Back War Memorial

The Isle of Lewis has more than a dozen war memorials, and the one for the district of Back (north of Stornoway on the east coast) is pictured here. Most of the memorials in this island take the shape of a rock surrounded by standing stones; others have a more conventional design.

The sacrifice in the First World War, made by men (and women) from this island is little known outside the Hebrides, but is worth quoting.

Every second man joined up
Of those, every sixth lost his life
A further 200 were lost in the sinking of the Iolaire on 1 January 1919, when they returned from the war. This is the third worst loss of life at sea around Great Britain in peacetime. The Titanic is well-known; the loss of the Norge in 1904, in which 700 Eastern European migrants drowned at Rockall, is virtually unknown. The Iolaire's tragedy is only known in the Hebrides.