Office-bearers 2018-19:

Hon President: Mrs Frances Hood, FSA Scot
Hon Vice-President: Mrs Lily Cregeen
President: Dr Sandy McMillan
Vice-President: Mr Murdo MacDonald
Secretary: Mr Angus Martin Treasurer: Mrs Elizabeth Marrison, FSA Scot
E-mail: elizabeth.marrison@yahoo.co.uk
Committee: Mrs Lily Cregeen, Mrs Frances Hood, Mr Harry McIver, Mr George McSporran, Mrs Judy Martin, Mrs Ellen Oliver, Mr Colin 'Les' Oman, Mr Michael Peacock, Ms Christine Ritchie, Mrs Kate Singleton.

Speakers 2018/19

2018
10 October: Dr Steven Sutcliffe, 'The "Simple Life" in Kintyre - The Writings and Photographs of Dugald Semple (1884-1964).'
7 November: David C. Jardine, 'Choughed with Colonsay' (on ornithology).
5 December: Ronald Togneri, 'Archibald MacKinnon and the Cave Painting'.

2019
9 January: Prof Ronnie Roberts, 'Ardnacross to Hampden - The Surprising Story Behind Scotland's Greatest Football Era'.
20 February: Ian Mitchell, 'The Russian Clearances'.
20 March: Annual General Meeting, followed by Dr Lindsay Blair, 'Constructing the Fisherfolk: Allegories of People and Place.'

Meetings are held in the Ardshiel Hotel, Campbeltown, starting at 7.30 p.m.

Potholes in the roads threatened to displace the weather as a leading topic of conversation in the spring of 2018. Indeed, as we rattled past Clachan or wherever, I often thought to myself, 'Bring back the road surfacemen of old!'

Who were they? The answer is found in a pocket-sized printed booklet, titled Kintyre District Roads: Duties of Road Surfacemen, issued by J. S. Smith, the Kintyre District Roads Surveyor, in May 1907, and lodged in Live Argyll Archives, ref. CA/6/3/15.

What were these duties? They are outlined succinctly in the booklet: 'The duty of each man in charge of a length of road is to keep it [at] all times free from stones and mud, to attend to the drainage, and to keep the footpaths clean and smooth.'

It was no easy job. The working hours were 7 a.m. to 12 p.m., then 12.30 to 5.30 p.m., Monday to Friday. Saturday hours were 7 a.m. to 12 p.m., then 12.30 to 2 p.m. The work entailed hard physical labour, including the breaking of stones to form road metal. 'The stone when being broken will pass through a 2 1/4 inch ring in every way for patching, and 2 1/2 inch for rolling. A ring will be supplied for this purpose.'

The road was to be defined with a sod border through which shallow cross channels were to be cut for drainage. The drains were to be 'as shallow as possible. Deep seughing, or channelling, is very objectionable'! The booklet concedes that 'On a weak or unsound road, ruts and holes sometimes occur ... In no case must a single shovelful of stones be placed in a hole or rut'.

The Kintyre District had its own steam-roller, which occasioned more work for the surfacemen. They were instructed to have plenty of road metal prepared for the steam-roller when it was due to visit their particular road length, as well as identify overnight stances for the roller and its accompanying workmen's van.

Finally, as if all that was not enough, 'The Surfacemen shall regularly inspect all bridges, culverts, retaining walls, pitchings, protection fencing, drains, catchpits on his length, and shall keep them in good order'.

Note that 1907 was only nine years after the first motor car had appeared in the District - dreadful noisy machines which people drove far too fast, which tore up the roads and which terrified pedestrians, cyclists and animals. There is no reference to motor cars in the list of duties. All the implications of motorised transport still lay ahead.

