The Queen of St Kilda

An isolated archipelago in the North Atlantic, St Kilda lies some 40 miles west of the Outer Hebrides and for many years was the home of the westernmost community in the British Isles. The islands were evacuated on 29 August 1930 when the final 36 inhabitants decided that their way of life was no longer sustainable. Since then the islands have become a sanctuary for nearly one million seabirds.

In 1890 an enterprising journalist in Sunderland, on the northeast coast of mainland Britain, tried to make Ann Ferguson, daughter of one of the leading elders of St Kilda, the centre of story he concocted for his newspaper. Hearing that the so-called ‘Queen of St Kilda’ was unable to marry for lack of a licensed clergyman, he proposed to supply one from the mainland and thus enable the would-be bride to wed her fiancé, John Gillies, in a ceremony that he hoped would ignite a blaze of publicity and reflect glory on his newspaper. Due to the distances involved, the couple were unaware of this plan until the party arrived on the island with a boatload of (mostly useless) gifts. With great dignity, they declined to get involved in the scheme.

The story was widely reported, particularly in Scotland. The following is just one of many accounts that appeared prior to the party’s departure for St Kilda.

‘THE MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEN OF ST KILDA — An interesting event, surrounded with some local colouring, is to take place on the island of St Kilda on Wednesday next. A party of 50 persons, mostly from Sunderland, leave the Central Station there this morning, under the care of Mr J.G. Campbell, en route for the island, to be present at the marriage of its “Queen,” which ceremony is to be performed by the Rev. J.S. Rae of Sunderland. […] Mr Campbell has received a large number of presents to be distributed among the islanders, and there are some special presents for the bride and bridegroom. For the library a large number of books have been received, and continue to arrive daily, and among the presents for general distribution may be mentioned a hundredweight of treacle, of which the natives are said to be very fond. The famous makers of the real Melton Mowbray pies are sending a huge delicacy of their own make to adorn the wedding breakfast-table, and Mr Fred Young, confectioner, Sunderland, has given the wedding cake. The bride is to be decked out in the most approved fashion, and Mrs Campbell will undertake the responsibility of lady’s maid. Messrs Buckley & Co., Sunderland, will supply the bridegroom with a tall silk hat, and many other useful tributes will be forwarded. The custom of the people of St Kilda is to select the most handsome unmarried female as their “queen,” and the chosen one retains that distinction until she gets married, and then another queen is elected in her place. The present queen is Ann Ferguson. She is 23 years of age. Her future husband is named John Gillies. He is 24 years old, and a widower — in fact, the only eligible man on the island. He is a cragsman, tailor, farmer, and weaver. As the islanders are very clannish, there is not a chance of another marriage amongst them until some of the boys grow up. Neither the bride nor the bridegroom knows a word of English, and the Rev. F. Fiddes, the missionary at St Kilda, who is not licensed to celebrate marriages, will act as Mr Rae’s interpreter of the Gaelic in which they converse. […] The company will be joined in Scotland by a photographer from the firm of Messrs Valentine & Co., Dundee, who will take pictures as the ceremony is proceeding’ (Aberdeen Press and Journal, 26 May 1890).

The anticlimactic end of the saga also generated many column inches for the amusement of the newspaper-buying public, though none of it quite in the vein that Campbell had envisaged:

‘THE ST KILDA MARRIAGE FIASCO — Mr J.G. Campbell of Sunderland’s little scheme for marrying the “Queen of St Kilda” and Mr John Gillies woefully miscarried, after all the elaborate preparations, the wedding dress of the most approved fashion, bride’s cake, rings (of three different sizes), and the other paraphernalia of the orthodox English wedding having been transported from Sunderland to the farthest north-west portion of the Hebrides with the sole object of getting two lovers made happy, it was, unfortunately, discovered that one little but fatal omission in the business had been made — that was to obtain the consent of the parties principally concerned to the marriage taking place. It is a far cry from St Kilda to Sunderland, and it was evident that the information on which Mr Campbell’s expedition had been formed was inaccurate, and that John Gillies had no burning desire to get wedded to the “Queen,” or at least had no desire to make a spectacle for gratifying the curiosity of a party of English tourists. […] An appeal was made to the Rev Mr Fiddes, but that only made matters worse. So far from wishing to coerce two members of his flock into matrimony on an hour’s notice, that gentleman had himself grave objections. Mr Fiddes doubted the orderliness of the whole proceedings, and resented the introduction of the minister of an alien church to perform a ceremony which he held could be performed when the parties wanted it without going so far as Sunderland.

‘This comical ending of a great scheme rather disconcerted the party who had come from England in the full confidence of seeing at least a nominal queen married. But the difficulty of Mr John Gillies and Mr Fiddes were not to be overcome by the persuasions of Mr Campbell of Sunderland. Had that gentleman indeed taken the precaution of studying a little elementary marriage law in Scotland, he might have saved himself and his friends a good deal of trouble and disappointment. He would have found out that the formality of proclaiming or publishing the banns was almost as necessary in the eye of the law as the religious ceremony, and an indispensable preliminary to any marriage taking place. […] At the same time it should be said that the islanders all along resented the idea of being made a show of in order to gratify the curiosity of a party of holiday-makers. Presents are all very well, but even the unsophisticated St Kildian has too much self respect to transform one of the most serious businesses of life into something approaching a farce’ (Perthshire Advertiser, 30 May 1890).


Photographed by George Washington Wilson of Aberdeen. Titled 'Maids and Matrons, St Kilda' in the negative.