Details from earliest census listing details of the families are revealed
IT IS a dramatic tale of life on the edge and the struggle to survive against the odds.
And now a new chapter in the history of St Kilda has been unearthed following the discovery of its earliest known census.
The tiny archipelago lies in the North Atlantic Ocean, 40 miles from the nearest populated settlement in North Uist.
Its biggest island, Hirta, is little more than two miles across, and yet it was home to dozens of men and women probably for millennia until it was permanently evacuated in 1930.
Now a 250-year-old census has been discovered by the National Register of Archives for Scotland showing the earliest recorded list of the population.
The census lists 90 people living on the island on 15 June 1764, 38 males and 52 females, including 19 families and nine individuals.
The census says that they each ate “36 wild fouls eggs and 18 fouls (seabirds)” a day, an overall daily consumption of 3,240 eggs and 1,620 birds.
The document was discovered among the papers of Clan Maclachlan during cataloguing by the National Records of Scotland, the branch that holds historical papers in private hands in Scotland.
It is not known exactly why the census was taken, or by whom, but it is likely it was made to contribute to a wider report on the Hebrides.
Until now, the oldest known record of the population dated from 1822.
As the later document included ages, it is possible to track five residents of St Kilda who appeared on both censuses, 52 years apart.
The 1764 census also includes the ancestors of the final five families to be evacuated from the island in 1930, the MacQueens, Fergusons, Gillies, MacDonalds and MacKinnons.
The final 36 residents were evacuated in 1930 after an influenza outbreak killed four people, and a series of crop failures made survival on the island even more untenable.
Dr Alison Rosie, registrar of the National Register of Archives for Scotland, said: “This document sheds new light on the history of St Kilda and the families who lived there, and gives us an insight into their lives more than 250 years ago.
“Through it we can trace individuals back 50 years earlier than the next surviving census, and many of the people listed were the ancestors of the families who left the island in 1930.
“One of the most fascinating aspects of working for the National Register of Archives for Scotland (NRAS), which celebrates its 70th birthday this year, is the potential for discovering new and exciting documents like this, often in unexpected places, and then drawing them to the attention of historians and the public.”
Donald Maclauchlan, of Clan Maclachlan, said: “The document was found as part of a hoard of papers – around 13 large boxes.
“The team from NRAS had the papers spread out all over the dining room of Castle Lachlan and went through them, gasping a bit, before explaining that they would need more than an afternoon to evaluate them, boxing them back up and taking them away. A year and half’s study produced a 79-page catalogue of everything we have.
“There’s some very interesting material about Clan Maclachlan history in there, of which this St Kilda document is just one part.”
Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: “Discoveries like these add great depth to our culture and heritage, helping us to understand more about our nation’s story.”
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