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St Kilda: A People's History
St Kilda is the most romantic and most romanticised group of islands in Europe. Soaring out of the North Atlantic Ocean like Atlantis come back to life, the islands have captured the imagination of the outside world for hundreds of years. Their inhabitants, Scottish Gaels who lived off the land, the sea and by birdcatching on high and precipitous cliffs, were long considered to be the Noble Savages of the British Isles, living in a state of natural grace.
St A People's History explores and portrays the life of the St Kildans from the Stone Age to 1930, when the remaining 36 islanderswere evacuated to the Scottish mainland. Bestselling author Roger Hutchinson digs deep into the archives to paint a vivid picture of the life and death, work and play of a small, proud and self-sufficient people in the first modern book to chart the history of the most remote islands in Britain.
St A People's History explores and portrays the life of the St Kildans from the Stone Age to 1930, when the remaining 36 islanderswere evacuated to the Scottish mainland. Bestselling author Roger Hutchinson digs deep into the archives to paint a vivid picture of the life and death, work and play of a small, proud and self-sufficient people in the first modern book to chart the history of the most remote islands in Britain.
478 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 18, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 10, 2023
An interesting, well researched and unsentimental history of st Kilda. Not only looks at the history of the islanders but how they came to be viewed by the outside world and why we have an ongoing interest in them.
April 14, 2020
I enjoyed Roger Hutchinson's 'Calum's Road', about the wonderful little island of Raasay, very much. So he was also the right one for my first book about St Kilda - a remote group of islands I can proudly say I have viewed from North Uist in the very, very far distance (screwing up my eyes at the bathroom window). Enchanting island, riveting (and somehow extremely relaxing) read.
March 19, 2019
Well this turned out better than expected. Obviously it helps if you have some interest in the area and I was on holiday in North Uist when I picked this up at Taigh Chearsabhagh museum. I could have seen St Kilda’s from Uist had there ever been a clear day during my holiday. The weather in the first week of March was dire though, and I bought the book for something to do on yet another stormy day when I was stuck on the island. I was half expecting the usual dry, academic outline. The blurb on the front cover, “The definitive history” from Scotland on Sunday doesn’t help. However this excellent book goes well beyond “definitive history”, building from known details of actual inhabitants and their endless cycle of Free Church ministers.
Hutchinson starts off by challenging the myths around St Kilda. The islanders were never that isolated, alternative society, untainted by contact with the current century. The island was originally populated when travel by sea was easier than by land, and was always in contact with fishing boats and other vessels, at least in the summer months. The islanders’ way of life was unique, but evolved in parallel to, rather than isolation from the rest of Scotland.
In fact, given their distance from the mainland, for much of their history the Hebrides evolved separately to Scotland, even being constitutionally ruled by Norway for 500 years.
Although the book focuses on the recurrent themes of depletion of the population, and the threats to the island’s viability, there are great incidental facts. My favourite being that the main post office for the island was in Fleetwood, Lancashire since trawlers were in more frequent contact with the islands than mainland Scotland.
I also respect a history book that mentions as an aside, that visitors to the island were inevitably covered with bird shit, given the numbers of seabirds around the island (the islanders lived off them) and that their boat would have to wait offshore since there was no pier.
If I had any quibble with the book, I would have loved to have heard more about the daily life of the islanders. We are given glimpses of a wedding party, notes on their diet and dress, but I’d have liked even more details if they were available. What did they do during the winter months in such an inhospitable climate? Given the rule of the notoriously strict free church of Scotland, how big a scandal were the illegitimate births we hear about?
Hutchinson starts off by challenging the myths around St Kilda. The islanders were never that isolated, alternative society, untainted by contact with the current century. The island was originally populated when travel by sea was easier than by land, and was always in contact with fishing boats and other vessels, at least in the summer months. The islanders’ way of life was unique, but evolved in parallel to, rather than isolation from the rest of Scotland.
In fact, given their distance from the mainland, for much of their history the Hebrides evolved separately to Scotland, even being constitutionally ruled by Norway for 500 years.
Although the book focuses on the recurrent themes of depletion of the population, and the threats to the island’s viability, there are great incidental facts. My favourite being that the main post office for the island was in Fleetwood, Lancashire since trawlers were in more frequent contact with the islands than mainland Scotland.
I also respect a history book that mentions as an aside, that visitors to the island were inevitably covered with bird shit, given the numbers of seabirds around the island (the islanders lived off them) and that their boat would have to wait offshore since there was no pier.
If I had any quibble with the book, I would have loved to have heard more about the daily life of the islanders. We are given glimpses of a wedding party, notes on their diet and dress, but I’d have liked even more details if they were available. What did they do during the winter months in such an inhospitable climate? Given the rule of the notoriously strict free church of Scotland, how big a scandal were the illegitimate births we hear about?
August 25, 2020
A good history book works on three levels, and this book ticks them all
There are biographic details, of the inhabitants of St Kilda as well of the visitors and tourists, and especially of "intermediaries", preachers and teachers that worked and lived on the island and were literate enough to provide trustable and first-hand descriptions.
There are references to major trends, such as the impact on the island of major migrations, wars (especially WWI) and (Scottish) Enlightenment attitudes to social reformations.
And there is a serious discussion about historiography, how the life on the island came to be romanticised and the wide gap between the imagined Kilda (a kind of socialist idyllic paradise) and the real Kilda, where more than one-third of newborns died of tetanus and was actually a place from where inhabitants were looking, from decades, to go away.
Highly recommended if you are looking for reality.
There are biographic details, of the inhabitants of St Kilda as well of the visitors and tourists, and especially of "intermediaries", preachers and teachers that worked and lived on the island and were literate enough to provide trustable and first-hand descriptions.
There are references to major trends, such as the impact on the island of major migrations, wars (especially WWI) and (Scottish) Enlightenment attitudes to social reformations.
And there is a serious discussion about historiography, how the life on the island came to be romanticised and the wide gap between the imagined Kilda (a kind of socialist idyllic paradise) and the real Kilda, where more than one-third of newborns died of tetanus and was actually a place from where inhabitants were looking, from decades, to go away.
Highly recommended if you are looking for reality.
August 29, 2017
I knew very little about St Kilda when I started this book, but upon finishing it I almost feel as if I've been there and know the places and people who inhabited them over the centuries. I really enjoy Roger Hutchinson's writing style and exhaustive research. He resurrects and keeps alive the history of the Highlands for me.
September 6, 2025
Clear and thoughtful. Hutchinson is a bit weak on the earlier stuff, but when he hits the eighteenth century he gets into his stride, and the book is fascinating. I particularly appreciated Hutchinson's insistence on situating St Kilda within its cultural context: it's far away, but it's still part of the Hebrides, and he makes this point repeatedly and convincingly.
June 21, 2019
On the edge of the world
A wonderful happy sad but engrossing story of a place I have always wanted to visit, and, weather permitting, I will
next month with my eldest son, can't wait.
A wonderful happy sad but engrossing story of a place I have always wanted to visit, and, weather permitting, I will
next month with my eldest son, can't wait.
October 26, 2023
A book I won't forget for a long time. Super read that often made me feel as if i was you on St Kilda amongt the locals. Incredible historical research undertaken to bring together such a vivid account of life on the archipelago. Highly recommend.
July 29, 2016
A detailed and interesting book about a fascinating island and its people. At times almost too much detail but enjoyed this book by reading it in small doses. Hope I get there one day.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews