Iain mac Ailein, or John MacLean (8 Jan 1787, Caolas, Tiree - 26 Jan 1848, Addington Forks, Antigonish County, Nova Scotia) was a poet and highly important figure in both Scottish Gaelic literature and in that of Canadian Gaelic. Before emigrating with his family to Nova Scotia in 1819, MacLean had served as the Chief Bard to the 15th Chief of Clan MacLean of Coll. Following his arrival in the New World, MacLean remained a prolific poet and composed one of the most famous and most popular Scottish Gaelic emigration poems, Òran do dh' Aimearaga ("A Song to America"), which is also known as, A' Choille Ghruamach ("The Gloomy Forest"). Robert Dunbar has dubbed MacLean, "perhaps the most important of all the poets who emigrated during the main period of Gaelic overseas emigration", which took place between 1730 and 1860.
Life
Ancestry
According to Robert Dunbar, MacLean, though not considered a Tacksman or a member of the Scottish nobility, could trace his descent back to Eachann Ruadh nan Cath, the 6th Chief of Clan Maclean of Duart, who was killed at the Battle of Harlaw in 1411. Furthermore, his maternal great-grandfather was Neil Lamont, who had been Chief Bard to the Chief of Clan Maclean of Coll. On his father's side, MacLean was related to the famous Tiree poet Gilleasbuig Làidir MacGilleain.
Early life
Iain mac Ailein was born on January 8, 1787, at Caolas, on the island of Tiree, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. He was the third son of Allan MacLean and Margaret MacFadyen.
During his early life, MacLean worked as a shoemaker and small scale merchant. His grandson, Presbyterian minister and Canadian Gaelic scholar Rev. Alexander MacLean Sinclair (1840-1924), later wrote that the Bard was also a seanchai and that, "his powerful memory ensured that his stores of information connected with the Highland clans and poets were very great."
MacLean was also very well acquainted with other great works of Scottish Gaelic literature, such as Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair's Birlinn Chloinne Raghnaill ("The War Galley of Clanranald") and Duncan Ban MacIntyre's Moladh Beinn Dòrain ("In Praise of Ben Doran"), both of which he knew by heart.
According to his grandson, Rev. Alexander MacLean Sinclair, "Nature gave the poet a mind of great capacity; but evidently it did not intend that he should become a wealthy man. He never attended regularly to his work; his mind was not upon it. Poetry occupied his thoughts when pegging sole-leather in Scotland, and cutting down trees in America; it took complete possession of him. He was a good poet; but a poor shoemaker, and a poor farmer. He was very fond of company. He was clannish, and took pleasure in visiting his friends and acquaintances."
On July 19, 1808, Iain Mac Ailein married Isabella Black in Glasgow.
In 1810, as the Napoleonic Wars were continuing to be fought, Iain mac Ailein was conscripted into the Argyll and Bute Militia. The Bard apparently disliked military life intensely and arranged for a substitute to serve in his place in return for £40. MacLean's discharge papers bear the date of January 17, 1811.
In 1818, Iain mac Ailein published the poetry collection, Orain nuadh Ghaedhlach, le Iain Mac Illeain, ann an Eilean Tirreadh ("New Gaelic Songs Collected by John MacLean on the island of Tiree") at Edinburgh, with a dedication to his employer, Alexander, the 15th Chief of Clan MacLean of Coll. Iain mac Ailein's book consists of 22 poems of his own and 34 by other major Gaelic poets, including poems by Alexander MacKinnon and Mary Macleod that can no longer be found elsewhere.
One of Iain mac Ailein's primary sources, according to Robert Dunbar, was a handwritten manuscript of Gaelic poems which Dr. Hector Maclean of Grulin, Eigg had made between 1738 and 1768. The manuscript was gifted to Iain mac Ailein by the Doctor's daughter and contains an additional 104 pages of material, including fourteen of Iain mac Ailein's own poems. The manuscript is now in the Nova Scotia Archives.
New World
It is still not known why he chose to emigrate. Iain mac Ailein, as "one of the last professional poets to enjoy any patronage from a chieftain", had a very privileged life compared to other Highland tenant farmers.
It is known that Iain mac Ailein was able, by using his published book as security, to secure passage for himself and his family to the New World. In August 1819, the MacLean family set sail from the port of Tobermory, on the Isle of Mull, aboard the ship Economy and arrived at Pictou, Nova Scotia on about October 1, 1819.