Introduction / The Island / Population

Place of Birth

A small statistical sample means that care needs to be taken in reading these figures. However, some overall conclusions can be drawn.

Year	Pharay	Westray	Eday	Kirkwall	Papa Westray	Orphir	Total
1851	51	14	4	-	-	-	69
1861	71	10	-	-	1	-	82
1871	66	11	6	-	-	-	83
1881	56	8	8	-	-	-	72
1891	42	10	4	1	1	-	58
1901	27	14	2	3	-	1	47

Westray was very much the main outside influence rather than Eday. This may not necessarily be surprising, as the island was owned by Stewarts in Westray and subsequently by the Stewart Endowment.

There were families moving from Westray to Pharay from the early days such as James Harcus and Marion Allan about 1810. Certainly contact meant that Westray men and women married into Pharay. The main increase in the proportion of people from outside of Pharay over the period of the censuses was due to family movement rather than individuals marrying. James Reid and his family came from Westray to Holland around 1890 and John Seatter came to Hammar with his family around 1900.

Clearly the declining population had a corresponding effect on the school roll.