Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna
Encyclopedia
Donald MacDonald known as Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna (Red Donald of Coruna) (9 July 1887 Claddach Baleshare, North Uist
, Scotland
- 13 August 1967, Lochmaddy
, Scotland) was a North Uist
stonemason, a combat veteran of the First World War, and a legendary war poet
in the Scottish Gaelic language.
He is best known for the song An Eala Bhán
("The White Swan") which he composed during the Battle of the Somme and addressed to Mhagaidh Nic Leoid, his sweetheart at the time of the war. In recent years, it has been recorded by artists as diverse as Calum Kennedy
, Donnie Munro
, Capercaillie
, and Julie Fowlis
.
in 1887. His mother, Flòraidh Fhionnghuala Dòmhnall, worked as a domestic servant. His father Dòmhnall worked as a merchant seaman. When the poet was young, he was often told stories about the experiences of his maternal great-grandparents during the Napoleonic Wars
. According to the family's oral tradition, the bard's great-grandmother, Mór Campbell of Skye
, had given a last drink of water to Sir John Moore moments before his death at the Battle of Corunna
in 1809.
He briefly attended a district school at Carinish
, but, due to the Education Acts, only English was taught in he schools. As a result, the bard would never learn to read or write in his native language. He began composing poetry at the age of 13. His mother was reportedly impressed with his abilities and made him promise never to use his poetry for personal attacks. This was a promise he always honored. This, and the introspection caused by his experiences in World War I
, set him apart from other Scottish Gaelic poets.
poet Dòmhnall Iain MacDòmhall wrote the following elegy for him:
North Uist
North Uist is an island and community in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.-Geography:North Uist is the tenth largest Scottish island and the thirteenth largest island surrounding Great Britain. It has an area of , slightly smaller than South Uist. North Uist is connected by causeways to Benbecula...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
- 13 August 1967, Lochmaddy
Lochmaddy
Lochmaddy is the administrative centre of North Uist in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland...
, Scotland) was a North Uist
North Uist
North Uist is an island and community in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.-Geography:North Uist is the tenth largest Scottish island and the thirteenth largest island surrounding Great Britain. It has an area of , slightly smaller than South Uist. North Uist is connected by causeways to Benbecula...
stonemason, a combat veteran of the First World War, and a legendary war poet
War poet
A War poet is a poet writing in time of and on the subject of war. The term, which is applied especially to those in military service during World War I, was documented as early as 1848 in reference to German revolutionary poet, Georg Herwegh.-Crimean War:...
in the Scottish Gaelic language.
He is best known for the song An Eala Bhán
An Eala Bhán
An Eala Bhàn is a Scottish Gaelic love song composed by Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna during the Battle of the Somme. It is addressed to Mhagaidh Nic Leòid, his sweetheart at the time of World War I....
("The White Swan") which he composed during the Battle of the Somme and addressed to Mhagaidh Nic Leoid, his sweetheart at the time of the war. In recent years, it has been recorded by artists as diverse as Calum Kennedy
Calum Kennedy
Calum Kennedy was a Scottish singer.Kennedy won a gold medal at the Mod , singing in Scottish Gaelic...
, Donnie Munro
Donnie Munro
Donnie Munro is a Scottish musician, and former lead singer of the band Runrig.A native speaker of Scottish Gaelic, much of his work is in that language.-Early life:...
, Capercaillie
Capercaillie
The Western Capercaillie , also known as the Wood Grouse, Heather Cock or Capercaillie , is the largest member of the grouse family, reaching over 100 cm in length and 6.7 kg in weight. The largest one ever recorded in captivity had a weight of 7.2 kg....
, and Julie Fowlis
Julie Fowlis
Julie Fowlis is a Scottish folk singer and multi-instrumentalist who sings primarily in Scottish Gaelic.-Musical career:Fowlis grew up in North Uist, an island in the Outer Hebrides, in a Gaelic-speaking community, and has been involved in singing, piping and dancing since she was a child.She is a...
.
Early life
He was born on North UistNorth Uist
North Uist is an island and community in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.-Geography:North Uist is the tenth largest Scottish island and the thirteenth largest island surrounding Great Britain. It has an area of , slightly smaller than South Uist. North Uist is connected by causeways to Benbecula...
in 1887. His mother, Flòraidh Fhionnghuala Dòmhnall, worked as a domestic servant. His father Dòmhnall worked as a merchant seaman. When the poet was young, he was often told stories about the experiences of his maternal great-grandparents during the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
. According to the family's oral tradition, the bard's great-grandmother, Mór Campbell of Skye
Skye
Skye or the Isle of Skye is the largest and most northerly island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate out from a mountainous centre dominated by the Cuillin hills...
