Màiri Mhòr Nan Òran
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Mary MacPherson (), known as Màiri Mhòr nan Òran (English: Great Mary of the Songs) or simply Màiri Mhòr (10 March 1821 – 7 November 1898), was a
Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...
poet from the
Isle of Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye, is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated by the Cuillin, the rocky slopes of which provide some of ...
, whose contribution to
Scottish Gaelic literature Scottish Gaelic literature refers to literary works composed in the Scottish Gaelic language, which is, like Irish and Manx, a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages. Gaelic literature was also composed in Gàidhealtachd communities ...
is focused heavily upon the
Highland Clearances The Highland Clearances ( , the "eviction of the Gaels") were the evictions of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, mostly in two phases from 1750 to 1860. The first phase resulted from Scottish Agricultural R ...
and the Crofters War; the
Highland Land League The first Highland Land League () emerged as a distinct political force in Scotland during the 1880s, with its power base in the country's Highlands and Islands. It was known also as the Highland Land Law Reform Association and the Crofters' Par ...
's campaigns of
rent strike A rent strike, sometimes known as a tenants strike or a renters strike, is a method of protest commonly employed against large landlords. In a rent strike, a group of tenants agree to collectively withhold paying some or all of their rent to the ...
s and other forms of
direct action Direct action is a term for economic and political behavior in which participants use agency—for example economic or physical power—to achieve their goals. The aim of direct action is to either obstruct a certain practice (such as a governm ...
. Although she could read her own work when it was written down, she could not write it down herself.Somhairle Mac Gill-eain, "Ris a' Bhruaithaich The Criticism and Prose Writing of Sorley MacLean" (Stornoway : Acair, 1985)251-2 She retained her songs and poems in her memory and eventually dictated them to others, who wrote them down for publication. She often referred to herself as ''Màiri Nighean Iain Bhàin'' (Mary, daughter of fair haired John), the name by which she would have been known as a child in Skye.


