Biography

Donald MacIntyre, Dòmhnall Ruadh mac Aonghais Ruaidh, was born in Snishval in South Uist on the 1st of October, 1889. Apparently, his mother Kate had an extraordinary memory, and Donald remembered many prayers, songs, tunes, and proverbs he heard from her as a boy. He left school at age 14 and learned to be a stonemason.

Donald was in the Camerons before the First World War and was a piper at Loch Eil. He proved his mettle during the war at the Battle of Loos. After the war, he returned to Kildonan for lobster fishing, but it wasn’t long before he had to leave the island to seek work on the mainland. He spent some time in Lochaber, then Perthshire, the Highlands, and Glasgow. Eventually, he settled in Paisley. He married Mary MacLellan in 1930 and they had four children.

He first made a name as a poet when he represented the crofters of Snishval at the famous Cùirt nan Con (The Court of the Dogs) when the landlord, Lady Cathcart, tried to prevent crofters from keeping dogs without permission. The crofters succeeded that day, and Donald wrote two poems about the issue - Cùirt nan Con and Triall gu Cùirt nan Con.

He wrote many songs, many of which are still heard sung today, especially humorous songs like Òran na Cloiche, Sporan Dhòmhnaill, and Bùth Dhòmhnaill 'ic Leòid.

He translated a lively version of Tom o’ Shanter by Robert Burns and won the Bard’s Crown at the Glasgow Mòd in 1938 with Aeòlus agus am Balg.

Donald died on the 7th of January, 1964, and is buried in Hawkhead cemetery in Paisley.

The poetry of Donald MacIntyre is collected in the book Sporan Dhòmhnaill – Gaelic Poems and Songs by the late Donald Macintyre, the Paisley Bard. When the book was published four years after his death, scholar Kenneth MacDonald wrote about his poetry:

"It is entirely true that there is a richness and subtlety of words in it that, I believe, will never again be seen in Gaelic poetry. There is Gaelic poetry that contains many unusual words, with a strong smell of the dictionary, but what we have here is the best of the Uist Gaelic that Dòmhnall Ruadh inherited as a legacy and expanded by studying the work of previous poets... Although Dòmhnall Ruadh did not get his 'sharp-worded speech of the poets' from dictionaries, dictionary users will spend much time foraging in his poems." (Gairm, Number 65, Winter, 1968)

The collection and editing were done by Sorley MacMillan, and the book was published by the Scottish Gaelic Texts Society, Edinburgh, 1968.

Aeòlus, edited by Bill Innes, along with a CD, was published by Grace Note Publications, Glasgow, 2008.

List of compositions

Bùth Dhòmhnaill 'ic Leòid
Dol do dh'Uibhist
Fear a' Chòta Ruaidh
Òran na Cloiche