I was going through some of the postcards held by Stornoway library and came across this duplicate set of images for Prince Charlie’s beach on Eriskay where he landed prior to the ’45 rebellion.
The postcard in black and white is dated 1906 and the colour 1907. As colour photography wasn’t really around at the time, some artist in a studio somewhere must have spent hours painstaking touching up the black and white image with paints in order to create the colour print. I suspect the painter had never been to the Western Isles and must have been guessing at the colours.
Looking at the black and white image, it appears the gentleman on the rocks is a priest. In the colour image, his clothing appears far less distinct and a hat may have been added? Could this be the legendary Father Allan Macdonald who died in 1905?
