Curated and written by Giovanna MacKenna.
In 1949, a chronic housing shortage pushed Agnes, her infant daughter and her first husband, Sam, to follow the promise of work and lodgings to the remote village of Scoraig, near Ullapool. This search saw them travel from Glasgow through the Highlands – often on foot – where they spent more than a year living in a tent and squatting in derelict buildings, during which time Agnes had another child. They finally returned home and settled down in a sought-after prefabricated house.
Agnes was mother to seven children. Her 19-year-old son Patrick was killed in a knife attack in his home town.
She spoke about how his death affected her; “It took all your time just to get through the day. You weren’t ill, no, and you never became ill, but you would have loved to have died.”
