Mother foresaw son’s tragic death on 'Titanic'
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
THE death of a Skerray man who lost his life in the Titanic disaster was predicted days before the tragedy, it has emerged.
George William Mackay was just 20 years old when he died after the ship foundered in the North Atlantic.
But less than a week before the tragedy, his mother had a dream that one of her children was going to die.
George’s great-niece, Angela Sutherland (57), from Lairg, has for years tried to find out the reason behind his decision to sail to America.
With most of the information about him coming from her grandmother, Angusina Mackay, who was George’s sister, she has been unable to uncover almost any new information since her death in 1998 at the age of 102.
But one thing Mrs Sutherland does know is that her great-uncle’s death was predicted only days before the ship was lost.
"My grandmother told me that her mother had a dream which she believed was a message from God," she said.
"When the local elder arrived at the family home a day later, my great-grandmother told him what she had dreamt about, and asked him what it meant.
"He then sat her down and told her that some great sadness was going to come to that house very soon.
"He said that the dream was a way of preparing for sad news to come to the family, and a few days later they were informed that George had died when the Titanic sank."
George was born in Skerray on January 25, 1892, into a family of 13 children. His parents were William Mackay and Christina Gunn.
At an early age he moved to London, where he gained employment as a butler.
George’s reasons for deciding to sail to the US are still not clear, but it is presumed that he was preparing to start a new life.
His brother and two sisters were already living in the country, working in Detroit and New York City, but Mrs Sutherland does not know whether George was planning to visit or live with them.
His death was felt not only in Skerray, but also by his friends and former work colleagues in London, who raised money for a memorial stone to be erected at a cemetery in North Sutherland shortly afterwards.
Mrs Sutherland said there are still many parts of her great-uncle’s life that she would like to uncover.
"There are so many questions I wish I had asked my grandmother before she died," she said.
"It is a part of my family history that I would love to find out more about."
