Research has uncovered that a member of Kingussie’s 1914 Camanachd Cup winning team lived and worked in Stornoway at the time. Alick B Tolmie from Laggan, had moved to Stornoway in January 1914 to work in the British Linen Bank in town in 1914 and became “well known” in the town.
Alick must have been very good at shinty. The Northern Scot reported “He was a noted shinty player, and was taken through from Stornoway specially to play for the victorious Kingussie team in the cup final in 1914.” (NS 28/7/1917) This game was played in Possil Park, Glasgow, so in those days of such a journey taking a good few days, this was great commitment and a sign of both his and his club’s enthusiasm for the game. The score was 6-1 to Kingussie over Kyles Athletic.
Alick was also a keen golfer and was pictured on an outing in the Summer of 1914 at Loch Gynack. (Boys of the Dell, Of course the outbreak of the Great War stopped shinty, and like so many others he enlisted. He was first in the Lovat Scouts and then the Cameron Highlanders. He was reported missing in action, then killed on the 11th of April 1917 at the Battle of Scarpe. All in all, a further five of his team-mates from the cup final also lost their lives in the Great War, a sign of the cost that the conflict had on all communities in the Highlands.
Alick’s name is on the war memorial in Laggan, and he and the other five players from the 1914 Kingussie team who did not return home are remembered in very much the same way as the fallen of the islands where he made his home for a few short and glorious months: with reverence, dignity and sorrow. The eBook the Boys of the Dell is a great source of information as is Kingussie and the Caman.
Boys of The Dell 1890-1984 Vol 1 | PDF | Sports | Team Sports Photos from Kingussie Camanachd Club – Boys of the Dell by John Robertson