Biography

Angus MacIver was the son of Angus (Aonghas a' Phadaidh), who was born at 34 Breasclete in Lewis and who was known as Mùsgaidh. Angus senior learned his trade as a baker from a man named Chisholm from Tobson in Bernera, Lewis. Chisholm's bakery was on Cromwell Street in Stornoway.

Angus senior himself started a shop, but it was not successful and he and his family left Lewis to seek work. His mother was Cairistìona Chaluim Aonghais Chaluim from Tobson. She was particularly good at sewing and ran a successful shop in Stornoway for a while.

After leaving Lewis, the family first went to Manchester and then to Glasgow where Angus (Mùsgaidh) drove trams for a few years. He then got a job at City Bakeries. During the General Strike in 1926 he supported the unions and after that no bakery would employ him. The family was in great poverty at that time. They lived in the Maryhill area and finally at 6 Lothian Gardens.

Angus was born in Lewis in 1905 and was the eldest son. As well as Angus, there were five other brothers: Arthur, Alick, Murdo, Donald, and another also named Arthur who died as a child. There were two daughters, Chrissy and Christina Mary, who also died in childhood. Angus went to North Kelvinside School.

After leaving school, Angus gained a teaching certificate and taught in Washington Street near the town centre; his salary was a great help to the family in hard times. He was also headmaster of Hillhead Primary School. He wrote the English grammar book First Aid in English which is highly valued worldwide even today.

It was not just his own family he helped when he became successful. He also supported the older people of Bernera every Christmas until he died. Angus was President of the Lewis and Harris Association in Glasgow from 1950 to 1954 and again for one year in 1957.

It was before and after the war that Angus and his brother Arthur were most successful as singers. They wrote songs and sang them at ceilidhs all over Scotland. Some of the money from those ceilidhs helped build a road to the village of Bosta in Bernera. They sang in English as well as Gaelic and Arthur could play the piano. They were full of fun and ceilidhs were often held in their homes in Airlie Street and Lothian Street.

Angus was married to Flora MacMillan from Port Charlotte, Islay, and they lived at 44 Airlie Street in Hyndland. They had no children. He died in 1958 after having a heart attack and he and his wife are buried in Kilchoman Cemetery, Islay.