Kenneth "Red" MacLeod

This article is in English. The Gaelic version can be read here.

Published Collections

 * Orain Red (1998)

Biography
Kenneth “Red” MacLeod was born in Sheshader on the 13th of October 1899, the second child and eldest son of Kenneth and Cairistìona MacLeod (née MacIver). When Kenneth was nine years old, the family moved to Lower Bayble to be nearer Cairistìona’s family.

While in Sheshader Kenneth attended Aird School, but moved to Bayble School once the family moved to that village. After leaving school he went to work on a fishing boat, operating out of Stornoway, which was a busy fishing port at the time. Shortly afterwards the First World War broke out, and he joined the Royal Navy Reserve. At the end of the war he was stationed at Scapa Flow where the Kriegsmarine was scuttled.

In 1923, facing hardship in Lewis, he took ship to Canada on the Metagama. His fare was paid by a farmer in Canada, on t0he understanding that he would take up farm work to pay off his debt. However, he and his friend from Bayble, Seonaidh, had only worked as farmhands for three days when they decided that it was not for them. They set out for Toronto, which agreed with them far more. There were many young people from Lewis in Toronto, and a lively cèilidh culture thrived. However, work grew scarce, and many went south, to Detroit, crossing the border illegally. Red got a job as a polisher at Ford Motors, and it was in Detroit that he met Mòr Nicolson from Gravir. They married in February 1928, and their first child was born in December of that year. They named him Kenny – yet another Coinneach Ruadh.

The Depression was hitting the United States, however, and the family decided to return to Lewis. They had no croft of their own, but received a permit to build a house on the common grazing in Bayble, along with a couple acres of land. By the time the house was finished the family had grown yet again, with a second son, Murdo. To support the family, a shop was set up on their land, which became known as ‘Bùth Red’. Red himself bought a second-hand car to make the job of supplying the shop easier, and before he bought it, it had been the first car on the island. The roads in Point were hardly suited to anything other than carts, however, and it seems Red accounted for a few dead chickens with his driving. Eventually the car got stuck in a deep ditch, and refused to come out, so from then on the job of supplying the shop fell to a neighbour’s lorry, as well as bakers’ vans. When the Second World War broke out, rationing meant that Red was the only man in Bayble who was licensed to sell sweets. In time two daughters were born to the family, Kitty and Katie Ann.

Red spent some time as a fisherman on the boat Olive Branch, and the family shop closed shortly after the war. He died of a heart attack at the age of 77 in 1977, two months after a BBC radio programme about him and his poetry. He had never stopped writing poetry throughout his life, usually about his experiences, from his abortive farm work in Canada through to comic songs about local events and milestones.