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The Life and Death of St. Kilda: The moving story of a vanished island community
The extraordinary story of the UK’s most gruelling and spectacularly beautiful islands. Tom Steel’s acclaimed portrait of the St Kildan’s lives is now updated in this reissued edition.
Situated at the westernmost point of the United Kingdom, the spectacularly beautiful but utterly bleak island of St Kilda is familiar to virtually nobody. A lonely archipelago off the coast of Scotland, it is hard to believe that for over two thousand years, men and women lived here, cut off from the rest of the world.
With a population never exceeding two hundred in its history, the St Kildans were fiercely self-sufficient. Intensely religious people, they climbed cliffs from childhood and caught birds for food. Their sense of community was unparalleled and isolation enveloped their day-to-day existence.
With the onset of the First World War, things changed. For the very first time in St Kilda’s history, daily communication was established between the islanders and the mainland. Slowly but surely, this marked the beginning of the end of St Kilda and in August 1930, the island’s remaining 36 inhabitants were evacuated.
Updated to include the historic appointment of St Kilda as the United Kingdom’s only UNESCO Dual Heritage site, the ongoing search for information about the island and the threats that it continues to face, this is the moving story of a vanished community and how twentieth century civilization ultimately brought an entire way of life to its knees.
409 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1975
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
February 16, 2014
Imagine you were born there. You're supposed to be a British subject but you don't know English, don't pay taxes, you don't know what money is and are not touched by any governmental regulation. You speak Gaelic, but cannot write. You do not know what is happening anywhere else in the world. There's no TV or radio or books or magazines anywhere around. Much later did your place have a postal service but even then it took months for mails to travel in and out of the islands, from origin to destination.
It is not known how these group of rock islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, about 100 miles off the Scottish mainland, got their name. There's no "St. Kilda" in the list of Catholic saints. In fact the locals like you prefer to call the place "Hirta" yet the origin of this name is also vague. You do not know it, but subsequent archeological studies indicate that remote as these islands are, your ancestors had inhabited the same for about two thousand years before you were born.
The weather is fickle and unforgiving. It'll be all sunshine in the morning then, just for a few more hours, it'll be as stormy as hell, with wind so strong that some of your sheep will be swept away to the sea and drown. You do not know what trees are, you haven't seen one, not even in pictures. No trees grow in your islands of towering rocks which have been the world to you all your life.
You have sheep, dogs and a few cows. You are surrounded by the ocean but your main staple food is not fish. The waters are often too violent for fishing. The few boats that your community has are too precious to be put at risk for fishing. The wood you'll need to repair them, or build new ones, can only come from shipwrecks or imported from the mainland. In any case, you find fish too bland for your taste. You crave for oil. You get that oil from the food source which come to the islands seasonally and which you harvest like Thais harvest rice--birds. You and your community of around 180 men, women and children are perhaps the only bird-eating community the world has ever had.
On 29 August 1930, however, your community ceased to exist. By that time only 36 of you remained. The British government had persuaded all of you to leave, your sheep and cows sold to partly pay for the cost of the evacuation. All your work/pet dogs were put to sleep. It was the consensus that you only have two choices: leave and survive or remain and perish from hunger, sickness and for lack of enough able-bodied men to continue working on the land, harvest the birds, mend your boats and do other chores only men can do. Many of you had left willingly, some had wanted to remain.
What a story.
(this book needs better organization and editing. Several times the author would repeat himself. But the story of this unique community, a well-documented and photographed one, is something no one can possibly find boring)
March 19, 2016
Lots of fascinating historical facts. I enjoyed it.
September 11, 2012
I've never heard of St. Kilda before. And I also have to admit that I had to google where this island is situated exactly. Well, there is a map in the book but I'm not so familiar with the Scottish coastal line ;)
The book is about a people living on a rocky and stormy island far out in the Atlantic with no or very little contact to the outside world. They hunted sea birds, collected their eggs and grew some vegetables - and that was what they ate. Besides they had some sheep, mainly for their wool which they needed to knit or made tweed of. They had a hard but at the same time nice life: They shared everything, they had no money, no crime reported for over 400 years. But they also had to be prepared for the rough winter storms, they were mainly on their own - let it be at times with not much to eat or at times of disease. They have worked with tools or in ways that seemed uneffective and 'ancient' for those living on the mainland. They have never seen a tree or a horse or a single little bee because there were no such things on the island. But then the contact to the mainland grew stronger. This had positive and negative effects on the people: They were supported with food and other goods needed for survival but they were also treated like zoo animals. They were curiousities and they came to believe that mainland must be like paradise...so, many young people left the island to seek their fortune leaving behind too less people to do all the work needed to survive another winter. So the decision was made to evacuate St. Kilda. But how could these people be thrown into a community on the mainland very different from everything they knew? How did they get along with it? And was it the right decision to destroy rather than support something that valuable as the St. Kilda community was not in a monetary but cultural understanding? And what happened to the abandoned island and the animals living on it thereafter? Tom Steel tells about all this very detailed and with many quotations depicting the view of the St. Kildans. Plus, there are many photos for creating a vivid report of the daily life on the island.
Everything put together it was a very interesting topic: a community that differs very much in their opinions, in their skills, knowledge, eating habits and behaviour from the people on the mainland. But at the same time I didn't like so much what the author made out of this topic. He repeated some facts over and over again and some parts were stretched out to the last while others were told quite shortly. The author arranged the chapters thematically not chronically which seems understandable to me, but I also think that it's very important then to be careful not to tell the same thing five times in the book - and the author unfortunately hasn't been too careful about that. That's why I rate "The Life and Death of St. Kilda" only two stars, though I was moved by and interested in the fate of the islanders very much.
