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The sinking of HMY Iolaire, 1st January 1919
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NOTICE - 17 September 2007
Please be advised that this page is being moved to a new URL, www.adb422006.com/iolaire.html.
Updates to the list of names and this page will be carried from that site.
This page will remain here, but will not be amended further.
Please update your bookmarks.
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This page is dedicated to the Iolaire disaster, which took place on 1st January 1919. As the memorial plaque, pictured at the bottom of this page recounts, 205 men drowned within sight of the lights of Stornoway. They were servicemen, returning from the horrors of the Western Front after 4 hard years. What caused the vessel to run aground in waters familiar to all on board has never been cleared up, as the Captain perished. This is an survivor's account, as published in 1956. The loss cannot be imagined. Not a family, not a village was left untouched. Lewis never really recovered from this blow, and a wave of emigration in the 1920s depleted the island further.
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A list of names and addresses is available by clicking on the header of this section. The list was compiled by the Stornoway Historical Society, with pictures from the Loyal Lewis Roll of Honour 1914-18.
The links within the list lead to a picture of the individual concerned. There are also images of headstones to those who are interred in the island.
A video with portraits of some of the victims can be viewed on YouTube.
Click here for some of the reactions to this website and some of the stories associated with the Iolaire
Please use the feedback form at the bottom of the page for leaving comments, suggest corrections etc.
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If you ever visit the Isle of Lewis, go down the Holm Road, located opposite Sandwickhill Primary School, along the road to the airport. It's a 1 mile walk, or a short drive. The monument by the shore can only be reached on foot.
Please spare a thought and a moment for those lost here.
Thank you.
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The monument stands on the shore, above the point where Iolaire went down
Text on memorial
Erected by the people of Lewis and friends in grateful memory of the men of the Royal Navy who lost their lives in the "Iolaire" disaster at the Beasts of Holm on the 1st January 1919. Of the 205 persons lost, 175 were natives of the island and for them and their comrades Lewis still mourns. With gratitude for their service and in sorrow for their loss.
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This picture, taken in January 1919, shows how close to the shore the Iolaire went down. Her masts still protrude from the water; on New Year's morning, one man was found still hanging on to the rigging for dear life. Seven others had been with him, but had not been able to hang on.
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The Glasgow Herald, 4th January, 1919 - " An old man sobbing into his handkerchief with a stalwart son in khaki sitting on the cart beside him, the remains of another son in the coffin behind --- that was one of the sights seen today as one of the funeral parties emerged from the barrack gate. Another, an elderly woman, well dressed, comes staggering down the roadway and bursts into a paralysis of grief as she tells the sympathisers at the gate that her boy is in the mortuary. Strong men weeping and women wailing or wandering around with blanched, tear stained faces are to be seen in almost every street and there are groups of them at the improvised mortuary
(With thanks to Donald J. MacLeod, Aberdeen)
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Left: The pillar on the Beasts of Holm
Right: The Monument, as seen from the Beasts of Holm
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Pictured below is the memorial plaque at the top of the footpath leading to the monument.
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