Iain Eairdsidh MacAsgaill

Iain Eairdsidh MacAsgaill or the Bàrd Bheàrnaraigh (the Berneray Bard) was a Scottish poet and piper (19 February 1898 — 4 June 1934). He is also known as Iain Archie MacAskill and John Archie MacAskill.[1] His Gaelic genealogical name was Iain-Eirdsidh Dhòmhnaill Thormoid-Shaighdeir ("John Archie son of Donald son of Norman the soldier.").[2]

Life

He was born on 19 February 1898 and died on 4 June 1934.[1]

He was from Berneray. He was the son of Dòmhnaill MacAsgaill and Anna Mhoireasdan and had a sister, Effie[2] and brothers, Alexander and Calum.[1]

Scotland

He attended the Berneray School between 1903 and 1912. In 1911, he and his sister Effie lived with their mother's parents, Calum and Effie Moireasdan, at Croft 3, Borbh. When he left school, he found employment as a shepherd and worked for Calum MacLeòid for seven years at Sandhill. He left MacLeòid's employment to enlist in the Cameron Highlanders during the First World War. He was a piper and along with other pipers he led the way for his regiment at the Battle of Loos, in France in August 1915.[2]

At the end of the war, he was moved from the 5th to the 3rd battalion.[2] In October 1919, Iain Eairdsidh obtained employment as a constable for the City of Glasgow Police. He also played in the Glasgow Police Pipe Band, which won the World Prize in 1920. After four years, in 1923, he left the police force and returned to Berneray.[3] He worked as an agricultural laborer for Reverend Tormod Moireasdan.[2]

In Australia
Karrakatta Beach in Perth, Australia

In 1924, Iain Eairdsidh decided to emigrate. He had attractive opportunities in Australia with working land for young people. He sailed on New Year's Day 1925 on the SS Themistocles.[2]

Initially, he lived at 'Borvedale Camp', at Lake Varley, Western Australia. He had a job, but his health broke and he was in debt. Against his will, his brother, Calum, came from Ontario to help him.[3][4] Calum returned after two years, but Iain Eairdsidh's affairs only worsened. He lost his land at Borvedale, and had to earn his livelihood working at another farm. His health worsened again, and he died in 1934. He was buried under the marker 377 in Karrakatta Cemetery, Perth.[3]

Legacy

In 1983, Dr Iain Napier MacAsgaill put a gravestone where Iain Eairdsidh was buried.[3]

In 2010, 76 years after his death, his brother's cousin Alina NicAsgaill Simpson, took the initiative to return his remains to the island of his birth, Berneray. Alina raised £6000 within six months to fulfill her relative's last wishes.[3]

Publications
  • 1961. An ribheid chiùil: being the poems of Iain Archie MacAskill 1898-1933, Bard of Berneray, Harris edited by Alick Morrison (Stirling: printed for the editor by Learmonth)

Writings about him
  • Martin, Ruth Lee. 2013. 'Paradise Imagined: Songs of Scots Gaelic migrants in Australia, 1850–1940' ann an Humanities Research àir. XIX. No.3. 2013. dd. 27-44.

Songs

References
  1. Clach-uaighe Iain Eairdsidh mar a chithear ann an "Tilleadh Dhachaigh."
  2. "John Archie MacAskill" at the Hebridean Connections website.
  3. Trusadh: Tilleadh Dhachaigh BBC Alba first broadcast on Monday 14 June 2010. 60 minutes.
  4. MacIlleChiar, Pàdruig. 2012.

At Tobar an Dualchais
  • Am bàrd Iain Eàirdsidh MacAsgaill a' falbh gu Astràlia "The bard Iain Eàirdsidh MacAsgaill leaves for Australia" (Record number 74979) in 1980, Raonaid NicLeòid explains how she saw Iain Eàirdsidh MacAsgaill as he was leaving Berneray for Australia in 1924 (in Scottish Gaelic)
  • Òran caillte le Iain Eàirdsidh MacAsgaill "Lost songs of Iain Eàirdsidh MacAsgaill" (Record number 74982) in 1980, Raonaid NicLeòid talks about the songs of homesickness for Berneray that Iain Eàirdsidh MacAsgaill wrote in Australia and sent to her brother Aonghas. (in Scottish Gaelic)
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