The book is about a people living on a rocky and stormy island far out in the Atlantic with no or very little contact to the outside world. They hunted sea birds, collected their eggs and grew some vegetables - and that was what they ate. Besides they had some sheep, mainly for their wool which they needed to knit or made tweed of. They had a hard but at the same time nice life: They shared everything, they had no money, no crime reported for over 400 years. But they also had to be prepared for the rough winter storms, they were mainly on their own - let it be at times with not much to eat or at times of disease. They have worked with tools or in ways that seemed uneffective and 'ancient' for those living on the mainland. They have never seen a tree or a horse or a single little bee because there were no such things on the island. But then the contact to the mainland grew stronger. This had positive and negative effects on the people: They were supported with food and other goods needed for survival but they were also treated like zoo animals. They were curiousities and they came to believe that mainland must be like paradise...so, many young people left the island to seek their fortune leaving behind too less people to do all the work needed to survive another winter. So the decision was made to evacuate St. Kilda. But how could these people be thrown into a community on the mainland very different from everything they knew? How did they get along with it? And was it the right decision to destroy rather than support something that valuable as the St. Kilda community was not in a monetary but cultural understanding? And what happened to the abandoned island and the animals living on it thereafter? Tom Steel tells about all this very detailed and with many quotations depicting the view of the St. Kildans. Plus, there are many photos for creating a vivid report of the daily life on the island.
Everything put together it was a very interesting topic: a community that differs very much in their opinions, in their skills, knowledge, eating habits and behaviour from the people on the mainland. But at the same time I didn't like so much what the author made out of this topic. He repeated some facts over and over again and some parts were stretched out to the last while others were told quite shortly. The author arranged the chapters thematically not chronically which seems understandable to me, but I also think that it's very important then to be careful not to tell the same thing five times in the book - and the author unfortunately hasn't been too careful about that. That's why I rate "The Life and Death of St. Kilda" only two stars, though I was moved by and interested in the fate of the islanders very much.
June 24, 2025
Ten days after I actually landed on St Kilda, I started reading this book.
Yes, the writing has its flaws, and, yes, I did get confused between all the different people with similar names, but it’s still such a gripping story.
Interesting facts:
1. The Daily Mirror heard about the islanders’ isolation and food problems, organised a collection for them, and a communication aerial was subsequently installed;
2. They started their day with porridge (like me), then added some puffin meat to give it flavour (not like me!);
3. The women would walk two miles twice a day, or maybe two miles there and back twice a day, to milk the cows in a far off ‘field’;
4. They weren’t as isolated as I had always thought, as their laird sent his factor over at least once a year, mainly to collect rent in the form of feathers, tweed, birds etc., and passing trawlers gave them food. Sightseers regularly landed too, in the summer;
5. They weren’t the first island to be evacuated in Scotland e.g. islanders left Mingualy and Pabbay in 1912;
Anyway, visit St Kilda if you can, given the usually bad weather and long sea journey, and marvel at it all.
Yes, the writing has its flaws, and, yes, I did get confused between all the different people with similar names, but it’s still such a gripping story.
Interesting facts:
1. The Daily Mirror heard about the islanders’ isolation and food problems, organised a collection for them, and a communication aerial was subsequently installed;
2. They started their day with porridge (like me), then added some puffin meat to give it flavour (not like me!);
3. The women would walk two miles twice a day, or maybe two miles there and back twice a day, to milk the cows in a far off ‘field’;
4. They weren’t as isolated as I had always thought, as their laird sent his factor over at least once a year, mainly to collect rent in the form of feathers, tweed, birds etc., and passing trawlers gave them food. Sightseers regularly landed too, in the summer;
5. They weren’t the first island to be evacuated in Scotland e.g. islanders left Mingualy and Pabbay in 1912;
Anyway, visit St Kilda if you can, given the usually bad weather and long sea journey, and marvel at it all.
November 13, 2009
I’m about half way through this book and I’ll admit I’m not the speediest of readers but this is hard going. Throughout the chapters it deals with the different aspects of life in the island. Each chapter ends with the populace leaving the island. Religion, health or exposure to the bigger world all are looked at so far. But the Wee Frees imposed such a dour god fearing life sucking, break your fiddles over your knee, pessimism that you can’t blame the poor people. My folks come from the Outer Hebrides so I know a bit about this. Life was hard enough up there but this was unquestionably a further burden they could do without. Sadly didn’t realise it due to their isolation. I’ll keep going though…
May 23, 2013
Fascinating and thorough history of St. Kilda and its inhabitants, before and up to the evacuation in 1930, and then the lives of the St. Kildans afterwards and the subsequent history of the island. A remote and truly isolated place in every sense (many island dwellers are seafarers, but apart from a little local fishing these were not): they were cut off for large parts of the year with no fresh supplies and no mail or other connection to the mainland. The island sounds very bleak, if spectacular - cold, windy, little fuel and few crops. The society also sounds fascinating: in theory it was a feudal set-up, the landowner being Macleod of Macleod on the Isle of Skye, but the tenants lived what elsewhere might seem a Utopian existence, sharing everything fairly. Crime was unknown, and the men gathered each morning as what they called their parliament, to discuss what needed to be done that day and where everyone would be. It sounds like a particularly hard life for the women, who did the heavy carrying (while the men did the sewing). The men's most daring and important work was scaling the cliffs to catch seabirds at certain times a year. The diet sounds gruesome (puffin porridge, &c.). The language was Gaelic (it would have been interesting to know a little more about this, such as how far there might have been said to be a St. Kilda dialect). Tragic in the end as the community became unsustainable and the special way of life was lost, and lots of interesting insight into the island's more recent history.
June 24, 2014
St. Kilda is a small group of islands, far off of the coast of Scotland. People lived there for hundreds - maybe thousands of years - but a peculiar combination of lack of will on the part of the government to properly educate and provide health services for the residents, and greater contact with the outside world who considered the St. Kildans to be little better than animals in a zoo led to the decline and, in 1930, "death" of the community.
The last 36 residents of a once proud, self-sufficient community were evacuated from their island home and scattered over northern Scotland.
Since then, the same government that couldn't be bothered to pay for a mail boat or a school teacher for the islanders has spend millions of dollars for a military base there.
The islanders were not completely without blame, either. As the tourist boats started to come, the islanders became increasingly dependent on the hand-outs and donations of the visitors.
The story is fascinating. The writing is uneven. Mr. Steel struggled to find a balance between straightforward reporting, and emotional outbursts.
