.
The films were stored at The Hillocks, the home MacDonald built in Lossiemouth and still inhabited by his granddaughter, Iona Keilhorn, now in her 90s.
Iona invited Yvonne to look at the films to see what she could do with them.
She found footage of Ramsay taking off in a bi-plane, returning south to Downing Street. Photographs of Ramsay with Mussolini. Ramsay with Gandi. Ramsay with Einstein. Ramsay on the golf course. Ramsay gardening at Chequers. Ramsay with his beloved family and Scottie dog.
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Over several years and with painstaking research, Yvonne has edited what she found into a 90 minute film entitled From The Darkness Into The Light.
“It’s a window into the past, ” Yvonne says.
“His compelling personal story is told by two of his grand-daughters, Iona and Bridget, and members of the Moray community.
“I researched his story widely and the film has references from respected authors but most importantly quotes from the diaries of Ramsay himself.”
Yvonne notes the personal tragedy in MacDonald’s life, and how it placed his teenage daughter Ishbel into a position where she could freely film him.
“He lost his mother, son and wife within a year in 1910.
“So it was Ishbel, from the age of 18, who hosted for him at Downing Street.”
MacDonald achieved some remarkable firsts.
Yvonne said: “He was the first Prime Minister to fly. The first to talk to the nation on the radio, and the first PM on Pathé News.”
But, she says, the film is not about the Labour party or politics.
She said: “I tell the political side, but lightly.
“The film is more about the private world of Ramsay, about the beginnings, the foundations, and also the influence of Lossiemouth on his life.
“I think the influences of Lossie provided his moral compass for views and what he felt he needed to do.
“For example, the council housing for the poorer people. He understood poverty from seeing how hard his mother worked.
“There’s a bit in one of his diaries that one day as a little boy he ran to greet his mother as she came back from work and he saw how her hands were bleeding from working in the fish, and he understood the meaning of hard work, and how it caused hardship.
“From the films I saw a very nice family man who tried his best.”
Had MacDonald’s daughter Ishbel lived in our age, she would no doubt have captured her father’s life on her mobile phone.
“She was ahead of her time with the cine camera,” Yvonne says.
“She’s allowed us to see remarkable times in the run up to the Second World War, the backdrop to his life in London and Lossiemouth.
“I’m so pleased I’ve been able to complete the film in time for the centenary of his becoming Prime Minister.”
The film also shows stunning views of Lossiemouth, Yvonne adds, including the old steam train going into the town past Spynie Palace, also the harbour and the fish market.
“And Ramsay taking off in a two seater bi-plane from Mustard’s farm, Muriefield,” she says.
“There’s also a lot of local voices in the film, like the maids who came from Lossiemouth and went to work in Downing Street.”
It looks like MacDonald might have found gardening therapeutic, as there is footage of him chopping whins, even at Chequers.
Specially composed music
Music plays an important part in creating the atmosphere of the film.
“Ivan Drever from Orkney has created the music, and Sonia Allori also composed a piece.”
Yvonne took her film to Cambridge on the invitation of the Cambridge Labour Party.
She said: “I was overwhelmed by the reaction. I have been invited back to Cambridge to show the film again and it will be followed by a discussion with Cambridge political historians.”
Upcoming screening dates
From The Darkness To The Light has been well-received since its debut in December, and can be seen in Aberdeen Arts Centre on Wednesday May 1; also in the Cromarty Hall, St Margaret’s Hope, Orkney on Wednesday May 22.
Yvonne said: “I also showed it in a nursing home in Elgin, and am open to invitation to screen it elsewhere.”
Yvonne is happy to be contacted at yvonne@creativevisionsmoray.co.uk or on her mobile 07859 227822.
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