Raasay
The poet Sorley MacLean was born in Osgaig, a small crofting community on the west coast of the island; perhaps his most famous poem is about "Hallaig", an abandoned community on the east coast. MacLean's writings often combine an ancient traditional awareness, with a modernist political outlook, in which Raasay, and the areas adjacent to it are frequently referenced. But while MacLean's work dwells on the brutality of war, of the Highland Clearances and modern exploitation, he also writes about nature. Thus, although the Clearances leave an empty landscape populated only by the ghosts of those evicted or forced to emigrate, "Time, the deer, is in the Wood of Hallaig".
George Maclean (commissary general)
Major-Gen. Henry John Maclean, eldest son by his second wife, was born at Nassau in 1827, and entered the army in 1845. He took part in the Ashanti Wars (Ghana) and in the Crimean War as a Lieutenant Colonel. He was appointed, in 1878, to the headquarter staff in Ireland. He was placed on the retired list, with the rank of major-general, in 1884. He was married twice, and had five sons and three daughters. He named his residence in Beckenham, 'Ardgour', indicating a possible link to that family. He died in 1915.