The book is worth reading.
As of October, 2013, there was one living St. Kilda native - a 91 year old woman named Rachel Johnson.
The last 36 residents of a once proud, self-sufficient community were evacuated from their island home and scattered over northern Scotland.
Since then, the same government that couldn't be bothered to pay for a mail boat or a school teacher for the islanders has spend millions of dollars for a military base there.
The islanders were not completely without blame, either. As the tourist boats started to come, the islanders became increasingly dependent on the hand-outs and donations of the visitors.
The story is fascinating. The writing is uneven. Mr. Steel struggled to find a balance between straightforward reporting, and emotional outbursts.
The book is worth reading.
As of October, 2013, there was one living St. Kilda native - a 91 year old woman named Rachel Johnson.
June 27, 2025
This book was an interesting little history about the way of life on the island, and how it all came to an end when the population simply wasn’t big enough to support itself. I suppose this is because the outside world was too much of a temptation to the younger islanders, so it was inevitable. At least that the outside world would have this effect, especially as they were relying on it as well to support them, send over goods etc. I suppose the only way they could have gone on was through immigration, and being more open to outsiders.
It sounded like a tough life, where community was the word, not the individual. I can’t say I could have lived that life. Religion also got oppressive and killed off any singing or dancing, which was taking away some of the fun of the island.
It would be an interesting place to visit one day.
It sounded like a tough life, where community was the word, not the individual. I can’t say I could have lived that life. Religion also got oppressive and killed off any singing or dancing, which was taking away some of the fun of the island.
It would be an interesting place to visit one day.
July 19, 2013
If you have been to Scotland, have lived on an island, and, especially if you are interested in the effects of industrialization on indigenous people anywhere in the world, you will enjoy this book. This is fascinating history of the people who lived in a very remote part of the United Kingdom, certainly one that I wasn't aware of until I travelled to the Outer Hebrides. The narrative bogs down a bit near the end, but mainly it's a fascinating read that will hold your attention.
April 3, 2011
Interesting story about these island people of Scotland. However, it's not written by a "writer" and lacked a great deal of editing. If you skim, and ignore the "writing in circles", you can still learn a lot about their life, evacuation, and subsequent new life on the mainland.
Read
April 18, 2012Written on the inside cover: Skye, 1977.
March 30, 2025
I've long been interested in St Kilda - the whole story, when and why people came to live there, how they survived, what their culture was like, and why they left. As it turns out, nobody really knows when or how humans arrived. And the island culture was erased after a Calvinist minister bullied the people into giving up music, dancing, everything that made their lives joyful.
But pretty much everything else is here. How they survived, the cashless, mutually-supportive society that waxed and waned, the interactions with visitors, and so forth.
In more writerly hands, this would be a fascinating tale. But the author includes lengthy details on which shipping companies argued over how much they'd be paid, which ministers came to live there and for how long, and other facets that could well have been placed in an afterward table rather than as part of the main text. Want to know how and when to harvest pelicans and gannets? It's here in excruciating detail.
This was written for a UK readership and so many of the terms are unknown/unused in the US.
I almost didn't get past the first chapter which was so overwhelmingly sad that I didn't think I could bear to read more. Much of the remainder was more enlightening - until the St Kildans evacuated the island, when their stories became, for the most part, miserable and depressed.
It tells the tragic story but could have been so much more interesting.
But pretty much everything else is here. How they survived, the cashless, mutually-supportive society that waxed and waned, the interactions with visitors, and so forth.
In more writerly hands, this would be a fascinating tale. But the author includes lengthy details on which shipping companies argued over how much they'd be paid, which ministers came to live there and for how long, and other facets that could well have been placed in an afterward table rather than as part of the main text. Want to know how and when to harvest pelicans and gannets? It's here in excruciating detail.
This was written for a UK readership and so many of the terms are unknown/unused in the US.
I almost didn't get past the first chapter which was so overwhelmingly sad that I didn't think I could bear to read more. Much of the remainder was more enlightening - until the St Kildans evacuated the island, when their stories became, for the most part, miserable and depressed.
It tells the tragic story but could have been so much more interesting.
August 9, 2020
It’s a story about a community which lived on a remote island quite far away from Scotland. In 1930 the people had to be evacuated because life became too hard for them and they were too few. But many of them found that life on st. Hilda was peaceful and they missed that.
This book tells every single detail there is to know about the island and the people, maybe too detailed for me. I’m so happy I’m done with the book!
This book tells every single detail there is to know about the island and the people, maybe too detailed for me. I’m so happy I’m done with the book!
August 24, 2023
Beautiful. Made with love and respect towards the people of the archipelago. One cannot help but being thankful for not having had to endure the conditions the inhabitants of St Kilda lived in. The last chapters were a tad boring but of equal importance to anyone interested in the islands' most recent history. Where is the continuation of this lost song of St Kilda? I must find out.
No there's not a lot to see upon St Kilda,
Two dozen empty bothies and a wall;
It's a dreary little dot of desolation,
one hundred miles due west of buggar all.
No there's not a lot to see upon St Kilda,
Two dozen empty bothies and a wall;
It's a dreary little dot of desolation,
one hundred miles due west of buggar all.
August 17, 2023
Fascinating history of the island and factors which led to the evacuation
January 18, 2019
We were lucky to be able to visit St Kilda this summer. The trip was cancelled on the first day but we got out on the second. The next day we spoke to a couple from Australia who had tried on several occasions to get out there but the weather had scuppered their plans on all occasions. We were lucky in deed. Oh God I was sick as a dog on the way out. Huge waves, such a long journey. It is so far off the Hebrides it doesn’t bear thinking about. What it is like in winter I cannot imagine. The islands are stunning though. The simple little street, the Soay sheep, the sheer cliffs, army vehicles and the most amazing amount of birds you will ever see. It’s unfathomable that people managed to make a life there, beautiful in it’s simplicity. Anyway I’m not sure this book would have been as interesting had I not been there.
