Biography

Kate MacMillan was born in Torlum, Benbecula in 1892. Her formative years were spent on the island, before she moved – like many other women of her generation – to the mainland to work in domestic service. She returned to the island to look after her ageing mother and remained there until the end of her life. She often offered accommodation to those working in the island, including the folklorist and fieldworker Calum Maclean, who would stay with her when he was recording in the area. She was recorded extensively between 1949 and 1970 – both for the Canna Collection and for the School of Scottish Studies, and there are now more than fifty recordings of her available on the Tobar an Dualchais website. Her niece, Kate MacDonald, told us how proud she would have been if she had known that her songs were now available to listen to anywhere in the world. “She enjoyed nothing more than singing at concerts and she would have been delighted if she had known about this!”