Duncan Macpherson at work in his pharmacy in Kyle of Lochalsh.
Few will have heard of the late Duncan Macpherson outside of his adopted home village of Kyle of Lochalsh. It is questionable whether the Isle of Skye would be as popular today if it were not for his 40 years of promoting Skye and Lochalsh through his books and photography.
Born in the Aberdeenshire hamlet of Glenquithle on the 24th of May 1882, Duncan was one of five children. He graduated as a pharmacist in Aberdeen, working in England and the spa resort town of Strathpeffer. After a period of ill health he arrived in Kyle of Lochalsh one spring afternoon during 1912 “in search of a livelihood, and even more vitally important, seeking after elusive health”.
He opened the Kyle Pharmacy on land that he rented from the Highland Railway for the princely rent of £3 per year. A few years later the Highland Railway was amalgamated in to the London, Midland and Scottish (LMS) Railway. The kindly factor in Inverness was replaced by a “modern Pharaoh” in Glasgow who demanded a rent of £500 per year - a mere 16,000% increase! In one of his books he recalls how he dispatched a representative from Glasgow “in a sentence of three words”. His rent remained unchanged.
Known locally and affectionately as “the chemist”, he lived off Church Road, Kyle of Lochalsh in a house he named “Glenquithel”, in honour of his birthplace. He shared the house with his wife, and local girl Margaret (nee MacIver), their son Neil, daughter Mary and their cairn terrier Sally.
The pharmacy became the unofficial tourist information office and this prompted Duncan to publish his annual “A Vest Pocket Guide to Skye and Lochalsh” for 34 years. He became a prominent and active member of the local council and did much to promote the development of Kyle and the surrounding area.
Duncan Macpherson found the health that he sought. He died in 1966 at the age of 84.
Today no visit to Kyle of Lochalsh is complete without a visit to the modern-day Kyle Pharmacy.
The fourteenth edition of the Vest Pocket Guide, published for 34 years by Duncan Macpherson
The Chemist found time away from his shop and family to write and publish three books. His books provide an often humorous insight in to relaxed way of life and characters that could be in Skye and Lochalsh area in the first half of the 20th Century.
He completed his typed, illustrated and bound manuscript for his first book, “Gateway to Skye” in 1939 however publication was delayed until 1946 by World War II. It was subsequently reprinted in 1946, 1947 and 1948. This book established a successful formula based on of recording scenes of everyday life, landscapes and the comings and goings of people, a formula that he followed in his two subsequent books; “Lure of the West” in 1950 and “Where I Belong” in 1964, two years before his death.
From 1927 until 1960 Duncan published the immensely popular, annual booklet “A Vest Pocket Guide to Skye and Lochalsh”. This was an early tourist guide that included bus and ferry timetables, accommodation and sites of interest and anecdotes, all written in his humorous style. In the 22nd (1954) edition of his Vest Pocket Guide he describes Skye as follows;
“Skye attracts thousands of visitors annually. There are 300 miles of motoring roads, besides numerous pony-tracks and hill-paths which can be negotiated by cyclists. There are bypaths for those who would explore on foot, and mountains which test the skill of the climber.”
“Skye has been described as a land of mist and of rain. Yes, but a land of sunshine and cloud. And mighty silences. A Paradise for the artist, it is a haven for the nerve-racked. For here is peace.”
Concluding; “But the glory of Skye is in her sunsets. Stand on the mainland, at the Gateway to the Isle, where I have dwelt for many years, and watch the sun go down like a ball of fire behind the Cuillins. See the whole heavens aflame, and the glory reflected in the waters beneath.”
“Go where you will. Visit the cities and palaces of the South, or the wonders of the East, Skye will lure you back.”
“The Cuillins at sunrise, from Kyle of Lochalsh”, one of many picture post cards published by Duncan Macpherson and Kyle Pharmacy
Duncan Macpherson was a prolific and gifted photographer. On his journeys in and around the Skye and Lochalsh area, often accompanied by his family, he would carry his heavy field camera or clock-work driven panoramic camera, capturing unique and enduring images of people and places. Some of his photographs illustrate his three books, others were sent all over the world as part of “Kyle Pharmacy” picture post card series.
A collection of over 800 of his prints can be viewed on the excellent Am Baile website.