The book describes the perfect socialists that existed there in the earliest time we know about. All able men, women and children helped to collect the birds and the eggs that they depended on to pay their rent to the Laird and survive through the winter months. They worked stupidly hard when the season was right. The birds were then put in one big pile and dished out evenly according to strict criteria per person. So the lone widow who could not help got a share. Oh why can’t we be like that today? What did they have, or rather not have - money! Who was it who said it was the root of all evil?
Modernity happened in many ways that started the inevitable extinction of their way of life. Tourists, over zealous religious clerics, greedy trawlermen, a tetanus epidemic that brought unsustainable infant mortality. Teachers and medics brought in to help educate the St Kildan’s made the islanders realise how primitive they were, but they missed their simple lives once they were evacuated. The books takes you through all aspects of the life and death of St Kilda from the late 17th century to the evacuation in 1930 and beyond. Fascinating.
The book describes the perfect socialists that existed there in the earliest time we know about. All able men, women and children helped to collect the birds and the eggs that they depended on to pay their rent to the Laird and survive through the winter months. They worked stupidly hard when the season was right. The birds were then put in one big pile and dished out evenly according to strict criteria per person. So the lone widow who could not help got a share. Oh why can’t we be like that today? What did they have, or rather not have - money! Who was it who said it was the root of all evil?
Modernity happened in many ways that started the inevitable extinction of their way of life. Tourists, over zealous religious clerics, greedy trawlermen, a tetanus epidemic that brought unsustainable infant mortality. Teachers and medics brought in to help educate the St Kildan’s made the islanders realise how primitive they were, but they missed their simple lives once they were evacuated. The books takes you through all aspects of the life and death of St Kilda from the late 17th century to the evacuation in 1930 and beyond. Fascinating.
July 23, 2014
I am so glad I persevered with this book. At one point I got bogged down in all the minutiae of the history and detail of the day to day life, but gradually the story took hold of me and I could not let go.
Whew St Kilda has had quite a history and undergone an extra-ordinary transformation in the second half of the C20 after the sad and even pathetic way in which the 36 last St Kildans were removed to the mainland at their own request in the midst of the depression.
Now a bird sanctuary, world heritage site, owned by the NT but rubbing shoulders with a military base the ancient history of St Kilda is emerging.
Tom Steel's detailed and at times harrowing history shows us a people out of time, manipulated by clergy in the C19 to blend an already isolated life with Puritan doctrine....no singing or dancing..... Where even the occasional Postal Service was grudgingly granted by the PO amid frequent complaints of it being too costly and where ultimately diseases unknown to the islanders...tetanus, TB, the common cold and Flu decimated the population. In 1930 the government reluctantly and grudgingly spent a mere £1000 evacuating and resettling the St Kildans on the Scottish mainland. Less than 3 decades later a military base was established on the island ,which had suddenly become strategically valuable , and for which it seemed money was no object. The wheel turns.... Ironically it is the establishment of this base that has enabled the resurrection and rediscovery of St Kilda.
http://www.kilda.org.uk/
Whew St Kilda has had quite a history and undergone an extra-ordinary transformation in the second half of the C20 after the sad and even pathetic way in which the 36 last St Kildans were removed to the mainland at their own request in the midst of the depression.
Now a bird sanctuary, world heritage site, owned by the NT but rubbing shoulders with a military base the ancient history of St Kilda is emerging.
Tom Steel's detailed and at times harrowing history shows us a people out of time, manipulated by clergy in the C19 to blend an already isolated life with Puritan doctrine....no singing or dancing..... Where even the occasional Postal Service was grudgingly granted by the PO amid frequent complaints of it being too costly and where ultimately diseases unknown to the islanders...tetanus, TB, the common cold and Flu decimated the population. In 1930 the government reluctantly and grudgingly spent a mere £1000 evacuating and resettling the St Kildans on the Scottish mainland. Less than 3 decades later a military base was established on the island ,which had suddenly become strategically valuable , and for which it seemed money was no object. The wheel turns.... Ironically it is the establishment of this base that has enabled the resurrection and rediscovery of St Kilda.
http://www.kilda.org.uk/
December 4, 2022
I heard of St Kilda, an isolated island off the west coast of Scotland, when I was looking at a wikipedia article about animals species that have gone extinct in the UK. I learned that the St Kilda House Mouse went extinct after the island was evacuated of its human population, in an unusual case of a wild animal being dependant upon its human neighbours, instead of damaged by them.
So when I saw this book about the people of St Kilda, how they lived, and how they eventually left, I knew I had to read it.
The community on St Kilda were so isolated that their way of life remained unchanged right into the 19th century, still living in a feudal society of crofters. They lived in poverty, working hard to survive a fairly inhospitable island, living off the seabirds and a small flock of sheep, and some crops and woolen crafts. This way of life worked for them until they had increased contact with the mainland, where they learned of a seemingly easier life of more modern conveniences, and most pressingly, the pressures of not having money due to their communal, practical society.
It was interesting, but the writing itself felt a bit repetitive at times and could have been more succinct. The stories and anecdotes were good but a lot of the same facts and ideas get repeated.
So an interesting read, but could drag on a little bit. Lots of food for thought.
So when I saw this book about the people of St Kilda, how they lived, and how they eventually left, I knew I had to read it.
The community on St Kilda were so isolated that their way of life remained unchanged right into the 19th century, still living in a feudal society of crofters. They lived in poverty, working hard to survive a fairly inhospitable island, living off the seabirds and a small flock of sheep, and some crops and woolen crafts. This way of life worked for them until they had increased contact with the mainland, where they learned of a seemingly easier life of more modern conveniences, and most pressingly, the pressures of not having money due to their communal, practical society.
It was interesting, but the writing itself felt a bit repetitive at times and could have been more succinct. The stories and anecdotes were good but a lot of the same facts and ideas get repeated.
So an interesting read, but could drag on a little bit. Lots of food for thought.
March 3, 2019
Tom Steel's The Life & Death of St. Kilda provides a rather comprehensive history of Scotland's most westerly island from ancient times to 2010; significant focus is placed on the evacuation of the island, at the inhabitants' request, in 1930.
