Biography

Alistair M. Nicolson, better known as Billy an Fhiosaich, was born at 13 Lionel, in the parish of Ness, Lewis, on 22 October 1870. His father, Alistair Nicolson, was born in Asmigarry on the west side of Lewis in 1838 and moved to Lionel after returning from Canada. He married Mairead Morrison, born at 7 Habost in the same year, and together they had seven children — six sons and one daughter. Five of their children spent part of their lives in Canada or America, and three settled there permanently.

Billy married Mòr NicAoidh from Achmore, and they had six children: Mary, Sine, Nora, Sara, Wallace Bruce — who became a minister — and Alick Iain, who was awarded the George Medal for rescuing people from an aeroplane that caught fire while taking off from Stornoway Airport.

According to Ian N. MacLeod in Bàrdachd Leòdhais, where four of his songs were published in 1916, Billy moved to Vermont in the United States: "As a young man, eighteen years old, he sailed to America and threw his lot in with the English of the United States, awaiting the success which fate might bring him. He succeeded and in a short time was a skilled craftsman, but in spite of everything he felt that the country had a negative impact on his health, and so he returned home to the house of his birth and upbringing."

Billy returned around 1901 or 1902 and built a wooden house and shop on the high street in Skigersta, on the site where Donald na Rabaid's house (No. 27) now stands. It was the first shop in the village, and Billy also worked as a carpenter. Around 1909–10 he went to Vancouver, but later returned home — first to Achmore, then back to Ness in 1913. He opened a new shop in Skigersta, slightly west of No. 11, where Alistair Eorodale’s house stands today. When he decided the shop was not close enough to the road, he reportedly placed the entire building on wooden rollers and moved it. In 1914, Billy travelled to Glasgow and bought a Ford car, which he used to transport soldiers and seamen between Ness and Stornoway.

On 1 August 1915, while making this journey, he was killed when his car left the road at Loch Bharabhart. It was said that he and another man were racing to see who could reach Stornoway first, and that the other man's car struck Billy's as he attempted to overtake.

Alongside O Nach Àghmhor, a kind of local hymn still sung in Ness, Billy's song An Tèid Thu Leam a Rìbhinn Maiseach remains well known today.

Chì thu 'n t-àite san deachaidh m' àrach
Mun do dh'fhàs mi gu bhith mòr;
Canaidh tu gur baile brèagha
Lìonal ann an Eilean Leòdhais.

Chì thu laoich as bòidhche snuadh ann
Bheireadh buaidh am blàir na h-Eòrp';
Chi thu maighdeannan gun ghruaim orr'
Gabhail dhuan a' luadh a' chlò.

Chi thu mòinteach, cnoc is gleann
Le feadain chaim nan deann gu òs;
Chi thu smeòrach air na geugaibh
Madainn Chèit' an Eilean Leòdhais.

List of compositions

Eilean Leòdhais, Tìr Nan Gaisgeach
Fàilte do dh'Eilean Leòdhais (O Nach Àghmhor)