The first motor car in Campbeltown arrived by the paddle steamer Strathmore in August 1898, and, from the Old Quay Head, undertook a series of runs along the shores of the loch. The Campbeltown Courier (27/8/198) reported that the 'advent of the car attracted a great deal of public attention and its movements were followed by interested crowds'. The report continued: 'The opening runs were very successful, and were well patronised. The car itself is not unlike a waggonette, though of greater width than the average vehicle of this description, and is capable of seating half-a-dozen people. The conductor sits in front with the steering gear in hand. Oil is the motor power. The car runs very smoothly, with no jolting, and travels at an average speed of from eight to ten miles an hour. The machinery is under perfect control and can be stopped in an incredibly short space, though it takes the hills somewhat slowly. The initial runs have not been marred by any untoward incidents, though some little trouble has been experienced with horses shieing [sic].'

Eleven years later, the first local case of speeding in a motor car was tried in Campbeltown Sheriff Court, and a lengthy report appeared in the Argyllshire Herald of 23 October, 1909. The driver, Robert Watson, who was employed by Dan Currie, Ardnacraig, was charged with having driven, on 9 October, on the Esplanade, 'a motor car at a speed exceeding 20 miles an hour, contrary to the Motor Car Act 1903, section 9'. The actual speed, calculated using stop-watches and a measuring-tape, was stated to have been 27 miles per hour. Watson's defence lawyer, Mr Mathew Dick, alleged that his client had been the victim of a 'police trap for motorists' and objected particularly to the trap's having been set on a 'curve' of the road, but Sheriff Wallace found the case proven and fined Watson £2, with the alternative of 14 days' imprisonment.

In the 1950s, Donnie MacArthur, now in Clachan, was rummaging around in the attic of his parents' home at Crubasdale Shore Cottage when he discovered an old ledger for a Muasdale shop. Shore Cottage, built with massive stones, is situated on the shore side of the road, about half-a-mile north of the present village of Muasdale, in the Parish of Killean and Kilkenzie, and is currently a privately owned attractive house with garden.

The ledger - brittle and coverless, and badly affected by damp - was passed on to the late Ian MacDonald (p 15), a neighbour, friend and local historian. Dating from 1806 to about 1810, the ledger, with research, was found to have originally been the property of Duncan McNiven, general merchant in Muasdale. This, however, is unlikely to have been the first ledger, as there are several references to earlier accounts. 'Muasdill' and the date are written along the top of each page.

Duncan was a member of the McNiven family which tenanted South Muasdale farm, on the estate of Muasdale, throughout the 18th century and up until the 1870s. He married Jean Stewart, from the nearby farm township of Margamonach, on 24 July 1806. Duncan sold mainly dry goods such as tobacco, cloth, clothes, stockings, bibles, fishing hooks, shearing sickles, oil, various nails, sole leather, indigo, spades, brimstone [sulphur], haberdashery, soap and tea. The only jewellery recorded is strings of amber beads.

Unfortunately, the first two pages of the ledger are missing, but page 3 starts with an entry dated ' ... 22nd 1806', which could possibly be August or September, as page 7 is dated '17th October 1806'. Each page normally has three customers' accounts, with the opposite page indicating payment details.

The first customer's account, on page 3, includes the following details:
Sold Duncan McDougald, farmer in Braidg [Braids]
1 lb sugar 10d 1 lb soap 10d
9th Dec 1806 - 1 lb tobacco pr [per] old son, 2 lb yellow soap [used chiefly in laundering] which was by a mistake put to Charles McCeigs acct in May last.
19th February 1807 - 1 hat & 1 belt £0.6.7d, 3¼ yds drab tweed corduroy at 3/4d, 1½ [yards] wooling corduroy at 12/- ¾d ditto 1 crimson silk handkerchief 5/6d 1 1b tobacco 4/1d
Feb 1807 - 2 doz pearl buttons 1/4d
2 yds twist 3d - thread 3d - 1 handkerchief
10 March 1807 - 2 lb soap
April - ½ lb hops
May - 1 lb tobacco
This account was paid in three instalments, the last on 9 July 1807 by cash.