, had given a last drink of water to Sir John Moore moments before his death at the Battle of Corunna
Battle of Corunna
The Battle of Corunna refers to a battle of the Peninsular War. On January 16, 1809, a French army under Marshal Soult attacked the British under Sir John Moore...
in 1809.
He briefly attended a district school at Carinish
Carinish
Carinish , in North Uist, in the Western Isles of Scotland, is known for the Carinish Stone Circle and the Trinity Temple.-Carinish Stone Circle:Carinish Stone Circle is not in a good condition - it has a main road running almost through the middle of it...
, but, due to the Education Acts, only English was taught in he schools. As a result, the bard would never learn to read or write in his native language. He began composing poetry at the age of 13. His mother was reportedly impressed with his abilities and made him promise never to use his poetry for personal attacks. This was a promise he always honored. This, and the introspection caused by his experiences in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, set him apart from other Scottish Gaelic poets.
World War I
According to Fred MacAulay,"Dòmhnall Ruadh was in the Militia before the War and would therefore not have had to wait too long before going across to FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. There, a murderous, merciless, pitiless world awaited him, as he himself relates... but I believe that, at least up to this point, some of the old philosophy survived which enobled war and in some strange way glorified it. I am certain too that, for that generation, these sentiments died forever in the trenches of FranceWestern Front (World War I)Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
. All this is to be found in Dòmhnall Ruadh's poetry. There is vanity and pride, charity and love, simplicity and youthful innocence, valor and the nobility of long ago, and they are all interspersed with lament and sorrow for the dead and the maimed. One cannot help being aware of this and being touched in some measure by the emotions in a situation which is difficult to comprehend in today's brash and ever changing world. He is sorely pressed, his heart bruised at the brutality of his position, anguished and sometimes with little hope; at other times, his poetry is resolute and strong, then changes to regret and sorrow, questioning man's function and purpose in the situation and occasionally turning to God and Creed for succor when there is not other solution... He was in the 7th Batallion of the Cameron HighlandersQueen's Own Cameron HighlandersThe Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders was an infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1793. In 1961 it was merged with the Seaforth Highlanders to form the Queen's Own Highlanders...
and was badly wounded on the Somme in the autumn of 1916. Invalided back to EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, he later returned to France with the West Riding Field Regiment, as he was not longer fit for infantry duties. But whatever regulations said, he continued to wear the Cameron badge on his cap..."
Later life and publication
According to Ronald Black,"The years following the War were filled with emptiness, economically as well as personally. There was little living to be had in Uist other than from the poacherPoacherPoacher may refer to:*One who engages in poaching, the theft or illegal killing of animals or plants*A device used for poaching *Poacher , a family of fish...
's gun. In 1922, however, he married Annie MacDonald (Anna Ruairidh 'ic Nèill, 1890-1970), and they had two children, Mary and Malcolm, both of whom died in 1965. Dòmhnall Ruadh had become a stonemason and went on to build more than thirty houses in different parts of Uist. Experiencing a degree of prosperity for the first time in his life after the Second World War, the Voice of the Trenches, as we may call him, became a prolific poet once more, but subsequently suffered a great deal from illness. He died at LochmaddyLochmaddyLochmaddy is the administrative centre of North Uist in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland...
on 13 August 1967. Fortunately, at the instigation of Fred MacAulay of the BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, most of Dòmhnall Ruadh's poems and songs had been written down from his dictation shortly before his death by John Alick MacPherson, who was at that time a teacher at Paible. They were first published by Gairm Publications in 1969 in an all-Gaelic edition prepared by MacPherson, Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna. This edition contains 12 poems and songs from 1914-1920, 17 from 1920-1945, and 28 from 1945-1966, 57 items in all, although the later poems are, on average, much shorter than the earlier ones. It was followed in 1995 by an illustrated bilingual edition, again titled Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna, this time edited by MacAuley himself and published by Comann Eachdraidh Uibhist a-Tuath. Thanks to the excellent memory of poet's cousin, Maggie Boyd (Mrs. John MacQuarrie, who died in 1994), to whom Dòmhnall liked to sing each new composition as soon as it was made, the new edition contains 61 items along with extra fragments."
Legacy
The South UistSouth Uist
South Uist is an island of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. In the 2001 census it had a usually resident population of 1,818. There is a nature reserve and a number of sites of archaeological interest, including the only location in Great Britain where prehistoric mummies have been found. The...
poet Dòmhnall Iain MacDòmhall wrote the following elegy for him:
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Further reading
- Ronald BlackRonald BlackRonald E. Black is a former Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.-References:...
, An Tuil: Anthology of 20th Century Scottish Gaelic Verse, Polygon Press, 1999. - Fred MacAulay (editor), Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna, Comann Eachdraidh Uibhist a Tuath, 1995.