The ‘religion of the yellow stick’ and the MacLeans of Coll: tracing traditions

The ‘Religion of the Yellow Stick’ is a derisive label coined by Hebridean Islanders to describe a persecution of Catholics by a Presbyterian laird in the outer Hebrides in the eighteenth century. It is most often associated with the MacLeans of Coll on Rum and the Boisdales on South Uist, but there are at least fifteen different historical contexts to which it has been applied, including the conversion of David Livingstone's ancestors on Ulva. The originating incident that led to this new terminology was a drubbing laid on one particularly recalcitrant Catholic, by Hector MacLean in Rum in 1725. It proved to be the key event in the conversion of the Catholics on this Island. This essay explores this event, sets it in its historical context, and describes the many variants in the transmission of this story as they relate to the MacLeans of Coll.