Biography

According to the information collected in the book Folksongs and Folklore of South Uist by Margaret Fay Shaw, Allan MacInnes of Lochcarnan composed the song O Mo Dhùthaich 'S Tu Th' Air M' Aire.

Although he is associated with Benbecula and South Uist, public records show that Allan was born in Dalavil, Sleat, on the 7th April 1833, to Hugh (or Ewen) MacInnes, a fox hunter, and Mary Matheson or MacDonald. Allan married Catherine MacPherson of Grimsay in 1858 while he was working as a farmer on Benbecula; Catherine tragically died from tuberculosis however ten months later at the age of only 21. Allan then married Janet Ferguson, daughter of Murdo Ferguson of Liniclete, Benbecula, the following year. The couple first farmed at Hacklete, before Allan became a general labourer.

Allan Currie [7545] of Lochcarnan, who was a young boy when Allan MacInnes spent his final years in the family's home, had a vivid recollection of the man; speaking on BBC Radio nan Gàidheal on 26/02/1991, Allan told them:

"I remember Allan Morbhairneach well. I also remember when he passed away at our house. He travelled the world, singing in each place he went to, and he was good at singing. Two of my uncles heard him sing at a concert in Glasgow; he sang two songs he'd composed about Benbecula. They went to speak to him afterwards they invited him to come with them on holiday to Lochcarnan, to our house. He went with them on their next trip, then he came again and never left. He stayed with us for twelve years [...] And he was in Melbourne and he was a great swimmer. And a lad from Glasgow that was on the boat went overboard. Allan managed to get a heaving-line to him, but the sea was rough and before Allan himself got the heaving-line, he saw a piece of wood [a wooden peg?] go by. He grabbed it and put it under his arm. When he got back in the boat if fell from his armpit, and it ended up on our mantlepiece, all cleaned up and polished. My two cousins and I were just small at the time, and we wouldn't dare go near it. He always wanted it to go in his coffin when he passed away, and that's what happened."

"There was nothing he didn't write, and he had many, many books. I cannot remember what happened to them. There was a hill above our house, and when the sun would set, he would go up there and he would write. They still call it Allan Morbhairneach's hill. He would sing at concerts after coming to our house in Creagorry, and the hotelier there specially sent to take his carriage to the cemetery without taking anything for it. And that's how he got on. A great man and an excellent songster. Very, very rarely do you find a proper bard who can sing, and he would sing wherever he went. He would take a dram, but only one. He had a brother named Hugh. He was in America, and found Allan a good job, but before he got over - the conveyance wasn't very fast back then - his brother had died and he didn't get a job at all. But he was there for a while, and he composed songs there too. He composed a song, but I only know one verse:

Nam faighinn-sa mo shlàinte
Mu latha na Fèill Phàdraig
Dhèanainn beannachd fhàgail
Aig fàsaichean Astràilia.
O 's e mo ghaol-sa an dùthaich
O Gàidhealtachd nan stùcan
Far am biodh na fèidh sa bhùirich
Gam dhùsgadh sa chamhanaich."

Allan Currie explained that Allan's father was a gamekeeper from Morvern, and also what Allan Morbhairneach was like:

"He was 15 stone. A big, handsome man. And he had a medal or two for swimming. He was a good swimmer. Oh, a great man, people loved him and he composed songs everywhere he went." And he spoke about the night that Allan Morbhairneach passed away: "That evening I was up in my room, me and my two cousins, the night he died. He was very ill and he opened both of his eyes, and my father [Anthony Currie [4872]] was sitting beside him and he said to him, 'Are you there, Anthony?' 'I am,' said my father. 'How are you?' He didn't say a word, but he closed his eyes and he never opened them again."

List of compositions

O Mo Dhùthaich 'S Tu Th' Air M' Aire