Biography

Ronald Gillies was born in Lacklee, in the Bays of Harris, on the 22nd of June 1918. His father, Angus Gillies, Aonghas Chaluim Ghilis, was from Lacklee, and his mother, Anna Morrison, Anna Raghnaill, was from Quidnish. Ronald was the youngest of seven children, two of whom died in childhood. His parents ran a small shop for a while from their home in Lacklee.

Ronald attended the primary schools of Kyles Stockinish and Finsbay. It was clear early on that he had abilities in sales because at a very young age he was selling items from a catalogue to locals. From childhood he had an interest in songs and their history and was known around Harris as a good singer. With some of the money he earned he bought a gramophone, perhaps the only one in the area at the time. His mother would not allow him to play it in the house and Ronald spent much time listening to records in the byre.

He left Harris to find work in hotels. One day he left Inverness to walk to Ullapool so he could get a job at the Royal Hotel. On the way a wealthy couple stopped and, when they heard he was going to the same hotel as they were, they gave him a lift. They thought he was one of the guests and were greatly surprised when they arrived to find he was taken to the staff quarters behind the hotel.

During the war he was in the Green Howards regiment. After the war he went to Glasgow and ran the Hole in the Wall pub in the Gorbals for a while. Ronald then began buying houses, splitting them into smaller apartments, repairing and decorating them, and selling them for profit. He had houses to let and very often his lodgers were young Gaels from the Highlands. At the same time, he visited Glasgow auctions as he was interested in buying and selling household furniture and electrical equipment, doing as much to repair them as he could himself and leaving the rest to tradesmen. He did this kind of work until he retired.

He was so busy working he did not sing much, at least on stage, until he was in his sixties. He then began entering competitions at the National Mòd and won the Traditional Gold Medal at Airdrie Mòd in 1993, aged 75. Ronald died suddenly on the 18th of June 2005, aged 86, and is buried in Luskentyre Cemetery, Harris.