OBITUARIES
The Rev John Richardson Hamilton Cormack, 1916 - 5 October 2000.
It has been rightly said that it is the people who make a place. For over 50 years John Cormack unsparingly applied his many talents to the making of Campbeltown into a pleasant, peaceful, prosperous and friendly place.
Born in Tain 84 years ago into a highly respected family, his father was one of the best-known lawyers in the north of Scotland, and of his twin brothers one followed in his father’s footsteps, while the other, like John, was a minister of the Church of Scotland.
Educated at Tain Academy and the University of Edinburgh, John was recognised as a student of no mean intelligence and undoubted intellectual ability. Only last year, when Dr Lois Bezuidenhout, a former Professor of Hebrew in the University of Pretoria, visited John he was amazed to find some one into his eighties so proficient in Hebrew that he could still merit a place at the top of the class!
John was a scholar, and this was reflected in his preaching, which never failed to make an impact, and was intelligible to the youngest as well as the oldest - the mark of a scholar. A local teacher once remarked that one of the things she looked forward to was Mr Cormack’s weekly talk to the children.
Here was a man who, in his pastoral work, was the essence of kindness, his obvious motto being, ‘If I can help somebody, as I pass along, my living will not be in vain.’
Among John Cormack’s many interests was the Kintyre Antiquarian and Natural History Society, in recognition of his commitment to which he was elected Honorary President.
He was predeceased by his wife, Nan, in 1982. They were lovely and pleasant in their lives. CHARLES HENDERSON
Catherine Jane Miller FSA, June 16, 1910 - 29 October, 2000.
Cath Miller was born on 27 September, 1910, in Glasgow and went to school in Hyndland. In the Thirties the family moved to Hillingdon, Middlesex, and at the beginning of the war Cath was working as a housekeeper in the Grosvenor Hotel in London. After an air raid, having got the guests down to the basement shelter, she and some of the other staff went on to the roof to watch.
She then joined the ATS and, as a result of this, she met and married William Miller, an officer in the Canadian 1st Division, the 48th Highlanders. He was killed in action in Sicily in 1943, leaving Cath with a two-year-old son. From 1947 to 1970, she was the domestic bursar at the Agricultural College in Sparsholt, Hampshire. After her retirement, she came to Kintyre, initially drawn by memories of her father, 50 years before, enthusing over Machrihanish golf course.
She immediately joined the local Music Club and the Kintyre Antiquarian and Natural History Society and became active in running them. She was a founder-member of the Kintyre Civic Society and the Friends of Campbeltown Museum and had a wide circle of friends in Campbeltown and beyond owing to her wide interests and her ability to make friends with people of all ages and interests.
Archaeologically, she began excavating at Ardnacross with Jack and Margaret Scott, then continued to help them at Templewood, near Kilmartin. She also helped at Balloch Hill, Finlaggan on Islay and Moneybacach, Skipness.
She was instrumental in replacing the old Nissen hut in Peninver with a new hall, which has itself been replaced this year. She was a great supporter of the annual Drama Festival and always returned in February from the winter spent in Watford with her son in time for the drama. Cath was also a staunch Liberal Democrat and everything she was in she supported enthusiastically.
She was a fervent rugby supporter and, in spite of having no television of her own, always managed to cheer on Scotland in the Five Nations, either on the radio or in a friend’s house. Golf was another great love and she went to the Open every year until her failing eyesight prevented this.
In spite of painful arthritis and latterly being registered blind, her independent spirit and lack of self-pity were among her finest qualities. She refused drugs for her arthritis and controlled it by a strict diet.
She loved cooking and entertaining her friends of all ages. ‘If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well,’ was Cath’s motto, and she was a loyal, kind and generous friend. She will be greatly missed by all who knew her. FRANCES HOOD
Efric Wotherspoon, 16 June, 1913 - 29 October, 2000.
Efric Wotherspoon’s death has removed from the local scene one of Campbeltown’s most knowledgeable antiquarians and one of the town’s most enthusiastic ambassadors. The loss is particularly felt by our Society. Efric was, in turn, secretary, president and an honorary vice-president.
The family business of K Martin, Booksellers, was established in 1901 by Efric’s grandfather, Captain Duncan Martin, a boat-owner and incidentally hero of a celebrated rescue in Campbeltown Loch. For the first half-century, the book business was run by his daughter Katherine Johnston, Efric succeeding her mother in 1951. Thus, for almost half-a-century the little cluttered bookshop at the bottom of Main Street has been an essential part of the cultural life of the town, as well as providing a port-of-call for overseas and other visitors seeking information on their local roots.
Efric’s life had not been intended to run on bookish lines. She trained initially as a nurse and after marriage to Iain Wotherspoon of Gigha settled down to married life in Glasgow. The Second World War intervened. Iain, in spite of being in a reserved occupation as an aeronautical inspector, volunteered for Bomber Command. He was reported missing on a bombing raid on the night of 9th/10th April, 1945, although it was not until 1947 that he was officially presumed dead.
As well as bringing up three children, Efric started work in Glasgow bookshops with a view to returning to Campbeltown to look after both her ageing mother and the bookshop. Her knowledge of the book trade led her to serve on the council of the Booksellers’ Association and she remained in charge at Martin’s until very recently, almost certainly Scotland’s oldest practising book-seller. Happily, the book-shop is continuing, though it will be hard for some time to imagine the shop without Efric perched on the other side of the counter.
On her numerous trips abroad Efric was always on the look-out for the Kintyre connection, especially in the United States and Canada, returning with tales with which to regale local rurals and guilds as well as fellow local historians.
On a personal level, I shall remember Efric for her well-stocked knowledge of books, her predilection for large-brimmed hats and her tribulations with the driving test. ‘I only want it to drive across the Esplanade,’ she would lament after yet another knock-back. She sat the test seven times and was delighted to be interviewed on the subject by Radio Scotland. But then she always could recognise a good story. MARGARET MACAULAY
No 50 Autumn 2001
Wee Drams E-mails, comments, queries and enlightenment from around the world
Page 2: A History of the Gilchrists...............continued
Page 3: Kintyre Research - an email from Greg MacThòmais
Page 4: The Feral Goats of the Mull of Kintyre
Page 5: The Campbeltown Book
Page 6: Obituaries
Page 7: By Hill and Shore - Angus Martin
Page 8: 'Arichonan - A Highland Clearance Recorded' - A new book by Heather McFarlane