Other typical examples from the accounts include the following:
On 25 December 1807, the purchases of John Galbreth, schoolmaster, Ardvinish, Island of Gigha, included:
1 roll 10 lbs 6 oz tobacco @ 3/9d per lb and at same time carriage of it to Tayphoort [ferry terminal]
On 8 March 1808, he bought 1 and 5/8th yds mixt saitinett @ 7/9d
2 and 7/16 yd super fine broad black cloth@ 23/-
1 large black silk handkerchief 6/6d 4 hanks of silk ½d
1 pair fine black stockings 3/9d, thread & twist 10½ d
3 dozen bun moulds, staytape
7 mettle coat buttons 4d, 1 1/9 yd calico
1 and 1/9 yd green linning 1/2 ½d 1 ½ yd ciret 3/-
9 March 1808 ½ lb spanish indigo 7/-, 4 lbs sugar 2/8d
12 lbs yellow soap 10/-, ¼ 1b black pepper 9d
1 roll 14 lbs twist tobacco @ 3/10d ¼ lb tea 1/10d
6 quires fine paper 6/3d, 1 dozen catichesrns 3 ½d
2 papers, corcan pins
paid 9 March 1808 by cash per wife
paid 2 April 1808 by cash and spindle yarn per his daughter 40/-, plus three more cash transactions.

Duncan Taylor, farmer in Kilchruire [Killegruar,] purchased, on 21 May 1807, 1 black silk handkerchief, 1 pair gray lambswool stockings and 1 hat at a total of £1-0-2d.

Archiba]d McIlrevie in Taychroman purchased tobacco, red & white cotton strip, blue policate [coloured gingham-type cotton produced in Scotland] and 10 lbs sheep wool in 1807.

Henry McLean, wright in Taylown [Tayinloan] includes, in his account of October 1808, 200 door nails, 200 'plincher' [flooring] nails, 100 sole clasp tacks, 100 sparables [headless nails for the soles and heels of boots] and 200 window nails.

Duncan McNiven had customers from all over Kintyre, as far north as Donald Taylor, farmer, and Kenneth Taylor, in Dunskoog [Dunskeig,] Clachan, and south to Marren Currie in Bellochantuy and Miss Girzel Thomson in Strathmollach, Campbeltown Parish, and, to the east, Angus McIntore, weaver in Grianan, Saddell Parish. To the west, he supplied his numerous customers on the Island of Gigha. His customer-base reached down as far as Campbeltown and included Archibald McSporran, a stocking-weaver, and James Telfer, a writer, or lawyer.

McNiven sold a wide range of cloth, dyes and buttons. Further examples are broad tweed duffel, superfine cambric muslin, stout cotton cloth, mourning print (Donald McAlester, farmer in Upper Barr, purchased this for his daughter-in-law in February 1807), tweed corduroy, turkey ground policate, calico, bombazet [a cheap form of Bombazine, used for servants and cheap mourning clothes] and gingham. He sold pearl, gilt, broad, breast, horn, coat and metal buttons, thread, hanks of silk and stay tape. With reference to clothes, he sold hats, belts, leather gloves, gallowses [men's braces,] woollen and cotton stockings, black hose and crowns for mutches [a type of woman's bonnet].

The majority of the accounts were paid in cash, but several were also paid in part, by peat-carting, eggs, milk, lint, salt, rigs of potatoes and whisky, which in the early 19th century was often illicitly made in stills up in the glens.

Peter McConachy, farmer in Kilmaluaig, paid by 'leading 6 carts of peats each 10d'.

Duncan McFiggain, farmer in Blary, paid by 'leading 10 carts of peat @ 10d', and also paid in butter and whisky as well as in cash.

Duncan Stalker, taylor in Kilchreive [?], paid in part by 15½ gills whisky @ 5/- per pint. Neil McIlchallum in Black Crubasdill part-paid by leading 9 carts of peats.

Adam McCorcadill, farmer in Duff, paid accounts in July 1808 by leading 8 carts of peets @ 10d, and, in accounts in 1809, by leading 4 carts, and also by cash and by milk.

