PREFACE.
Lewismen of the regular Navy, apart from R.N.R. seamen,
have conspicuously distinguished themselves. The people
will cherish the memories of the Heligoland Bight, the Falk-
land Islands, the North Sea Battle, and, with special regard,
the brilliant exploit of the "Carman'ia." The old Artillery
Volunteers (1st Ross-shire), Stornoway, was supplanted some
years ago by the new organisation, the Ross Mountain
Battery (T.F.), and the Stornoway Company thereof is now
valorously fighting in the dreary and blood-soaked slopes of
the Dardanelles. With the Company are serving 41 of the
Secondary pupils of the Nicolson Institute, actually on the
working roll of the school when the war broke out, and former
pupils also in large numbers have contributed to the splendid
war record of this distinguished school- Nothing redounds
more to the high credit of the Island's endeavour in this
world conflict than the voluntary enlistment of young men of
Lewis birth or extraction, both at home (though furth of the
Island), and in the Colonies, the States, the Argentine and
elsewhere in foreign parts. From Canada alone some 250
Lewis lads are now in the trenches in Flanders. And the
Island will remember with just pride that all through the
progress of the war there has been a modest, but steady, local
recruiting for all branches of the Forces — Regular, R.N.R. ,
and Territorial.
Alas ! that with all this military enterprise and pageantry
the toll of life and limb by land and sea has been distressingly
severe. Already the death casualties alone are well into the
third hundred, and every week now little groups of men,
maimed or hopelessly war-worn, are finding their way to the
family hearths in all parts of the Island. Lewis is sorely
stricken, and the patriotic devotion and the resignation of
the inhabitants will, there is every reason to fear, have to face
greater tribulation before Peace resumes its reign. Many
pages will have to be added to this Roll of Honour. To all
of us the abiding consolation remains that those who never
come back have laid down their lives in one of the greatest
causes In the history of mankind. Let us at home have an
unflinching faith in the certainty of a triumphant issue to this
stupendous struggle, and do our part, however humble, with
a deep sense of personal obligation. There is a direct and
very telling appropriateness at this moment in the words of
a real poet : —
"Say not, the struggle naught availeth,
The labour and the wounds are vain,
The enemy faints not, nor faileth,
And as things have been they remain.
If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars ;
It may be, in yon smoke concealed,
Your comrades chase e'en now the fliers,
And, but for you, possess the field.
For while the tired waves, vainly breaking,
Seem here no painful inch to gain,
Far back, through creeks and inlets making,
Comes silent, flooding in, the main.
And not by eastern windows only,
When daylight comes, comes in the light;
In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly !
But westward, look, the land is bright !"
— Clough-
With this beautiful and inspiring vision of ultimate
victory the Roll may fitly open.
As a last word let the hope be expressed that the sons and
daughters of the Island at home and abroad will unite in
erecting a worthy and permanent local memorial and cenotaph
to their countrymen who have suffered and died for their sakes
in a noble cause.
J. L. R.
Stornoway, August, 1915.
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.
A few words of supplementary preface are asked for now,
though the revised Roll may be long in preparation.
The Great War seems at an end, at any rate in its active
military aspect, and the nations, weary and debilitated, are
labouring in the wake of the world-wide struggle towards a
haven of assured peace and orderly life and development.
The "armed doctrine" of German might and presumptuous