Alexander Carmichael, 1832-1912; Professor W. J. Watson, 1865-1948

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Alexander Carmichael, folklorist, antiquarian, and author, was born on 1 December 1832 in Taylochan, Lismore, ninth and youngest child of Hugh Carmichael (1783-1862), farmer and publican, and Elizabeth (Betty) MacColl (1791-1863). After attending schools on the island and, apparently, in Greenock, Carmichael entered the civil service as an exciseman, serving in Greenock and Dublin before stints in Islay and Carbost, Skye. There he joined the team of pioneering folklorists collecting tales for the four-volume Popular tales of the West Highlands (1860-1862) compiled under the auspices of the tireless polymath John Francis Campbell (1821-1885). The principles of 'storyology' inculcated by Campbell - the necessity of recording the performance accurately, accompanied by details concerning the informant - exerted a fundamental influence upon his collecting for the rest of his life. Nevertheless, such principles clashed with Carmichael's own artistic, spiritual, and idealistic cast of mind, his desire to redeem Gaels and their traditions from the odium of outsiders and the perceived hostility of the evangelical church, and his belief that it was his duty not only to record the present, but also to retrieve and reconstruct a glorious Gaelic past.

Following a two-year interlude working in Cornwall, Carmichael returned north at the end of 1864. This time, probably on his own request, he was assigned to the Uists. His new post, initially based in Lochmaddy, allowed him to undertake arduous journeys through some of the richest areas for folklore in western Europe, scribbling down in a series of field notebooks an extraordinary range of material ranging from long Fenian tales and ballads, through historical narratives, songs, hymns, and charms, to anecdotes, observations, proverbs, riddles, and unusual words. In addition, the influence Carmichael's attention upon archaeological sites in the Hebrides, and their associated traditions. Although Carmichael had to rein back on his collecting expeditions following his marriage to Mary Frances MacBean (1841-1928) in January 1868, and the births of their four children Alexander (Alec) (1868-1941), Elizabeth (Ella) (1871-1928), Eoghan (1878-1966), and Iain (1878-1928), the family's house at Creagorry, close by the inn where people would wait until the South Ford between Benbecula and South Uist could be crossed, meant that he could still gather much material from passers-by.

From 1873 Carmichael was able to experiment with presenting in print some of the lore he had collected, through his position as Uist correspondent for the Highlander, the radical crofting newspaper edited by John Murdoch (1818-1903), whom he had first met when they worked together in Dublin some fifteen years previously. He was increasingly preoccupied, however, with the idea of compiling a series of volumes on the environment, history, and culture of the Outer Hebrides, working up for the general public the vast store of material he had gleaned throughout the islands. Such an ambitious project would require considerably more leisure than he could afford in his exacting position. Carmichael's attempt to secure Bhàlaigh farm in North Uist for this purpose met with a rebuff from the estate; this, coupled with his increasing disillusion regarding the somewhat philistine 'Uist gentry', as well as the need to ensure a better education for his children, made him move to Oban. After a wearisome couple of years there, spurning the Revenue's offer of a prestigious and better-paid post in London, in 1880 Carmichael returned to Uist, taking a substantial pay cut in the process. There, in Scolpaig, he finished writing an appendix concerning Hebridean land customs for the third volume of Celtic Scotland (1876-1880), the magnum opus of the Historiographer Royal William Forbes Skene (1809-92). In 1882 he once more left Uist, this time for Edinburgh, where he was to spend the rest of his life.

The liveliness of Carmichael's agrestic descriptions caught the eye of Francis, Lord Napier (1819-98) - indeed, he later credited the piece with first inspiring in him an interest in Highland affairs. Carmichael was requested by Napier to contribute two similar appendices for the Report of the Crofting Commission (1884). Rather to his alarm, however, Carmichael insisted on including a number of Gaelic songs and hymns in his work in order to illustrate the grace and refinement of Hebridean crofters. Although Carmichael's leanings towards spirituality were by no means latent previously, his interest in the subject had doubtless been heightened both as a result of ongoing study he was undertaking concerning the place-names of Iona, drawing upon his comprehensive work on the toponymy of Uist and Barra for the Ordnance Survey, and also the fact that, having lived among the islanders for many years, he was now in a position to gather private and personal as well as more ostensibly public lore. Carmichael's appendices in the Report proved exceptionally popular, an uncontroversial oasis in an exceptionally contentious volume. This, and the enthusiastic reception accorded a further paper on 'Uist old hymns' (1888), encouraged Carmichael to embark upon a much larger work on the subject.

