ID:QZP99_97193_04_12DESCRIPTION:This well-known photograph was taken by George Washington Wilson, who visited the island in the late 1880s. The people of St Kilda, a Gaelic-speaking population, lived under their own form of democracy with an informal meeting held every weekday morning in the village street. It was known as the 'St Kilda Parliament' and consisted of all the adult males on the island. There were no set rules, no chairman and the 'members' arrived in their own time. Once assembled the 'parliament' considered the work to be done that day according to each family's abilities and divided up the resources according to their needs. Everything was done for the common good. Women had their own informal meeting.
In 1889, John Ross, the islands' schoolmaster wrote that the parliament 'very much resembles our Honourable British Parliament in being able to waste any amount of precious time over a very small matter while on the other hand they can pass a Bill before it is well introduced'.
The photograph was widely distributed and reproduced both as a hand-coloured slide and a lantern slide. Washington Wilson's lecture notes which accompanied this image read:
Beyond the reach of the laws that govern this realm they make their own laws. The solitary minister on the island may advise on certain matters, and certainly has a limited influence, but it is their Parliament that fixes matters beyond appeal, and no stranger may take part in their deliberations. This Parliament meets daily, discusses the weather and the state of the sea etc. in a few Gaelic phrases; and by a majority the order of the day is fixed, and no single individual takes it upon himself to arrange his own business until after they unitedly decide what is best. (MacLean & Carrell, 1986)
The term 'St Kilda Parliament' was first used by George Clayton Atkinson in 1838. Douglas Dunn's poem, St Kilda's Parliament (1981) also revisits the scene of the photograph.
This image comes from a collection gifted to Edinburgh Central Library by Dr Isabel F. Grant. The collection includes photographs taken by a number of different photographers.PLACENAME:St KildaDISTRICT:HarrisOLD COUNTY/PARISH:INVERNESS: HarrisCREATOR (AV):George Washington WilsonPERIOD:1880sSOURCE:Edinburgh and Scottish Collection, Edinburgh Central LibraryCOLLECTION:I F Grant Photographic ArchiveAsset ID:38917KEYWORDS:
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