Biography

Lachlan Livingstone, Lachann Dubh a' Chrògain, was born in Croggan, Mull, in 1819. When he was young, he sailed abroad but he stopped working at sea and found work with the MacLaines of Loch Buidhe. He could neither read nor write but worked for them as a poet, fisherman, and piper until he was old.

Tha m' aitreabh, tha m' àite dìon
Fon chaisteal dhìonach uaignidh;
Tha seun an àigh mu chom 's ri shàil
Chan fhaigh an nàmhaid buaidh air.

In the book Lachann Dubh a' Chrògain (The New Iona Press, 2004), Margaret MacDonald Lobban says this about her great-great-grandfather:

"Lachlan wrote a great deal of poetry – songs of all kinds. Perhaps the best songs he composed were his satirical songs. He could be very cutting when encouraged, and so people were cautious not to cross him."

Margaret Lobban also told a story about Lachlan:

"It seems that he was good at preaching. In the Islands, they often needed a lay preacher. They called on Lachlan once to take a burial service. At the final prayer, he knelt down on his knees and continued praying for a long time. The snow was thick on the ground. Eventually, he opened his eyes. There was no one in the graveyard except for himself."

In 1885, Donald MacFarlane received a seat in Parliament on behalf of the crofters, and Lachlan beseeched that he would help the poor:

Nis on chuir sinn ann an Cùirt thu
Staigh fo chùmhnantan nach gèill,
Thug thu uachdarain gu 'n dùbhlan
Bha gar sgiùrsadh mar na slaves.

Feuch gun cuimhnich thu gu h-àraidh
Air na daoin' aig nach eil sprèidh -
Òr na Banrigh a sgaoileadh
An ceàrn seo den t-saogh'l na fheum.

'S chuir na bochdan ann am dhùthaich
Ùrnaigh dhùrachdach nad dhèidh
Crioplaich is doill gun sùilean
'S daoine 's crùbaiche nan ceum.

Ach ma gheibh mi mo dhùrachd
Is gach cùrsa cur rium rèidh
Gheibh sinn gach nì air bàrr don dùthaich
Is fuireach ann ar dùthaich fhèin.

Lachlan had three grandsons who were poets: John MacDonald, who wrote Muile nam Fuar-bheann Mòr; James MacDonald, who wrote An t-Eilean Àlainn, and Lachann MacDonald, who wrote Mo Shoraidh don Eilean. He was also a cousin of Dougal MacPhail, who wrote An t-Eilean Muileach.

Lachlan died on the 3rd May 1901, at the age of 84, and Margaret Lobban found a report in the Oban Times, dated the 25th of May that year:

"He was buried in the old graveyard of Killowen. The coffin was carried on the shoulders of neighbours and friends to the shore from the village of Croggan, with the piper of the landlords leading the way – Pipe Major MacPhail, who used to be with the 93rd Highlanders, playing the sweet tune The Flowers of the Forest on the instrument that the poet, now deceased, had loved. The landlord and many from the area crossed Loch Spealbhaidh to the shore with several boats, the sad tune altered to The Land of the Leal. After a Gaelic service was held at the grave, Lachann was laid to rest in the blessed soil, where many generations of the Livingstone family lie."

List of compositions

Dòmhnall an Dannsair
Ma Phòsas Mi Idir Cha Ghabh Mi Tè Mhòr