During the final decade of the nineteenth century, Carmichael, now in retirement, further consolidated his position not only as doyen of Edinburgh's Gaelic intellectual community, but also as a crucial player in Scotland's Celtic Renaissance, for instance in his contributions to the seminal journal Evergreen (1895-6) edited by Patrick Geddes (1854-1932). These circles, in which scholarly interests interacted with contemporary artistic movements, exerted a major influence on Alexander Carmichael's greatest and most enduring work, the two volumes of Carmina Gadelica (1900). Encouraged and advised by his protégé the scholar George Henderson (1866-1912), though with the rather more sceptical counsel of fellow folklorists such as Father Allan MacDonald (1859-1905), Carmichael compiled and edited a substantial collection of sacred pieces, hymns, and charms, expressedly intended to illustrate the refined spirituality, the crepuscular rhapsodic mysticism, the visionary qualities of the people among whom he had lived for nearly two decades. With the help of the publisher Walter Biggar Blaikie (1847-1928), and of his daughter Ella, Carmichael was able to fashion a landmark in Scottish publishing, a stately, sumptuously produced magnum opus, whose illustrations (by his wife) and hand-made paper were surely intended to recall early Christian manuscripts, to represent to the reader the original numinous experience of hearing the original chants and lays.

Despite the enthusiastic response of most reviewers to the Carmina Gadelica, and notwithstanding that he was awarded an honorary LL.D. by the University of Edinburgh in 1906, scholarly doubts soon surfaced concerning the editing techniques employed. It is clear from Carmichael's manuscripts that he was prepared to hone, polish, even rewrite substantial portions of his original material before publishing, smoothing metre, cadence, and rhyme, heightening and refining language, adding esoteric referents, even introducing obscure vocabulary in order to enhance the impact which the hymns and charms - and indeed the quotations from the informants themselves - would exert upon the reader of the Carmina Gadelica . Although Carmichael continued to collect lore for the rest of his life - many of his new informants were mainland contacts of his son-in-law the Gaelic scholar William J. Watson (1865-1948) - it is noteworthy that he did not see the further volumes he originally envisaged through the press. It was left to his daughter Ella to bring out a new edition of the first two books of theCarmina in 1928, with a third and fourth volume, edited by his grandson James Carmichael Watson (1910-1942), appearing in 1940-1941.

Although later scholars have cast some doubt on the editing practices he employed in the creation of the Carmina Gadelica, Carmichael's great work, and his manuscript collection as a whole, remain an indispensable treasure-trove, the fruits of a lifetime spent selflessly in the service of his own people, gathering, preserving, communicating and interpreting Gaelic culture, tradition, and lore for the wider world and for future generations. Alexander Carmichael died in Edinburgh on 6 June 1912, and is buried at St Moluag's on his native island of Lismore.

Professor William John Watson died in 1948. His son, James Carmichael Watson, born in 1910, and successor to his father as Professor of Celtic at Edinburgh University in 1938, contributed to later volumes of Carmina Gadelica . James Carmichael Watson died, missing in action, in 1942.

