I. EXTRACTS FROM THE ASTLEY DIARY, 1872, 1873

[The following extracts describe the visits made in 1872 and 1873 to Ardtornish by Gertrude Susan Astley (1849–1920) and her sister Constance Charlotte Astley (1851–1935) as the guests of their friend Gertrude Craig Sellar. The diarists refer to themselves in the third person, first as ‘G’ and ‘C’, and later as ‘F’ and ‘J’ (for the nicknames ‘Flotsam’ and ‘Jetsam’); the name ‘Gertrude’ full refers to Mrs Craig Sellar, and ‘F-in-law’ or ‘Friend in-law’ to her husband Alexander Craig Sellar.

The chronology of the sisters' visits was as follows: they arrived at Ardtornish on Friday 4 October 1872, stayed there for 5 weeks and 4days, and left on Tuesday 12 November; the next year they arrived at Oban for the Argyllshire Gathering on Wednesday 3 September, proceeded to Ardtornish 2 days later, and left for the north on Tuesday 9 September after a stay of 4 days; they then returned to Ardtornish on 23 September 1873, stayed for 3 weeks and 3 days, and left on Friday 17 October.

The sisters' ‘1 st Journal’ consists of lined quarto sheets quired into a leather-bound book of blank paper, and the text is supplemented by numerous drawings and photographs. Most of it was written out by Gertrude, but Conny wrote a few passages and contributed most of the illustrations.