Several reviewers mention that the book is poorly written and edited. I must agree with these reviewers. Poor transitions and haphazard flow, as well as numerous restatement of facts throughout the text, made for a slow read. I would likely have given the book four stars had the editing been of higher quality. Despite this criticism, the story of St. Kilda's people is fascinating and I was not disappointed that I read the book.
I would have preferred to have read a bit more history concerning the MacLeod of MacLeod family, as they served as St. Kilda's owners for 600+ years - the Earl of Dumfries purchasing St. Kilda from the MacLeod family in 1931. While Steel makes numerous references to MacLeod of MacLeod, these are mostly with respect to payment (by barter) of rents by St. Kilda's inhabitants (MacLeod tenants) to MacLeod's steward ("tacksman"). It seems that the history of the MacLeod Clan would have been more interwoven into the history of St. Kilda than what Steel presents in his book.
Several reviewers mention that the book is poorly written and edited. I must agree with these reviewers. Poor transitions and haphazard flow, as well as numerous restatement of facts throughout the text, made for a slow read. I would likely have given the book four stars had the editing been of higher quality. Despite this criticism, the story of St. Kilda's people is fascinating and I was not disappointed that I read the book.
I would have preferred to have read a bit more history concerning the MacLeod of MacLeod family, as they served as St. Kilda's owners for 600+ years - the Earl of Dumfries purchasing St. Kilda from the MacLeod family in 1931. While Steel makes numerous references to MacLeod of MacLeod, these are mostly with respect to payment (by barter) of rents by St. Kilda's inhabitants (MacLeod tenants) to MacLeod's steward ("tacksman"). It seems that the history of the MacLeod Clan would have been more interwoven into the history of St. Kilda than what Steel presents in his book.
August 30, 2013
I had never heard of St. Kilda before reading this book, but it is a truly fascinating story of a small island community in the Atlantic that for hundreds of years organized and conducted daily life in a largely non-hierarchical way. There were no elected officials, no money, virtually no technology. Decisions were made during morning assemblies by the men of the community - yes, there was still sexism. Goods were distributed based not on ability, but on need. There was no crime, and as such no jails or police.
This way of life was largely undone by the intrusion of the 'modern world' and its values - dogmatic religion, money, and materialism. In 1930, the last inhabitants of the island were evacuated to Scotland.
With such a history, it's a shame the book wasn't more well written. It was based off a thesis and clearly shows that - with much repetition, unnecessary detail, each chapter dedicated to various aspects of St. Kildan life, and large chronological gaps. It also has a clear pro-St. Kildan viewpoint, which is easily understandable. Regardless of the faults, Steel put much energy into this work and it is a worthwhile read.
This way of life was largely undone by the intrusion of the 'modern world' and its values - dogmatic religion, money, and materialism. In 1930, the last inhabitants of the island were evacuated to Scotland.
With such a history, it's a shame the book wasn't more well written. It was based off a thesis and clearly shows that - with much repetition, unnecessary detail, each chapter dedicated to various aspects of St. Kildan life, and large chronological gaps. It also has a clear pro-St. Kildan viewpoint, which is easily understandable. Regardless of the faults, Steel put much energy into this work and it is a worthwhile read.
September 16, 2010
Interesting book on a fascinating subject. The story seemed to lack energy though, I wasn't drawn into the story like I was expecting to be. Of course it was written as a more academic type account of the history and events.
St. Kilda is a remote island off the coast of Scotland which was inhabited until 1930 by a small group of islanders. They subsisted on the land and the sea birds that nest there. Their way of life is damaged by the visits of mainlanders and this could have been the cause of their downfall. Also interesting is the view that the author proposes that their intense religious worshiping also helped to weaken them.
Worth a read for sure, but I'm also led to believe there are other books on the subject which could be better reads.
St. Kilda is a remote island off the coast of Scotland which was inhabited until 1930 by a small group of islanders. They subsisted on the land and the sea birds that nest there. Their way of life is damaged by the visits of mainlanders and this could have been the cause of their downfall. Also interesting is the view that the author proposes that their intense religious worshiping also helped to weaken them.
Worth a read for sure, but I'm also led to believe there are other books on the subject which could be better reads.
May 17, 2009
An excellent read about the end of a community whose survival had become untenable. The fate of the St. Kildans was both sad but inevitable. This is an excellent account of how difficult life had become on the islands and the need for the community to be evacuated.
May 17, 2014
A fascinating history - most certainly not a romanticised view of life on the islands of St Kilda, or of those who lived on, or left, them.
October 4, 2024
The book starts and ends with the evacuation to the mainland of the isolated Gàidhlig speaking population living on the island Hirta almost a century ago, but the book does a lot more. It also gives an account of the history of the people living on the island and and provides insight in many aspects of their culture, into their extremely difficult living circumstances, but also in the neglect by the Scottish and British governments.
Though I gather that the mainland had many problems to deal with, such as large unemployment numbers, it was still painful to read how unwilling the government institutions were to invest even the tiniest amount into proper communication services, a decent landing or any form of education. It was sad to read how the influence of the Presbyterian kirk in effect killed off any joyful expressions like music or dancing and turned the community into this dour lifestyle where a smile on Sundays was considered too frivolous. It was also especially heartbreaking to read about the deaths of so many babies and children due to Tetanus Infantum and its impact on the island community. All this and due to more young folk leaving Hirta there was no re-generation to pass on and continue the island's lifestyle and evacuation became urgent and a necessity.
I was not surprised to learn if and how the islanders adapted to their life after evacuation. I think another big mistake, although from the governments side perhaps not really a mistake but a something done purposefully, was to break up this tightly knit community or at least spread them out on the mainland, which broke down whatever was left of the social structure. These people who were so dependent on each other on the island must have felt terribly lonely in their new homes. I'd say that on the mainland they experienced very different kinds of isolation than the previously geographical one.
Evacuating people from remote islands has happened more often. The first thing coming to my mind are the Blasket Islands (na Blascaodaí) in Ireland, but I also think of possible future evacuations of islanders, like the people of Kiribati or Vanuatu, due to climate change and hope these will be done in a more thoughtful way.
