The Mull Diaries

James Robertson was Sheriff Substitute of North Argyll between 1842 and 1846. Based at Tobermory, he kept a concise record of his stay in a series of diaries which have been carefully transcribed and edited by Joseph Buist Loudon. With their incisive insights into people and events, the diaries have much to offer the historian and enthusiast. By illuminating people, manners and preconceptions of the time, they shed light on social history. Local lairds stride through the pages and emigrant ships anchor in the bay.

The Sheriff Substitute was clearly a sociable man, not averse to 'crack and dram' with Highland folk, though often lamenting lack of congenial company. He also had a keen sense of humour as his dry account of a thoroughly wet tourist excursion to Iona makes clear. Whether relating serious issues, such as the problems of the would-be emigrants, or making almost inconsequential arrangements to retrieve a night shirt and cap from an Oban hotel, James Robertson allows us a possibly unique insight into his own working life and, through his eyes, into life on the island in the mid 19th century.

Available at all branch libraries or by post from Library Headquarters
Price £14 (+p&p)