The woman with the ‘wandering disposition’...

In the late summer of 1901, a mysterious young woman appeared on the west coast, living at Ardmaddy, around 16 miles from Oban. She had a tarpaulin for shelter, and she foraged for food, gathering shellfish on the shore and wild berries. She was offered assistance but refused.

The coast where she was staying was exposed to the wild weather, but despite this, she said she was fit and healthy. In fact, she claimed her health was improving.

Asked why she had taken to this rough lifestyle she refused to answer. Rumours were plentiful as to who she was or why she was there. One of the most popular was that she was the granddaughter of a Highland clergyman. The people who spoke to her did not think she had any mental health issues but said she just wanted to be left to live simply, in the solitude of her surroundings.

While there, she attracted a lot of visitors who wanted to see her for themselves.

That winter, she fell ill with pleurisy and the local poor law officer provided her with accommodation with the intention of returning her to her relatives. When she was well enough, however, she left and resumed her nomadic life at Kilninver. In order to ‘save her from herself’, the police arrested her in May 1902.

A photographer managed to take her photograph and when it was shown to people in the district, it transpired she was Christina MacMaster of Creich near Bunessan on Mull.

Her father stated he had little hope of his daughter giving up her way of life as she had always had ‘wandering disposition’. She had been in and around Glasgow and often visited her grandfather on Tiree before her time as a wandering hermit.

What became of her is unknown.