Coincidentally, while I was reading this book, there was a Powell & Pressburger retrospective in a cinema close to my home. Among the movies shown were "The Edge of the World" (1937) referenced in the book and "I know where I am going!" (1945). The first gives a view of life and the evacuation of Hirta (unfortunately not shot on Hirta itself but the Orkney island of Foula) and though it had quite a romanticized story, it was still highly enjoyable. The second movie I mention because I believe some Gàidhlig was being spoken in it, which was an enjoyable surprise. Having the opportunity to see these movies gave some extra spice to this book.
Though I gather that the mainland had many problems to deal with, such as large unemployment numbers, it was still painful to read how unwilling the government institutions were to invest even the tiniest amount into proper communication services, a decent landing or any form of education. It was sad to read how the influence of the Presbyterian kirk in effect killed off any joyful expressions like music or dancing and turned the community into this dour lifestyle where a smile on Sundays was considered too frivolous. It was also especially heartbreaking to read about the deaths of so many babies and children due to Tetanus Infantum and its impact on the island community. All this and due to more young folk leaving Hirta there was no re-generation to pass on and continue the island's lifestyle and evacuation became urgent and a necessity.
I was not surprised to learn if and how the islanders adapted to their life after evacuation. I think another big mistake, although from the governments side perhaps not really a mistake but a something done purposefully, was to break up this tightly knit community or at least spread them out on the mainland, which broke down whatever was left of the social structure. These people who were so dependent on each other on the island must have felt terribly lonely in their new homes. I'd say that on the mainland they experienced very different kinds of isolation than the previously geographical one.
Evacuating people from remote islands has happened more often. The first thing coming to my mind are the Blasket Islands (na Blascaodaí) in Ireland, but I also think of possible future evacuations of islanders, like the people of Kiribati or Vanuatu, due to climate change and hope these will be done in a more thoughtful way.
Coincidentally, while I was reading this book, there was a Powell & Pressburger retrospective in a cinema close to my home. Among the movies shown were "The Edge of the World" (1937) referenced in the book and "I know where I am going!" (1945). The first gives a view of life and the evacuation of Hirta (unfortunately not shot on Hirta itself but the Orkney island of Foula) and though it had quite a romanticized story, it was still highly enjoyable. The second movie I mention because I believe some Gàidhlig was being spoken in it, which was an enjoyable surprise. Having the opportunity to see these movies gave some extra spice to this book.
December 16, 2020
An interesting account of the known history of the archipelago of St Kilda, and the lives of those who lived there. The islanders were evacuated at their own request in August 1930, leaving the most isolated part of these islands (GB & Ireland)without human habitation until a military base was established there in the 1950s.
Archeology suggests humans had lived there since the Stone Age, but written history covered only 1000 years, relying on periodic visits by outsiders.
The way of life of the islanders underwent little change throughout the centuries and the upheavals on the mainland touched them hardly at all until the 20th century.
Money, crime, war were unknown. They paid their rent to the landlord, MacLeod of MacLeod in feathers and fulmar oil, as their main subsistence was the harvesting of seabirds and their eggs, requiring courage and strength on those precipitous cliffs.
Sadly, when the population dropped below 40, insufficient to maintain their way of life, through emigration, mainly, as the young were told of the fabulous life elsewhere, and they were evacuated many died, because they had no immunity to infection. Before that, the arrival of any ship could bring an infection which could lay the whole population low. It wasn’t easy to adapt to having a boss, or an economy based on money.
The wildlife of St Kilda has several unique species including larger than usual fieldmice who posed a challenge to the military personnel at first- they could eat through almost anything. The wild Soay sheep and the seabirds live on.
Archeology suggests humans had lived there since the Stone Age, but written history covered only 1000 years, relying on periodic visits by outsiders.
The way of life of the islanders underwent little change throughout the centuries and the upheavals on the mainland touched them hardly at all until the 20th century.
Money, crime, war were unknown. They paid their rent to the landlord, MacLeod of MacLeod in feathers and fulmar oil, as their main subsistence was the harvesting of seabirds and their eggs, requiring courage and strength on those precipitous cliffs.
Sadly, when the population dropped below 40, insufficient to maintain their way of life, through emigration, mainly, as the young were told of the fabulous life elsewhere, and they were evacuated many died, because they had no immunity to infection. Before that, the arrival of any ship could bring an infection which could lay the whole population low. It wasn’t easy to adapt to having a boss, or an economy based on money.
The wildlife of St Kilda has several unique species including larger than usual fieldmice who posed a challenge to the military personnel at first- they could eat through almost anything. The wild Soay sheep and the seabirds live on.
May 5, 2024
This is one of those stories which makes you want to hop on the next boat and visit the place. St Kilda was inhabited for a couple of thousand years - it's not known how long. Even the name is a mystery - there's no such person as St Kilda, and it may come from a thick local accent pronunciation of Hirta, the main island, which in turn may be from the Irish iarrthar, or west. The geographic features you can see from sea have Norse names, and those you have to land on to see have Gaelic names - so evidently the Vikings knew of the place but never landed.
For most of its habited period, barely 200 people lived on a rock less than two miles square climbing cliffs to catch fulmars for food, and extract their stomach oil to pay the rent to MacLeod of MacLeod, who owned the island for several hundred years. Recorded history doesn't start until Martin Martin's late 17th century visit; the islanders lived in squalour - they shared their home with their cattle, and valued the dung dropped on their floor as fuel - but seemed quite happy with their lot. It's a nice commentary on most of human history that this was seen as a pretty reasonable way to live - they had freedom, safety, and provisions; what more could life give? Everyone on the mainland was living in squalour as well.
Alas, a series of misfortunes hit them over the next couple of centuries. The Church was the first of those - the Society in Scotland for the Propagating of Christian Knowledge realised the place had no pastor and arranged to change things. Unfortunately, only the really devout were interested in going to such an out-of-the-way place, so the dourest of Scots pastors (which is saying something) headed out. Mass was soon six days a week - twice on Sunday - for three hours a time. The superstitious villagers adopted the new ways, but it gave them significantly less time for important stuff like catching food.