Duncan's relation, James McNiven, farmer in Muasdill, part-paid his account with eggs and a sheep.

Nowhere in the ledger is there reference to selling milk, whisky, etc, so it may be that when clients part-pay in such goods, these are for Duncan McNiven's own use.

Other interesting listings in the ledger are references to 'law prosecution': in October 1808, Neil MacNiel in Coleshee had 5/- on his account for 'expense of law prosecution'; Bety McFater in Putechan, 5/-; March 1812, Capt McDonald in Ardglamy, Gigha, 5/-; in August 1811, John McCarmaig, farmer in Doounasirie [Dunashery,] had against him the interest of 2 years and 10 months and 14 days to be paid on 5/8½d for 'expense of law prosecution'. It appears that McNiven was trying to recover debts by taking these customers to court.

The ledger is also an interesting source for genealogical research, as it occasionally mentions wives, sisters and in-laws, as well as occupations, e.g.:
Donald Taylor, farmer in Doonskeck [Dunskeig] - Neps McAlester, his sisterin-law.
Neil McGill, farmer in Amod, purchased 3 ozs indigo per Ann, his daughter.
John McCuilkain [McQuilkan,] weaver in Glenecairdach [Glenacardoch] - wife and also 'best hops per his mother in law'.
Neil McGeachy, herd in Achnaha - Jlsay/Jlesa [?], his daughter.
Mary McQuilkan, cottar in Glenacardoch - John McQuilkan.
Arch. McConachy, farmer in Glengeocy [Glencloichageoidh] - wife and son Archibald.
William MacFater, sailor in Margmonegach.
Robert McSporran, shoemaker in Muasdill.
Mary Beith in Achnaha - daughters Nancy and Mary.
Donald Sillars, farmer in Gorjainefall [Gortnafal] - tobacco for his daughter, night cape, tobacco for little McKeich.

Margaret McFater in Margmonagach - William, her brother; Margaret, her mother; Janet and Margaret McFater.

Neil McGill, minister at Corcrevie, had a sister Flora, and there was a Donald McGill at the same address. Neil was an Independent minister and would have been part of the evangelical movement sweeping across Kintyre during this period. He was not recognised by the Church of Scotland, nor was he recognised by Donald McNiven, as he was not given the title of 'Mr.' before his name, which the parish ministers received.

Peter Thomson, weaver in Beachmenach - wife, daughter, son Neil. Waiter Howison, excise officer in Tayinlown in 1807.

Duncan McDugal, farmer in Braige [Braids] - Charles and Archibald, his sons. His wife bought tobacco and cambric muslin in July 1807, 'after he went off'.

The vast majority of transactions would have been conducted in Gaelic, but we have Archibald McConachy, herd, purchasing, on 1 April 1807, a common English bible at 2/10d, Adam McCorqudill in 1808 purchasing an English bible plus a Gaelic psalm book, and John McEachern, farmer in Achadhindrain, purchasing an English testament with psalms.

The majority of bibles sold were, however, in the Gaelic language - Robert McMillan in Culfuar purchased a 'galick' bible for his daughter in 1807 for 5/-; John Galbreth, schoolmaster in Gigha, bought a Gaelic psalm book and a dozen catechisms. Donald Blair, farmer in Clachaig, bought a Gaelic bible for 5/4d, and Angus McFarlan, cottar in Balloch, bought a Gaelic bible for 5/5d. Peter McCallum, farmer in Garvalt, bought a Gaelic testament for 2/8d and Lachlan MacNeil, cottar in Muasadill, in 1807 bought a Gaelic psalm book for 1/6d.

This suggests that many of the population in the area in the early 19th century were literate, with parish schools in Bellochantuy, Glenbarr, Killean and Clachan, and possibly a few small private schools as well.

