Blair Collection > Celtic monthly > Volume 5, 1897

THE CELTIC MONTHLY:
A MAGAZINE FOH HIGHLANDERS.
Edited by JOHN MACKAY, Glasgow.
No. 3 Vol. V.]
DECEMBER, 1896.
[Price Threepence.
THE EDITOR.
)p[P||HE Editor and pro-
V^ prictor of the Cdtic
■=^ Montldij, Me. John
Mack AY, may be aptly
described as an Argyll and
Sutherland Highlander, for
although born in Glasgow in
186.5, his father, Donald
Mackay, was a native of
Strathy, in the Mackay country, and his mother
a native of Kintyre. It may be mentioned that
liis grandfather, who only died a few years ago,
was an eye-witness of the Strathnaver burnings,
his father being one of the evicted, and gave
evidence regarding them before the Royal
Commission in Sutherlandshire. Mr. Mackay
was educated at Glasgow, and when fifteen
years of age entered the employment of Messrs.
J. Hunter i^' Son, Flour Merchants, where we
still tind him, trusted and respected by his
employers. As might be expected of one
brought up in a Highland domestic atmosphere,
Mr. Mackay's sympathies were distinctly Celtic,
and when quite young, many articles from his
[len bearing on Highland matters appeared in
the Highland press. Having a decided liking
for natural liistory studies, he formed a large
and valuable collection of entomological and
other specimens, and in the course of his
researches in the Highlands, he added more
than one species to the 'known fauna of Scotland.
He was Secretary for several years of the
Clydesdale Naturalists Society, and contributed
largely to scientific journals, chieHy on the
fauna of the Highlands. Some ten years ago
he became a member of the Glasgow Sutherland-
shire Association. He took an active part in
the work of the Association, and was Vice-
President. Always a keen clansman. Mr.
Mackay some years ago conceived the idea of
organizing the clan for purposes of a charitable,
educational and sentimental nature. After corres-
]iondihg with that most patriotic of clansmen, Mr.
John Mackay, Hereford, and others actuated
with a like desire, a meeting of twelve enthusias-
tic clansmen was held in Glasgow, when arrange-
ments were' made to convene a public meeting to
inaugurate a Clan Society. Nearly two hundred
Mackays answered the " fiery cross " sent round
by the subject of our sketch, and a Society was
started under the most favourable auspices.
Mr. Mackay was appointed Hon. Secretary, an
office he has held since that date, and to
his able guidance the success of that Society is
largely due. Its membership is now over five
hundred, while its finances amount to over