Then tourism took off. Victorian visitors took the steam boat out to observe these people living on the edge of the empire; they brought diseases that could have the entire island bedridden for a week after, and they brought money, which created status on the island. Before, everyone had been equal - there's a similarity with Tim Ecott's book on the Faroes in how food catches were distributed perfectly evenly among the whole community - but now some had a couple of extra shillings from being photographed more. And they brought stories of the outside world's development - of cities and shops where you could buy anything. 36 islanders - a third of the island's population - upped and left for Australia in 1852. 20 died en route. The Daily Mail got a lot of publicity arranging a radio transmitter for the island to communicate with the outside world, and after six months quietly told the Postal Office to take it over or it'd be shut down. During the war, a German submarine surfaced into the Middle Ages, told the islanders they were safe, and blew the transmitter up.
And there was disease. During the 19th century infant mortality ran as high as 80%. Steel suggests this was down to a practice of anointing newborn babies from a jar of fulmar oil, in which the tetanus bacillus could thrive. By 1930, the population was down to 36, and one family of nine were actively seeking to leave, which would make the entire community unsustainable. They petitioned the British Government to evacuate them, which did so, but it had to take care not to be too nice about it lest inhabitants of other remote islands also want evacuation. The evacuation date wasn't publicised lest the BBC arrive to film people leaving the only home they and their ancestors had ever known. Different - more respectful - times in a way.
The islanders were resettled in Scotland - their sheep were sold to cover the costs, and some islanders sent complaining letters to the Government that their house wasn't good enough or that it was too far away from the job they'd been given. A couple tried to resettle the island, but though the author tries at times to give the idea it was a pity they had to leave, it wasn't. The world had moved on and while the community spirit the islanders had was laudable, no-one now would want to live their way of life. Through all of this, the author has quotes from some of the last islanders - the book was originally written in 1975 - and government documents, which brings the whole story close to home.
But the evacuation isn't the end of the story. The army took over in the 50s, creating a permanent base as part of its Cold War defences. This part is surprisingly interesting, because when the army struggle with winds so strong they lift a Range Rover up while driving, blow "a bulky cook, chin first, through through a thin breeze-block wall", and carry three Army officers 20 yards when inspecting damage done when dislodging a half-ton concrete roof slab, you get an appreciation for what the islanders put up with in their stone hovels for those couple of thousand years. The island anemometer runs out of ink, in charting wind speed gusts of 130mph 27 times in the space of three hours.
It's not all about wind though. The mouse had gone almost extinct since the evacuation, but man's return saw the mouse rebound. A pub is set up, the Puff Inn, which operated for Army staff and tourists for 40 years, until a change of policy saw tourists banned in 2005. After having frozen turkeys air-dropped in for Christmas, only for the wind to catch them and cause them to crash land and disintegrate, a new plan was devised - land a teddy bear first to see which way the wind was going. The teddy bear also crashed, and was laid out in the pub for 30 years. Tourist numbers increase, and a St Kilda Club is set up to restore the original village, with all the evacuees given honorary membership. Spanish fishermen landed for medical treatment - usually offering meat or drink in exchange for pulling a tooth which had gone bad while on the trawler, but in due course relatives suffering from cancer were brought up from Spain for treatment, which of course was beyond the scope of the on-site doctor. In more modern times, debris being washed up from the sea poses a problem to native wildlife, a familiar story from around the world.
For such a small island, the author manages to build a fascinatingly varied story. I now can't wait to visit, and can't really pay any higher compliment than that.
For most of its habited period, barely 200 people lived on a rock less than two miles square climbing cliffs to catch fulmars for food, and extract their stomach oil to pay the rent to MacLeod of MacLeod, who owned the island for several hundred years. Recorded history doesn't start until Martin Martin's late 17th century visit; the islanders lived in squalour - they shared their home with their cattle, and valued the dung dropped on their floor as fuel - but seemed quite happy with their lot. It's a nice commentary on most of human history that this was seen as a pretty reasonable way to live - they had freedom, safety, and provisions; what more could life give? Everyone on the mainland was living in squalour as well.
Alas, a series of misfortunes hit them over the next couple of centuries. The Church was the first of those - the Society in Scotland for the Propagating of Christian Knowledge realised the place had no pastor and arranged to change things. Unfortunately, only the really devout were interested in going to such an out-of-the-way place, so the dourest of Scots pastors (which is saying something) headed out. Mass was soon six days a week - twice on Sunday - for three hours a time. The superstitious villagers adopted the new ways, but it gave them significantly less time for important stuff like catching food.
Then tourism took off. Victorian visitors took the steam boat out to observe these people living on the edge of the empire; they brought diseases that could have the entire island bedridden for a week after, and they brought money, which created status on the island. Before, everyone had been equal - there's a similarity with Tim Ecott's book on the Faroes in how food catches were distributed perfectly evenly among the whole community - but now some had a couple of extra shillings from being photographed more. And they brought stories of the outside world's development - of cities and shops where you could buy anything. 36 islanders - a third of the island's population - upped and left for Australia in 1852. 20 died en route. The Daily Mail got a lot of publicity arranging a radio transmitter for the island to communicate with the outside world, and after six months quietly told the Postal Office to take it over or it'd be shut down. During the war, a German submarine surfaced into the Middle Ages, told the islanders they were safe, and blew the transmitter up.
And there was disease. During the 19th century infant mortality ran as high as 80%. Steel suggests this was down to a practice of anointing newborn babies from a jar of fulmar oil, in which the tetanus bacillus could thrive. By 1930, the population was down to 36, and one family of nine were actively seeking to leave, which would make the entire community unsustainable. They petitioned the British Government to evacuate them, which did so, but it had to take care not to be too nice about it lest inhabitants of other remote islands also want evacuation. The evacuation date wasn't publicised lest the BBC arrive to film people leaving the only home they and their ancestors had ever known. Different - more respectful - times in a way.