The last entry in the ledger, at the bottom of the page numbered 230, was dated 6 August 1810 and was for a Margaret McMillan in Achapharick, who purchased, between 1808 and 1810, a large black handkerchief, black and white cambric, green print, black cambric and a damask shawl with silk band.

Some of the customer accounts in the ledger are shown as not being paid until 1816. This ledger, however, would have been one of many, as the shop continued in business at Crubasdale until about 1891. By 1841 Duncan McNiven was deceased, but the business was continued by his widow, Jean, described then as a 55-year-old merchant with her daughter, Isabella, aged 30. By 1851, Jean was now 66, and another daughter, Ann, 34, was residing with her and assisting in the shop. By 1861, Jean had died and both Isabella, 50, and Ann 45, were described as being grocers and cloth merchants. Living with them was another married sister, Mary McKay, a tailor and clothier's wife. Also listed at this address was Robert, a brother who had formerly been a teacher in Gigha.

In 1861, the Duke of Argyll sold Crubasdale Estate to Thomas Macdonald Parry Esq., of the City of Bath, for £14,500, and the annual rent for the house and portion of land for 'Mrs Nevin' [McNiven] was listed as £8. Robert McNiven in the 1871 Census was described as the head of the household and running the 'grocer and draper' business along with his sister Anne.

In the 1880s, Crubesdale Shore Cottage was described as being two houses. The McNivens had their three-roomed house and shop at the south end and the Duffys from Ireland had their two-roomed house at the north, though this was later converted into a byre, henhouse and dairy, most of which is now demolished. Robert, who was enrolled as a member of the Kintyre Club in 1862, was now a general merchant living with his sisters Ann and Catherine. Ann assisted him in the shop and Catherine, a widow, kept the house. Robert died in 1884 and Ann, aged 75, along with her widowed sister, Christina McDougall, continued running the business until 1891/2, when Ann died and Christina retired to Campbeltown. Eighteen ninety-one was the first time in the censuses that this property was called 'Crubesdale shop'.

No one today recalls being told there was once a shop operating there. The late Ina MacDonald, wife of Ian MacDonald, local historian and past president of the Kintyre Antiquarian & Natural History Society, remembered her older McDougall cousin, who farmed at Dunskeig, Clachan, recalling visiting family at Beacharr Farm as a child and being sent to the shop for a 'message', or errand. He said he remembered being 'scared of Ann', but she would give him a 'parley' - a treacle-flavoured biscuit - to eat on his way home.

Following the closure of the shop at Crubasdale, a Mrs Calder, recent widow of Neil Calder, tailor, opened a grocer's shop in the ground floor of her home, Bridge House, Muasdale. The entrance was through the door on the right, and down one step. She was assisted by her daughter Anne, who later took over the business. During this period, a Catherine Thomson from Greenock opened an earthenware shop, probably in the same building, but through the left door. This shop was, however, short-lived.

By 1911, another Catherine Thomson, after the death of her husband, Lachlan Thomson, joiner and cartwright at Glenbarr, took over Bridge House with the shop, assisted by her daughters, Margaret, Katie and Rose. Katie, who married Angus Livingstone later in her life, eventually ran the grocer's shop, assisted by a niece, Mary Taylor, daughter of her brother, Archie. With advancing age and the marriage of her niece, the running of Muasdale shop was left to her brother-in-law, John Sinclair, who was helped by his son, Peter. On Katie's death, and with the shop no longer compliant with government regulations for running water, toilets, etc, John Sinclair erected a new shop nearby in 1965. On his retirement, his son, lain, took over the business until his own retirement in 2016, when the shop finally closed.

This ledger, Ref DR/1/336/4/9, is now housed in Live Argyll Archives in Lochgilphead. Spellings used are as transcribed from the original document.

