WWI John McCallum and Mary Anne McCullan (nee Cameron) on their wedding day 1916
West Highlands Museum Blog - A Fragment of Prince Charlie’s Tartan Plaid
This fragment of plaid was gifted to the Museum in 1973 as part of a Bequest from Dr Charles Hepburn, a collector of Jacobite memorabilia. The sett matches the pattern of a section of plaid from a tartan at Moy Hall. The Moy Hall plaid was given to Lady MacKintosh by Prince Charles Edward Stuart when he stayed there in February 1746, the occasion of the famous Rout of Moy. It was common practice for the Prince to give sections of tartan as gifts to his supporters that he stayed with. This is an interesting example of Jacobite material culture as supporters collected and cherished relics associated with the Prince. This tartan was deemed so important that it was copied by later generations. This fragment could be an 18th century original, but is more likely to be a later 19th century version. An image of the original Moy Hall plaid is pictured in this gallery.
Image of John Brown’s highland dress
West Highland Museum Blog - ALUMINIUM IN LOCHABER
West Highland Museum Blog - MAJOR MACFARLANE'S PISTOLS
West Highland Museum Blog - JEMIMA BLACKBURN: A VICTORIAN PIONEER
West Highland Museum Blog - ST KILDA AND THE LAST OF THE "PENGUINS"
West Highland Museum Blog - ST KILDA - SMALLPOX, OR WAS IT?
West Highland Museum Blog - ST KILDA, THE EVACUATION
West Highland Museum Blog - ST KILDA, THE PEOPLE
Image of A. A. Cameron's championship belt
West Highland Museum Blog - THE GLEN ROY CRUET AND CRANACHAN ROAD MASS STONE
West Highland Museum Blog - THE STORY OF THE GAELIC BARD IAIN LOM
West Highland Museum Blog - THE BEETLE WING DRESS
West Highland Museum Blog - A LOCHABER LOVE STORY
Corran Ferry Beaker, Fort William, Lochaber
West Highland Museum Blog - The Prince's Gift
West Highland Museum Blog - PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD STUART'S PRAYER BOOK
West Highland Museum Blog - A GLIMPSE INTO THE HISTORY OF THE WEST HIGHLAND MUSEUM: THE 1925 JACOBITE EXHIBITION
West Highland Museum Blog - THE HEPBURN BEQUEST
West Highlands Museum Blog - New Hidden Portrait Jacobite Snuff Box
West Highland Museum Blog - WORN AT CULLODEN
These postcards are part of a much larger collection sent by John McCallum to his wife Mary from France during the Great War. They married in Ballachulish in April 1916, but six months later John was shipped off to fight on the Western Front. He served as a Sergeant in the 13th Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. Between October 1916 and February 1919 John sent Mary numerous postcards detailing his life in France. Embroidered cards like these were popular with the troops. They were made by local French women as a way of supplementing their income and sold to soldiers as gifts to send home. The postcards were gifted to the West Highland Museum in 2019 by John and Mary’s granddaughter.
Image of Raising the Standard - WHM collection
This painting of skies near Mallaig was gifted to the West Highland Museum by the artist’s widow Magda Salvesen in1994. Jon Schueler (1916–1992) was regarded as a member of the New York Abstract Expressionist school of art. He first visited Scotland in 1957 where he travelled to Lochaber. He felt inspired by the turbulent skies and set up a studio near Mallaig on the Sound of Sleat, a stretch of water that runs between the Scottish mainland and the Isle of Skye. Schueler lived at Romasaig for five years in the 1970s and returned most years until his death. Dramatic changes in weather conditions are common in the area and Schueler dramatically captures these in his paintings
Stretcher invented by Donald Duff (1893-1968) and used by Lochaber Mountain Rescue team (LMRT) whose patch includes Ben Nevis. Duff was a doctor, pioneer of Scottish mountain rescue, inventor, author, and the leader of LMRT in the late 1940s and 1950s. As chief surgeon at the Belford Hospital in Fort William he would often treat the casualties he had just rescued in the hospital still dressed in his mountain attire. Donald Duff invented this stretcher in 1944. It was in common use until it was replaced by the MacInnes Stretcher. The MacInnes stretcher was invented by local mountaineering legend Hamish MacInnes (1930 – 2020) who used some of the features of the Duff stretcher in his design. The MacInnes MK1 came into use in the early 1960s and later versions of it is still used by Scottish mountain rescue teams today.
This is a MacInnes Massey all metal ice axe. The Massey was one of the first metal-shafted ice axes manufactured in Britain. These ice axes revolutionised the sport of mountaineering. It was invented by Glencoe resident Hamish MacInnes (1930 – 2020). His decision to manufacture this design was taken in the early 1960s after he found two broken wooden axes on Ben Nevis, where two mountaineers were killed in a fall. MacInnes was an icon of mountaineering and is also known around the world as the father of mountain rescue. This axe along with a selection of mountaineering objects are on long term loan to the museum from the Scottish Mountain Heritage Collection.
This is a series of four panoramic photographs documenting Princess Margaret's visit to Fort William in 1965. They are important to our photographic collection, not only because they recorded a royal visit, but because they were taken by pioneering Fort William photographer Andy Paton. Paton invented his own camera with a special rotating lens that enabled him to take wide-screen images in an era before they were common place. Paton is usually remembered for his panoramic landscape photography and was famous in the 1970s for his photographic tour titled “Highland Panorama”. These images are outside his usual focus. The Paton Photographic Collection is a very large collection in the care of the West Highland Museum. This is an extensive collection of slides focusing on Highland life is still in the process of being catalogued.
Image of Private Joseph Baker’s photograph
Image of Private Joseph Baker’s medals
Image of Mrs Ryan – Keith Henderson
This portrait titled “Mrs Ryan” has been selected because the sitter and artist have close links to Lochaber. Keith Henderson (1883–1982) was a Scottish painter who worked in both oils and watercolours. He had a long professional career and served as a war artist in both the First and Second world wars. Henderson lived near Spean Bridge for a time. The sitter, Elizabeth Ryan, nee MacDonald (1863 - 1954) was a founder member of the West Highland Museum and our Chairman from 1938 until 1950. She was an inspirational lady. She married a tea planter and lived in Ceylon until 1920. When her husband died, she returned to Lochaber and moved to Roy Bridge where she was very active in the community. She founded the SWRI in Spean Bridge and was the Inverness-Shire President for 27 years. She was on the Board at the Belford Hospital and a Manager for St Andrew’s Ambulance. She was also actively involved in the Catholic Church, playing organ at Roy Bridge Church. She is pictured taking tea on a MacDonald tartan tablecloth.