Life

Mary MacDonald was born at
Skeabost Skeabost () is a township, at the head of the sea loch, Loch Snizort Beag in the southern end of the Trotternish peninsula on the island of Skye in the Scottish Highlands and is in the Scotland, Scottish council area of Highland Council area, Hig ...
,
Isle of Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye, is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated by the Cuillin, the rocky slopes of which provide some of ...
, in 1821 to John Macdonald and Flora MacInnes. She moved to
Inverness Inverness (; ; from the , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness") is a city in the Scottish Highlands, having been granted city status in 2000. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highland ...
in 1844 where she married shoemaker Isaac MacPherson on 11 November 1847. She and Isaac had five children who lived to maturity. Following the death of her husband in 1871,Mary MacPherson
DASG.ac.uk, Retrieved 29 January 2016
Mairi Mhòr took employment as a domestic servant with the family of a
British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
officer. She was accused of stealing clothes belonging to the officer's wife, who had just died of
typhoid Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by ''Salmonella enterica'' serotype Typhi bacteria, also called ''Salmonella'' Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often ther ...
, and sentenced to 40 days imprisonment. All court documents relating to the case appear to have been lost and it is unclear exactly what happened. It is often claimed that another servant with a grudge against her planted the stolen clothes in Mairi Mhòr's box. She protested her innocence for the rest of her life and was almost universally believed by the
Gaelic Gaelic (pronounced for Irish Gaelic and for Scots Gaelic) is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". It may refer to: Languages * Gaelic languages or Goidelic languages, a linguistic group that is one of the two branches of the Insul ...
speaking community. At the time of her trial, she was supported by John Murdoch, campaigning journalist and founder of '' The Highlander''. Charles Fraser-Mackintosh,
Inverness Inverness (; ; from the , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness") is a city in the Scottish Highlands, having been granted city status in 2000. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highland ...
solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...
and politician, is also said to have acted on her behalf, but it is unclear in what capacity. This marks the start of a friendship between the poet and the politician that lasted for the rest of her life. Her brush with the law and the feeling it aroused is recorded in ''Tha mi sgìth de luchd na Beurla'' (I'm tired of the English speakers). She said that the humiliation (tàmailt) she endured brought her muse to life. On her release in 1872 Mairi Mhòr moved to
Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
, aged about 50. Here she seems to have learned to read and write in English, and qualified with a nursing certificate and diploma in obstetrics from
Glasgow Royal Infirmary The Glasgow Royal Infirmary (GRI) is a large teaching hospital. With a capacity of around 1,000 beds, the hospital campus covers an area of around , and straddles the Townhead and Dennistoun districts on the north-eastern fringe of the city cen ...
. In 1876 she moved to
Greenock Greenock (; ; , ) is a town in Inverclyde, Scotland, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The town is the administrative centre of Inverclyde Council. It is a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, and forms ...
to work but often returned to Glasgow for
cèilidh A ( , ) or () is a traditional Scottish and Irish social gathering. In its most basic form, it simply means a social visit. In contemporary usage, it usually involves Dance (event), dancing and playing Gaelic music, Gaelic folk music, eithe ...
s and other gatherings of Skye people. Both Glasgow and Greenock had sizeable Gaelic-speaking communities at the time. It is thought that she probably sang at many of these cèilidhs as there is evidence of her frequently doing so after she retired to Skye in 1882. By this time she had acquired a reputation for her songs and her championing of the crofters in the increasingly heated debate over land rights. She sang at the first ever National Mòd in Oban in 1892 but did not win a medal. On returning to Skye she lived with a friend, Mrs MacRae of Os, until Lachlann MacDonald, laird of Skeabost provided her with a rent free cottage. She then became actively involved in the Crofters' War and the Highland land issue, which provided the themes of some of her best known songs. She is known to have been present at
Highland Land League The first Highland Land League () emerged as a distinct political force in Scotland during the 1880s, with its power base in the country's Highlands and Islands. It was known also as the Highland Land Law Reform Association and the Crofters' Par ...
meetings and to have been actively involved with campaigners such as Alexander Mackenzie and her friend Fraser-Mackintosh in the run up to the
Napier Commission The Napier Commission, officially the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Condition of Crofters and Cottars in the Highlands and Islands was a royal commission and public inquiry into the condition of crofters and cottars in the Highlands and ...
of 1883-4 and the Crofters Act of 1886. In one of her songs of this period, ‘'Nuair chaidh na ceithir ùr oirre’’ Mairi describes a crossing of the
Strome Ferry Stromeferry () is a village, located on the south shore of the west coast sea loch, Loch Carron, in western Ross-shire, Scottish Highlands and is in the Scotland, Scottish council area of Highland Council area, Highland. Its name reflects its fo ...
with Fraser-Mackintosh, Mackenzie (Clach na Cùdainn), his son and Kenneth MacDonald to gather support for the land struggle. ‘’Clach’’ tells her that the boat will sink if she gets on board with the rest as she weighs in at 17 stone (108 kg). Instead she is to wait behind and the boatman will return for her alone. She was 5 ft 9 inches tall (172.5cm) tall so the epithet mhòr can refer to her physique as well as to her status in Gaelic poetry. Among other well known and frequently sung songs from her Land League period are ‘’Oran Beinn Li’’, ‘’Coinneamh nan Croitearan’’ and ‘’Eilean a’ Cheò’’ Like her contemporary Gaelic bard and activist, Mary Mackellar, Mairi Mhòr greatly admired and became friendly with Professor John Stuart Blackie. She was a skilled spinner and wool worker and made Blackie a tartan plaid. Later she devised a tartan which she called "The Blackie". Blackie gave her a beautifully crafted cromag (shepherd’s crook). She also presented Fraser-Mackintosh with a woollen suit. She had done the spinning and dying but not the weaving. Her last known address, at Beaumont Crescent,
Portree Portree (; , ) is the capital and largest town of the Isle of Skye in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland.W.H. Murray, Murray, W.H. (1966) ''The Hebrides''. London. Heinemann. Pages 154-155. It is a civil parishes in Scotland, civil parish and lies ...
, in the building now called the Rosedale Hotel, is commemorated today with a
blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...
. Màiri Mhòr died in Portree 1898 and was buried in Chapel Yard Cemetery in Inverness beside her husband. A gravestone was erected by Fraser-Mackintosh.


