Biography

Arthur MacIver was the son of Angus (Aonghais a' Phadaidh), who was born at 34 Breasclete in Lewis and who was known as Mùsgaidh. Angus 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 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 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.

Arthur was born in Glasgow on the 26 December 1911. As well as Arthur, there were five other brothers: Angus, 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. Arthur went to North Kelvinside School.

Arthur graduated with an MA from the University of Glasgow in 1932 and gained a teaching certificate at Aberdeen College the following year. He taught at Possilpark Primary School before the war. He joined the Navy when the war started and was a leading coder (Signals) up to 1942 and afterwards served on the Russian convoys. He returned briefly to Possilpark School after the war and then worked for ten years in Glasgow High School until 1956, and was headmaster of Overnewton School and Copeland Road School afterwards. He was then headmaster of Quarrybrae Primary School and finally McGill Primary School.

In 1946, Arthtur married Catriona MacLeod from Borve, Skye. They had two children – Fiona, who was a teacher and who then worked for Strathclyde University, and Angus, who was a lawyer.

Arthur wrote the Glasgow Notes in the Stornoway Gazette for many years. He was president of the Highlander's Institute, and president of the Lewis and Harris Association in Glasgow from 1964 to 1967.

Before and after the war was when Arthur and his brother Angus 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.

Arthur died after having a heart attack on the street in June 1981, four years after retiring.