The thunder did roll

300,000 to 1. Those are the odds of being struck by lightening in the UK. 
The chances of being fatally struck are speculated to be around 1 in a million. 


by Anna MacRae MacDonald

In the late spring of 1895, parts of the Highlands were experiencing hot and humid weather accompanied by severe thunderstorms. The Inverness Courier on 4th June carried an intriguing report entitled “Family at Alness Struck by Lightning”. On Friday, 31st May, it was said that the patriarch of the family “…[Donald] Mackenzie, was working outside his house in Back Street, when a shovel he had in his hand was struck by the electric current, throwing the man several yards away”. The report goes on to describe how lightening then entered the door of the house, striking two of Mr Mackenzie’s sons. Apparently the current then “…passed up the chimney and struck the gable, almost wrecking the house”. The family miraculously survived the shocking incident.


That same day, a young gamekeeper by the name of Alexander Davidson was out on the hill near Wester Fearn Burn. An experienced keeper, he had formerly worked at Ardlamont (Argyll) and Kingussie. Mr Davidson was greatly respected in the area, and esteemed by his current employer, Mr J. A. Brooke of Fearn (Ardgay) and Fenay (Huddersfield). That Friday morning, the Farr-native had taken a turn up the hill to set the traps, for the purposes of vermin control.


Once the storm had subsided, neighbour Alexander Mackenzie of Garvary, made his way up the hill to check on his livestock. The farmer was to make a grim and tragic discovery – “he came across the body of Davidson lying face downwards near a fence on the south side of Fearn Burn” (Northern Chronicle). 
We can’t be sure the exact circumstances of the young keeper’s death, but we do know that he was fatally struck by lightening. The Northern Chronicle goes on to describe how a nearby iron gate had been destroyed by the current with fragments found some 30 yards away. Similarly, fences and fence posts were damaged and dispersed. “It is supposed that the deceased either laid his gun in the heather for personal safety when the storm broke out, or that it was driven away by the lightning the same as the gate”. As he witnessed the storm worsening, he may have been vainly attempting to run for a nearby cottage to shelter and safety. 


It was some time later before the gun was found, about a half mile away in the undergrowth. “Strange to say, the gun was uninjured, although the bush under which it lay was blackened, and the ground in its vicinity riven up by the lightning” (Northern Chronicle 12-Jun-1895).



Alick’s family


Alexander Davidson was unmarried and died intestate leaving the sum of £83 to his elder brother George Davidson, Shepherd at Shinness, Lairg. George and Alexander belonged to a family of 8 headed by shepherd Walter Davidson and his wife Barbara MacDonald. Walter was a native of Dumfriesshire, while Barbara’s roots lay in Achinduich and Saval, Lairg. Walter and Barbara both passed away in the mid-1880s, latterly residing at Balnagall, Tain. Alexander’s body was conveyed to St Duthus Cemetery in Tain for interment and his grave is marked by a headstone. 


The event naturally caused great sadness in the local community, and as a consequence was rarely talked about openly. It was said that the sorry story had in some part been predicted – a lady who lived nearby, a Munro to name, had in the preceding days witnessed an apparition of a horse leading a cart and coffin down the hill path from Garvary. Some individuals were “blessed” with second sight, but often the individual in question did not welcome it and the blessing was a heavy burden to bear.


In the 1895 valuation roll of the Kincardine area, a gamekeeper by the name of William Inglis is listed as occupying a house at Midfearn. Interestingly, in the 1891 census, he was recorded as Gamekeeper at Ardlamont, Argyllshire (where Alexander was said to have worked). And by 1901 his abode was Kennels Cottage, Midfearn. It could be that the two Keepers took up their employment at Midfearn around the same time. He, no-doubt, would have been bereft at the loss of his friend in such a way, and in the prime of life.


Their employer, Mr Brooke, was said to have visited the scene of his Keeper’s one chance in a million fate, “A stone I’ll erect which will stand on this hill. For his duties he always with care did fulfil”.
The commemorative stone simply reads “Alexander Davidson. Aged 26. Killed by Lightening”. 
Many thanks to Gregor Laing, Midfearn, for bringing the story of Alexander Davidson to me and consenting to my using his photograph of the stone, and the remarkable poem provided to him by the late Bunty Gordon.

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