Mary MacPherson
| Màiri Mhòr nan Òran | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Màiri NicDhòmhnaill 1821 Isle of Skye, Scotland |
| Died | 8 November 1898 Portree, Isle of Skye, Scotland |
| Nationality | British |
| Known for | poetry |
| Political party | Highland Land League |
| Spouse(s) | Isaac MacPherson |
Mary MacPherson (Scottish Gaelic: Màiri Mhòr nan Òran (Great or Big Mary of the Songs); c.1821 – 1898) was a Scottish poet and singer-song writer from the Isle of Skye who worked in Scottish Gaelic. Although she could read her own work when written she could not write it in Gaelic. She retained her songs and poems in her memory until others wrote them down for publication. She often referred to herself as Màiri Nighean Iain Bhàin (Mary, daughter of fair haired John), the name by which she would have been known in the Skye of her childhood.
MacPherson was born on Skye in about 1821. Her family went to live in Glasgow during the displacement of the Scots in the first half of the nineteenth century. Many of her fellow countrymen went to Canada. Mary was born on Skye after her family returned to the island. Mary moved to Inverness in 1844 where she married Isaac in 1847. She and Isaac had five children who lived to maturity. Following the death of her husband in 1871 Mairi Mhòr took employment as a domestic servant with the family of an army officer. She was accused of stealing clothes belonging to the officer's wife, who had just died of typhoid, and sentenced to 40 days imprisonment. All court documents relating to the case appear to have been lost and it is unclear exactly what happened. It is often claimed that another servant with a grudge against her planted the stolen clothes in Mairi Mhòr's box. She protested her innocence for the rest of her life and was almost universally believed by the Gaelic speaking community. At the time of her trial she was supported by John Murdoch, campaigning journalist and founder of The Highlander. Charles Fraser-Mackintosh, Inverness solicitor and politician, is also said to have acted on her behalf but it is unclear in what capacity. This marks the start of a friendship between the poet and the politician that lasted for the rest of her life. Her brush with the law and the feeling it aroused is recorded in Tha mi sgìth de luchd na Beurla (I'm tired of the English speakers). She said that the humiliation (tàmailt) she endured brought her muse to life. On her release in 1872 Mairi Mhòr moved to Glasgow, aged about 50. Here she seems to have learned to read and write in English, and trained as a nurse in mid-wifery in Glasgow Royal Infirmary. In 1876 she moved to Greenock to work but often returned to Glasgow for ceilidhs and other gatherings of Skye people. It is thought that she probably sang at many of these ceilidhs as there is evidence of her frequently doing so after she retired to Skye in 1882. By this time she had acquired a reputation for her songs and her championing of the crofters in the increasingly heated debate over land rights. She sang at the first ever National Mòd in Oban in 1892 but did not win a medal.
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