Grimshader School District

GRIMSHADER SCHOOL DISTRICT.
Population last Census, 233 [Males, 109 ; Females, 124).

THE village of Grimshader, with a population of 109 males, gave 42 men to the service of King and Country in the war. As in probably all other districts of the island the great majority served on sea—in the case of Grimshader 37 out of 42. Our men were early in the fight; Malcolm Macdonald (No. 3) and John Mackenzie (No. 12b) took part in the successful action of H.M.S. "Carmania" against the enemy cruiser "Cap Trafalgar" : Evander Macrae (No. 5) and Kenneth Maclean (No. 15) formed part of the crew of H.M.S. "Orama," which was largely composed of Lewismen. They shared in the credit of sinking the German cruiser "Dresden".

Several Grimshader men were in the R.N. Division that rushed to the defence of Antwerp, and three of them were interned in Holland after that city fell. The most noteworthy fact in Grimshader's record is that it alone of all the Lewis villages came through the whole of the war till the Armistice without the loss of a single life. Alas! when an end of hostilities had come, and a feeling of security had taken possession of all hearts, came the "Iolaire" disaster, in which two of our men lost their lives, namely, Malcolm Macleod (No. 3) and John Macaulay (No. 11b).