The Annie Jane (360G-BNG-CC-2023-00686)

We want to put on a concert and workshop series on the Western Isles and Ireland to share the stories and celebrate the lives of the 300 and more who died during the disaster of the full-rigged ship, the "Annie Jane", off Vatersay, Barra, September 1853. The concerts and workshops will consist of traditional music, song and dance, combined with new material relating to the stories from the Annie Jane, including voice and field recordings, new music and new songs composed in Gaelic and Gaeilge. By sharing the traditions that bring these communities together, the emigrant songs, music and dance which might have been witnessed on the Annie Jane, we highlight this lesser-known tragedy and strengthen the relationship between affected communities - gaining a better understanding of each other via our shared history and experience, with the hope that future exchanges can occur.On board, the Annie Jane were about 450 passengers and crew, most of whom were sailing from Liverpool to Quebec to begin a new and better life in the New World. These included labourers, blacksmiths, joiners, and rope-makers from Glasgow, Inverness, Aberdeen, Dornoch, Granton-on-Spey, Exeter, London and Liverpool going to work on the new Canadian railways. Protestant missionaries from Switzerland, Holland and France, whose goal was to teach the Roman Catholic French about 'the great doctrines of the reformed faith.' Seamen from Quebec and Newfoundland hungry to earn a living. Young boys from London's 'Ragged Schools' looking to find what more Canada can offer them, and young mothers with children, including a young mother from Barvas, Lewis, travelling to join their successful husbands. But most of the passengers were from every corner of Ireland. The dead were buried together, just above Vatersay beach, where they perished, far from their families and homes. This year the "Hebridean Homecoming" marks the centenary of the departure of emigrants from Stornoway on the Metagama and Lochboisdale on the Marloch heading for Montreal. The Stornoway Historical Society (SHS) is putting a lot of work into finding where emigrants' families settled and connecting descendants to their genealogy and history. In addition to this, and because no commemoration has taken place, the SHS would like to remember these 300 emigrants and crew of the Annie Jane who didn't make it to the New World and whose lives ended on our shores.