Significance of her work

During the Highland Land League, song was a key mode of spreading information to local Gaelic speaking communities in Skye, many of whom were not literate in Gaelic. Furthermore her poetry now provides a significant body of evidence about the crofters' uprisings. Furthermore, according to
Celticist Celtic studies or Celtology is the academic discipline occupied with the study of any sort of cultural output relating to the Celtic-speaking peoples (i.e. speakers of Celtic languages). This ranges from linguistics, literature and art history ...
and historian of the Highland
Scottish diaspora The Scottish diaspora consists of Scottish people who emigrated from Scotland and their descendants. The diaspora is concentrated in countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, England, New Zealand, Ireland and to a lesser extent A ...
Michael Newton, "The songs of Màiri Mhòr nan Òran... were very popular in Scotland during the late nineteenth century. These songs not only made their way to
Cape Breton Cape Breton Island (, formerly '; or '; ) is a rugged and irregularly shaped island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18.7% of Nova Scotia's total area. Although ...
but were also recorded in
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
by folksong collector Sydney Robertson Cowell in 1939 (available through th
California Gold Collection
prepared by the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
)."


Published work

* Gaelic Songs and Poems, by Mary MacPherson, 1891.


Critiques of her work

Mairi's loyalty to ancient Highland tradition and her people shows in ''Eilean a' Cheò'' she tells of her hopes for her native Skye; Donald Meek quotes Sheriff Alexander Nicolson in his ‘’History of the Island of Skye’’ as saying that Màiri’s songs had little permanent value after the events they commemorated has passed. Nicholson felt that ”few of her productions are worthy of preservation…. her imagery was too fleeting and superficial”
Sorley Maclean Sorley MacLean (; 26 October 1911 – 24 November 1996) was a Scottish Gaelic poet, described by the Scottish Poetry Library as "one of the major Scottish poets of the modern era" because of his "mastery of his chosen medium and his engagement ...
, on the other hand, wrote of her work that “Its greatness consists of the fusion of social and private passion…..with extra-ordinary vitality and ‘’ joie de vivre’’; for of all the Gaelic poets not even Alexander MacDonald (
Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair (c. 1698–1770), legal name Alexander MacDonald, or, in Gaelic Alasdair MacDhòmhnaill, was a Scottish war poet, satirist, lexicographer, and memoirist. He was born at Dalilea into the Noblesse, Scottish nobili ...
) had more vitality and ‘’joie de vivre’ than Màiri Mhòr…. Màiri’s poetry is rich in imagery and symbol although it is not very rich in metaphor … Màiri Mhòr’s poetry has always been greatly moving to the ‘sophisticated’ as well as a great many of the ‘unsophisticated’ among those who know her language”. At the same time, however, Maclean had pointed criticism of Màiri Mhòr's repeated decision in her poetry to blame the
Highland Clearances The Highland Clearances ( , the "eviction of the Gaels") were the evictions of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, mostly in two phases from 1750 to 1860. The first phase resulted from Scottish Agricultural R ...
upon the
Isle of Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye, is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated by the Cuillin, the rocky slopes of which provide some of ...
on "the English" (). According to Maclean, "She attacked the English for their doings in Skye, though it was very plain that not one clearance had been made in Skye by anyone who had not a name as Gaelic as her own."Marcus Tanner (2004), ''The Last of the Celts'',
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
Press, page 56.


Further reading

* MacLean, Sorley (1975), ''Màiri Mhòr nan Òran'', in ''Calgacus'' 1, Winter 1975, pp. 49 – 52,


References


External links


Màiri Mhór nan Òran
by
Sorley MacLean Sorley MacLean (; 26 October 1911 – 24 November 1996) was a Scottish Gaelic poet, described by the Scottish Poetry Library as "one of the major Scottish poets of the modern era" because of his "mastery of his chosen medium and his engagement ...

Màiri Mhòr nan Oran
by Saltire Society {{DEFAULTSORT:Mairi Mhor nan Oran 1821 births 1898 deaths 19th-century British women writers 19th-century Scottish Gaelic poets Calvinist and Reformed poets Land reform in Scotland People from the Isle of Skye Resistance to the Highland Clearances Scottish Gaelic poets Scottish Gaelic women poets Scottish human rights activists Scottish women activists Scottish women singer-songwriters Scottish Gaelic singers Victorian poets