From the guide to the The Carmichael-Watson Collection, 18th century - mid 20th century, (Edinburgh University Library)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf The Carmichael-Watson Collection, 18th century - mid 20th century Edinburgh University Library
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Aberdeen University Celtic Society | 1853-: | scholarly society | Aberdeen (Scotland) corporateBody
associatedWith Anderson | Alan Orr | 1879-1958 | Scottish historian and compiler person
associatedWith Anderson | Peter | | fl 1860 | Islay | [Padraig Buidhe] person
associatedWith Beaton | Angus | fl 1861 | Isle of Skye | [Aonghas Beaton] person
associatedWith Beattie | William | 1903-1986 | Keeper of Printed Books in the National Library of Scotland person
associatedWith Benedict | Evelyn | fl. 1905 | folksong collector person
associatedWith Black | David Dakers | fl 1832-1969 | Brechin Town Clerk person
associatedWith Blaikie | Walter Biggar | 1847-1928 | civil engineer and publisher person
associatedWith Brown | Dorothy | fl. 1644 | from the Island of Luing person
associatedWith Cameron | Alexander | 1827-1888 | Free Church Minister person
associatedWith Cameron | Rev | Alexander | 1827-1888 | Free Church Minister person
associatedWith Campbell | John Francis | 1821-1885 | folklorist and polymath person
associatedWith Carmichael | Alexander Archibald | 1832-1912 | folklorist and antiquarian person
associatedWith Edinburgh Celtic Union | 20th century | Edinburgh corporateBody
associatedWith Fraser | John | 1882-1945 | Professor of Celtic person
associatedWith Gaelic Society of Inverness | 1871-: | cultural society | Inverness (Scotland) corporateBody
associatedWith George Heriots Hospital | 1659-: | hospital and school | Edinburgh corporateBody
associatedWith Glasgow University Ossianic Society | 1831-: | scholarly society | Glasgow (Scotland) corporateBody
associatedWith Highland Home Industries Ltd | fl. 1937 | tweed merchants | Edinburgh corporateBody
associatedWith Keating | Geoffrey | c.1580-c.1644 | Roman Catholic priest and historian person
associatedWith Lamont | Donald | 1874-1958 | Reverend person
associatedWith MacBain | Alexander | 1855-1914 | Celtic Scholar person
associatedWith MacCodrum | Iain [John] | c.1693-1777 | Scottish Gaelic poet person
associatedWith MacDhiarmaid | Duncan | fl 1861 | Isle of Skye (Scotland) person
associatedWith MacDonald | Alexander | c.1700-c.1770 | poet and schoolmaster person
associatedWith MacDonald | Alexander | fl 1861 | Isle of Skye | [Alasdair Donnullach] person
associatedWith MacDonald | Flora | 1722-1790 | Jacobite heroine person
associatedWith Macdonald | John | c.1624-1710 | poet | Ian Lom person
associatedWith MacDonald | Sir | Alexander | d. 1647 | clan leader person
associatedWith MacDonald | Sir | James | 1741-1766 | of Sleat person
associatedWith MacInnes | Angus | fl 1865 | South Uist person
associatedWith MacInnes | D | fl 1889 | Reverend person
associatedWith Macintyre | Duncan Ban | 1723-1812 | poet person
associatedWith MacKay | Rob Donn | 1714-1778 | Scottish Gaelic Poet person
associatedWith MacKenzie | John | fl 1861 | Sailor person
associatedWith MacKenzie | William | fl 1861 | Isle of Skye | [Uilleam MacCoinnich] person
associatedWith Mackinnon | Donald | 1839-1914 | Professor of Celtic person
associatedWith MacLachlan | Ewen | 1773-1882 | poet and Gaelic Scholar person
associatedWith MacLean | Calum | fl 1862 | Isle of Skye, aged 11 years | [Calum Mac an Linnein] person
associatedWith Macleod | Kenneth | 1871-1955 | Church of Scotland minister and folklorist person
associatedWith MacLeod | Murdoch | 19th century | Composer | Vatersay person
associatedWith MacNeil | Alasdair | fl 1860 | Barra person
associatedWith MacPhee | Donald | fl 1861 | miller | Isle of Skye person
associatedWith MacPhee | Donald | fl 1866 | South Uist | [Don Mac a Phie] person
associatedWith MacQueen | Donald | fl 1861 | Isle of Skye person
associatedWith MacQueen | Donald | fl 1861 | Isle of Skye | [Donull MacCuithein] person
associatedWith Matheson | Angus | 1912-1962 | Celtic Scholar person
associatedWith Matheson | Mary | fl 1871 | North Uist person
associatedWith Matheson | William | 1910-1995 | Gaelic scholar person
associatedWith McDonald | Allan | 1859-1905 | Father person
associatedWith Murdoch | John | 1818-1903 | journalist and customs and excise official person
associatedWith National Library of Scotland | 1925-: | research library | Edinburgh (Scotland) corporateBody
associatedWith National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland | 1780-1999 | museum | Edinburgh corporateBody
associatedWith NicNeacail | Anna | fl 1862 | Isle of Skye person
associatedWith Nicolson | Anne | fl 1861 | Isle of Skye | [Anne NicNeacail] person
associatedWith Nicolson | Magnus | fl 1861 | Isle of Skye | [Manus MacNeacail] person
associatedWith Northern Ensign | 1850-1907 | newspaper | Wick, Caithness corporateBody
associatedWith O Rahilly | Thomas F. | 1883-1953 | Professor of Irish person
associatedWith Rainings School | Inverness corporateBody
associatedWith Robertson | Charles Moncrieff | 1864-1927 | Reverend person
associatedWith Ross | William | 1762-1791 | Poet person
associatedWith Royal Anthropological Society of Great Britian and Ireland | 1871-: | learned society | London (England) corporateBody
associatedWith Strachan | John | 1862-1907 | classical and Celtic scholar person
associatedWith Stuart | Charles Edward | 1720-1788 | Prince | The Young Pretender person
associatedWith The Highlander | 1873-1882 | newspaper | Inverness corporateBody
associatedWith Thomas | F.W.L. | fl 1856 | Captain person
associatedWith Thurneysen | Rudolf | 1857-1940 | German linguist and Celtic scholar person
associatedWith University of Aberdeen | 1495-: | university | Aberdeen (Scotland) corporateBody
associatedWith University of Edinburgh | 1583-: | university | Edinburgh (Scotland) corporateBody
associatedWith University of Glasgow | 1451-: | university | Glasgow (Scotland) corporateBody
associatedWith University of Manchester | 1851-: | university | Manchester (England) corporateBody
associatedWith Watson | Elizabeth Catherine | 1880-1958 | nee Carmichael | daughter of Alexander Carmichael person
associatedWith Watson | James Carmichael | 1910-1942 | Professor of Celtic person
associatedWith Watson | William John | 1865-1948 | Professor of Celtic person
associatedWith Weir | James Galloway | 1839-1911 | Politician person
Place Name Admin Code Country
Harris (Scotland)
Skye, Island of (Scotland)
Barra Island (Scotland)
Benbecula (Scotland)
Mull, Island of (Scotland)
Island of Coll (Scotland)
Lewis with Harris Island (Scotland)
North Uist (Scotland)
Saint Kilda (Scotland)
Subject
Celtic studies
Occupation
Activity

Person

Birth 1832

Death 1912

Related Descriptions
Information

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