Rev. Allan MacDonald | Ailean Dòmhnallach (25 October 1859, Fort William – 8 October 1905, Eriskay), also known as ‘Maighstir Ailein,’ was Catholic priest, Gaelic poet, folklorist, and collector. His publications include the play An Sìthean Ruadh (1907).
Archibald Campbell wrote an obituary for him which appeared in Guth na Bliadhna II: 4 (Autumn 1905), and Ruaraidh Erskine campaigned for a memorial to be raised to MacDonald (Summer 1907).
The poem ‘Eilein na h-Òige’ has been attributed to Allan MacDonald with certainty. According to the bibliography in Ronald Black’s edition of MacDonald’s works Eilein na h-Òige: The Poems of Fr. Allan McDonald (Glasgow: Mungo, 2002; p. 505), he is also the likely author of two other pieces on folklore that appeared in Guth na Bliadhna in 1904–1905.
Publications in Erskine’s Periodicals
- [without attribution]: ‘Eilein na h-Òige’ [poem, GD], Volume I, Issue 2 (Spring 1904)
- ‘Iain Mac an Tàilleir’: ‘Boban Saor’ [prose tale, GD], Volume I, Issue 4 (Autumn 1904)
- ‘Alasdair Ruadh’: ‘Fionn Mac Cumhail; Breith Fhinn; Mar a Thogadh Fionn, ’s mar a Bhaisteadh E’ [prose tales, GD], Volume II, Issue 1 (Winter 1905)
- ‘Duan an Dòmhnaich’ [poetry, GD], Volume IV (1930); from the manuscripts of Allan MacDonald, presented by Donald Sinclair
Resources
- Ronald Black (ed), Eilein na h-Òige: The Poems of Fr. Allan McDonald (Glasgow: Mungo, 2002)
- Kathleen Reddy, ‘Ùrnaighean nan Gàidheal: text and context of Gaelic prayer in South Uist, 1880-1960,’ MRes thesis, University of Glasgow (2018)