75345: Archibald Munro

Archibald (1795-1834) was a son of Lachlan Munro and Christina MacDonald of old Ruisgarry. Archie (as Archibald was known) too became a tenant in Ruisgarry, with his wife Mary MacLeod and children. In 1830 he was paying £5 5s annual rental.

Archie was renowned for his strength. Oral tradition tells of how Archie was chosen, along with Donald Morrison, to guard the shipwreck of the Sir William Wallace. On a bitter night, with no footwear other than mogain, a type of heavy knitted woollen stocking, the two men died of exposure. His widow continued living in Ruisgarry as a cottar with their young children.

However, there is a contradiction between oral tradition and local records regarding Archie’s date of death. Oral tradition, as recorded in The Place Names of Berneray and Sgeulachdan Bhearnaraidh, gives the date of the wreck as winter 1842. However, newspaper accounts of the wreck clearly record the date as 24th October 1834. Archie’s youngest son Alexander was born about 1835, presumably posthumously. Archie doesn’t appear in the 1841 census, in which son Lachlan is shown as head of household.