I chanced upon the following account, which appeared in the Campbeltown Journal of 23 March, 1860, as a letter to the editor signed 'P. McI'. The writer was clearly Peter McIntosh, who was born at Ardnacross circa 1788 and died at Dalintober in 1876. He was a teacher at Drumlemble for many years, resigning in 1844 to become a Free Church catechist, which vocation took him to Kilberry, Islay and Gigha. He wrote verse in Gaelic and English and in 1857 published his strange and fascinating History of Kintyre.

This letter, which, to my knowledge, has not hitherto been reproduced, is of remarkable interest, dealing, as it does, with an alarming episode in Kintyre history, the 1798 Irish Rebellion, of which he gave a similar account in his History of Kintyre, but without reference to the Saddell Volunteers. As it transpired, there were no rebel incursions into Kintyre from across the North Channel, but the hysteria in the country was such that, according to McIntosh, Irish refugees in Kintyre were seized, interrogated and then expelled or executed.

McIntosh mentions that from the top of 'Cnocmaigh', on a clear day, the smoke rrom burning houses in County Antrim could be seen across the North Channel. That hill, the second-highest in Kintyre, stands to the south of the Inneans Bay, mid-way between Machrihanish and the Mull of Kintyre. Still further south, at Dun Ban, a headland near Largiebaan, on 12 October 1798 a detachment of Volunteers, despatched from Inveraray, watched an engagement between nine French ships, with troops, stores and ammunition for a landing in Ireland, and a squadron of British warships, under the command of Sir John Warren. The battle began before dawn that day, and by noon seven French vessels had been sunk, and the alarm - raised on 8 October, when the French fleet had been observed off the east coast of Kintyre, causing widespread panic as far north as Inveraray - had died down. A full account of that naval battie, and the background to it, can be found in 'The Cantyre Invasion Alert of '98', by the late Donald Kelly, in Argyll & Bute Local History, No.2, pp. 6-8.

A company of local volunteers, or 'fencibles', was sent to Ireland under the command of John Porter, who was born at Crossibeg in 1760 and elected Provost of Campbeltown in 1792. In 1998, the bicentenary of the Rebellion, the late A.I.B. Stewart wrote an account of the assault Porter led against a numerically superior Rebel force at Wilson's Hospital, Ballanalack, County Meath. A contemporaneous report described the action thus: 'Major Porter with 150 men and one field piece of the Argyll Regiment engaged upwards of Five Thousand of the rebels at Wilson's Hospital ... where he had two privates & two of the gun horses killed and three privates wounded.'
[The full account, titled 'Lt. Col. John Porter: A Gallant Provost', can be found in No. 44, pp. 3-5.
Editor]

SIR,-

As our nation is at present much interested in raising volunteers, it may amuse your readers to peruse an account of what our forefathers did in Kintyre 60 years ago, in forming companies of volunteers at CampbeItown and neighbourhood, and it was not without cause that they submitted themselves to the discipline of soldiers. The war was raging on the Continent; indeed, the hands of all nations almost were against Britain, and what added greatly to the calamity, our Irish brethren rebelled against the king and laws of our nation, threatening Kintyre with an invasion, in order to kill, rob, and plunder

The cry was often heard in Campbeltown, 'The Rebels are coming', and parents used to frighten their children with the cry of 'Crop[p]ies are coming', and no wonder we were frightened, for if a person stood on the top of Cnocmaigh on a clear day, he might see the smoke of the burning houses on the north of Ireland, on the opposite side of the Irish Channel, and there was no difficulty in crossing over to CampbeItown, and burning our houses also. Such was the cause for raising companies of volunteers in Kintyre.

There were three companies in Campbeltown, one of them trained to the exercise of the great guns, having six 18-pounders, which made a very loud report on the king's birthday and at other times, when discharged. I have seen the volunteers exercised in harness, dragging along the roads for a considerable distancc two fine field pieces of cannon, and firing shots from them along the highway. I have seen them searching houses in pursuit of the poor Irish who made their escape from their ill-fated homes, to take refuge in Kintyre, and I have seen a crowd of them, with the volunteers taking them to the Town Hall for examination. Some of those who were apprehended were sent back, and other were hanged and beheaded. And though I was but young at that time, I remember how sad I was to see the poor creatures so ill used, as I thought, who came for safety to Kintyre; and I can state that those who remained behaved themselves quite well.