The islanders were resettled in Scotland - their sheep were sold to cover the costs, and some islanders sent complaining letters to the Government that their house wasn't good enough or that it was too far away from the job they'd been given. A couple tried to resettle the island, but though the author tries at times to give the idea it was a pity they had to leave, it wasn't. The world had moved on and while the community spirit the islanders had was laudable, no-one now would want to live their way of life. Through all of this, the author has quotes from some of the last islanders - the book was originally written in 1975 - and government documents, which brings the whole story close to home.
But the evacuation isn't the end of the story. The army took over in the 50s, creating a permanent base as part of its Cold War defences. This part is surprisingly interesting, because when the army struggle with winds so strong they lift a Range Rover up while driving, blow "a bulky cook, chin first, through through a thin breeze-block wall", and carry three Army officers 20 yards when inspecting damage done when dislodging a half-ton concrete roof slab, you get an appreciation for what the islanders put up with in their stone hovels for those couple of thousand years. The island anemometer runs out of ink, in charting wind speed gusts of 130mph 27 times in the space of three hours.
It's not all about wind though. The mouse had gone almost extinct since the evacuation, but man's return saw the mouse rebound. A pub is set up, the Puff Inn, which operated for Army staff and tourists for 40 years, until a change of policy saw tourists banned in 2005. After having frozen turkeys air-dropped in for Christmas, only for the wind to catch them and cause them to crash land and disintegrate, a new plan was devised - land a teddy bear first to see which way the wind was going. The teddy bear also crashed, and was laid out in the pub for 30 years. Tourist numbers increase, and a St Kilda Club is set up to restore the original village, with all the evacuees given honorary membership. Spanish fishermen landed for medical treatment - usually offering meat or drink in exchange for pulling a tooth which had gone bad while on the trawler, but in due course relatives suffering from cancer were brought up from Spain for treatment, which of course was beyond the scope of the on-site doctor. In more modern times, debris being washed up from the sea poses a problem to native wildlife, a familiar story from around the world.
For such a small island, the author manages to build a fascinatingly varied story. I now can't wait to visit, and can't really pay any higher compliment than that.
December 24, 2023
This study of the mostly latter years of the habitation of St Kilda & the evacuation & aftermath is indeed a 'moving' story, as promised by the book's cover. In my non-reading hours over the few days I read the book my back-mind was occupied by fulmars, ganets & puffins, by precipitous cliffs, dangerous winds & the dangers of the sea, & I half-worried lest I became stuck without provisions on a small piece of land I've never been to.
So, the details Tom Steel presents of life on the island are vivid & compelling, & my admiration for the St Kildans in the face of the dangers & hardships they endured is huge. I shared with Steel a crossness about the influence of the Wee Frees which interfered with the islanders' ability to manage the economic realities. I sympathised with their plight in the face of tetanus & the huge infant mortality. I was sad when the old people struggled to settle on the mainland.
Where the book failed slightly was in the restating of facts (an editor should really have sorted that), & in the overlong chapters about the army occupation, trust arrangements & the recent involvement of conservation organisations. I hope the book can (once more) be brought up to date with some of the new findings; in particular I would be hugely interested to hear the details of the daily lives of the pre-modern era St Kildans.
So, the details Tom Steel presents of life on the island are vivid & compelling, & my admiration for the St Kildans in the face of the dangers & hardships they endured is huge. I shared with Steel a crossness about the influence of the Wee Frees which interfered with the islanders' ability to manage the economic realities. I sympathised with their plight in the face of tetanus & the huge infant mortality. I was sad when the old people struggled to settle on the mainland.
Where the book failed slightly was in the restating of facts (an editor should really have sorted that), & in the overlong chapters about the army occupation, trust arrangements & the recent involvement of conservation organisations. I hope the book can (once more) be brought up to date with some of the new findings; in particular I would be hugely interested to hear the details of the daily lives of the pre-modern era St Kildans.
September 13, 2018
The archipelago of St Kilda, the remotest part of the British Isles, was continuously inhabited for 2000 years or possibly longer it is believed. On 29 August 1930 the 36 remaining inhabitants were evacuated, at their request by the begrudging British Government. This book is a history of the inhabitants, their way of life and their contact with the outside world over the years up to and including the evacuation. It gives detailed and persuasive arguments about why the evacuation was necessary and inevitable. It also describes how the islands have been used since then to the (almost) present day. It is a most compelling, profound and sometimes disturbing account of how people and communities survive in the harshest of environments and how mean spirited and shabbily governments can treat these communities. The writing is beautiful and the book is nicely illustrated. Even to the end before the last remaining St Kildan died in 2016 the government did not treat them very well, for example none of the then living St Kildans was invited to the ceremony marking the award of a Unesco World Heritage site (twice). This is a compulsive read and highly recommended.
June 30, 2022
This books is far more important and moving than perhaps the average reader would suspect. It presents in as much detail as historical record and research currently allows the story of a civilisation surviving on the edge of Britain and often the edge of life, and how modernity slowly pushed it towards its demise. The forces of Christianity, capitalism and modern politics dismantled the St Kildan way of life, removing a community from their ancestral home and separating them forever from, in their own words, a far better place. The author is unsparing in detail and this sometimes leads to repetition and a meticulousness which can at times be a hindrance to readability. But the insights and reflections presented by the story of St Kilda’a demise are well worth the read.
August 30, 2017
Today is my birthday - and the 87th anniversary of the evacuation of the last remaining indigenous people from this remote island, 60 miles west of the Outer Hebrides.
I hadn't heard of this place and it's story until I recently visited the Outer Hebrides, but it is astonishing - on so many levels. That people lived on this inhospitable island for so long (over 2,000 years), that they maintained their lifestyle and culture more or less intact for so long and the sad toll that modern society had on them.
A fascinating story.
I hadn't heard of this place and it's story until I recently visited the Outer Hebrides, but it is astonishing - on so many levels. That people lived on this inhospitable island for so long (over 2,000 years), that they maintained their lifestyle and culture more or less intact for so long and the sad toll that modern society had on them.
A fascinating story.
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