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".
Donald Maclean (British politician)
Born in Farnworth, Bolton, Lancashire, Maclean was the eldest son of John Maclean, a cordwainer originally of Kilmoluaig, Tiree in the Inner Hebrides, and his wife Agnes Macmellin. His younger brother was Sir Ewen Maclean.
Maclean practised as a solicitor with practices in Cardiff and Lincoln's Inn Fields, London. A member of the Presbyterian Church of England, he was vice-president of the Cardiff Free Church Council in 1902-3, and also worked closely with the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. He was a last-minute choice as one of the Liberal Party candidates in Bath at the 1900 general election, but was defeated at the polls. At the 1906 general election, he stood again and was elected as a Liberal Member of Parliament for the constituency. Whilst an MP he voted in favour of the 1908 Women's Enfranchisement Bill.