I have a document, containing the names of the officers and men of the Saddle [sic] volunteers, who were celebrated in song for their strength, beauty, intelligence, and handsome appearance on the field, at the time of parade. I subjoin a list of their names, which will be interesting to their descendants.

This company was formed in 1797, by
Major Campbell, Esq., of Saddle
Captain Kenneth Campbell of the Isle of Sky
First Lieutenant, Charles Lionel Campbell Esq., CampbeItown
Second Lieutenant, Mr McTavis ofStrathmoloch
First Sergeant, Mr Duncan McKinnon, staymaker, Campbeltown
Second Sergeant, Mr Archd. Ramsay, farmer, Kilkeddan.

Men, from Saddle:
John Campbell Shaw, Charles McMilIan, farmer, Campbell McMilIan, John McMillan, WilIiam Brown, Lachlan McCaog, teacher; Nathan McNair, farmer, and Robert Campbell, Kildonald; Archibald McIver, farmer, and Daniel Thomson, Ballochgair; Robert McFarlane, John McFarlane, weaver, James Galbraith, farmer, James Kelly, cottar, from Ardnacross; Donald McIntyre, Donald McWilIiam, Alex McWilIiam, farmers, Andrew McWilIiam and Angus McWilliam, from Kilkeddan; Alex McLean, farmer, Peter McMurchy, farmer, and John McGeachy, Gartgreillan; Duncan Smith, Drumgarve; John Drain, herdsman, and Donald Duncan, sen., Isga; Andrew Harvey, farmer, John McWilIiam, farmer, John McMilIan, servant, Robert Galbraith, farmer, all from Pen inver; William Galbraith, Robert Galbraith, Archibald McPhail, Donald McPhail, John McPhail, Neil McArthur, Peter McArthur, farmers, from Laggan; Dugald Stewart and Duncan Stewart, farmers, from Calibum; John McKinlay, weaver, Cuil; Duncan McMillan, smith, James Taylor, farmer, Andrew McWilliam, farmer, Neil MiIloy, weaver, Thomas Wilson, shoemaker, Archd Greenlees, farmer, from Smerby; James Greenlees, High Smerby; Andrew Mitchell, farmer, Robert Templeton, farmer, and David Campbell, servant, from Ballimennach; James Porter, farmer, and John Henderson, servant, Crossebeg; Archd Gillies, farmer, Auchalochy; Andrew McMiIlan, Campbeltown.

The officers for the two last years were Captain William Watson, merchant, Campbeltown; First Lieutenant, Mr McTavis, Stramolloch; Second Lieutenant, Mr WilIiam Langlands, Campbeltown; First Sergeant, Archd. Ramsay, farmer, Kilkeddan; Second Sergeant, Mr Alexander McWiIliam, farmer, Kilkeddan; Feugleman, John McFarlane, weaver, Ardnacross.

The company was called out for exercise once a week, on Wednesdays at mid-day in winter, and twice a week in summer, at six 0' clock in the evening. The pay was two shilIings per week. The company got two suits of clothing during the four years and paid for their two belts. The company was dismissed in June 1802 and gave up their arms, boxes, &c., in the Town Hall of Campbeltown. The Saddle volunteers would sometimes join the Campbeltown companies, and go through a variety of evolutions, such as a sham battle and firing at target. And those who saw the Saddle volunteers at parade on Peninver links, when in full dress, could not but admire their handsome appearance -

On Peninver links they are formed in line,
To see them in their clothing so gallant and fine.
With round hat and feathers and bear skin on crown;
O Saddle volunteers they gain much renown.
CHORUS
O Saddle volunteers are loyal and true,
They fight for king and country, and ne'er bid adieu.

Copyright belongs to the authors unless otherwise stated.

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