The History of the Postmarks of the British Isles from 1840 to 1876 - John Hendy (1909)

HOME PACKET SERVICE, 91
coasts of Scotland.
From a careful enumeration of the islands, made in 1871, it was then
ascertained that they were 787 in number, and of these 187 were inhabited by one or
more persons. No island was included in the enumeration unless it were of sufficient
extent to afford pasturage for one or more sheep ; some of the uninhabited islands were
of considerable size, affording pasturage for from 300 to 400 sheep, while others were so
small as only to admit of one sheep being left there at a time, which was removed when
fattened and its place supplied by a leaner member of the flock. The population of the
islands of Scotland was on the increase until about 1841, by which time they had so far
outgrown their means of subsistence that destitution, famine, and its dire and sure
follower, disease, were beginning to press heavily on the people.
Sir John M'Neill, in a
report published in 185 1, "On the state of the Highlands and the Islands of Scotland,"
made it apparent that the population had "outgrown their means of subsistence," and
that "if henceforward the population is to depend on local resources some fearful calamity
will probably occur before many years, unless a portion of the inhabitants remove to
where they can find the means of subsistence in greater abundance and with greater
certainty than they can find them where they now are." Under such miserable conditions
it will be evident that it was impossible to carry on postal communication with even the
larger islands otherwise than at a loss to the revenue. For instance, in 1842 a sum of
£1^0 per annum was paid for the conveyance of the mails to Stornaway, in the island of
Lewis, although the letters for the whole island only averaged about one hundred a week,
and the revenue amounted to about £(>o a year. For the conveyance of mails to
Shetland once a week in each direction, by steamer in summer and sailing vessel in
winter, ;£i674 15s. 4d. a year was paid, yet the whole revenue derived from correspondence
in 1859 only amounted to ^622 3s. 7d. ; while to Orkney, for some years, an
allowance of eight shillings was made for each trip across a channel not ten miles wide.
The cost of this service was ^538 i6s. od. a year; but the revenue derived from the
correspondence of the whole group of islands was only ^260. To the greater number
of the other islands off the coast of Scotland mail services were only granted when the
inhabitants agreed to contribute towards the cost of the service, or to send their own
messenger to the nearest Post Office in one of the other islands or on the mainland. These
messengers were exposed to serious dangers arising from their only road or highway
being across channels through which dangerous currents ran ; and also from the exposure
to the severity of the weather, more especially in winter, when many a poor fellow lost
his life in the execution of his duty. Take, for instance, the case of Donald McArthur,
the post messenger between Tobermory and Mornish. When he left the former town at
3.30 p.m. on the 9th of January, 1852, on his lonely ten miles journey, the clouds were
heavy and snow was falling. His load, which was strapped to his shoulders, was, on
account of the mail from Oban and the south being detained by the severity of the
weather, much heavier than he had usually to carry. Leaving the town, he trudged
along through the snow a foot or more deep, struggling on through snow drifting and
driving in blinding sheets, and although intimately acquainted with the district through
which his road lay, it is not surprising that the poor fellow should have lost his path
over that trackless waste, and there is but little doubt that with footsteps growing heavier
and heavier he tottered along, bewildered as to the proper direction, until at last he sank
wearily down. For several days the islanders, led by the Postmaster of Tobermory,
searched in vain for some trace of McArthur ; on the fifth day his body was found in a
sitting posture, leaning back on the mail bag which was still strapped to his shoulders.
From the date of Sir John M'Neill's report the population of the insular portions of
Scotland steadily diminished, the numbers being reduced in twenty years by about
10,000, thereby improving the condition of the remaining inhabitants, who were chiefly
dependent for their subsistence on the produce of the soil, supplemented by sea
fisheries. The mail services to the various islands were, by the aid of steam vessels,
gradually perfected, and more frequent postal communication was extended among the
islands generally.