Loch na Keal and James Boswell during their tour of the Hebrides; they were entertained there by Sir Allan MacLean, head of the Maclean clan. Both Johnson and Boswell published accounts of their visit. Its most famous owners were the eccentric Mitford family. Nazi sympathiser Unity Mitford spent her final years on the island. Following the death of their father Lord Redesdale, the island was inherited under Scots Law by the surviving Mitford sisters and not his wife, as Lord Redesdale had willed it to his deceased son Tom. When their mother died in 1963, Nancy gave her share to Jessica, who bought
Mitford family Jessica became well-known writers: Nancy wrote "The Pursuit of Love" and "Love in a Cold Climate", and Jessica "The American Way of Death" (1963). Deborah managed one of the most successful stately homes in England, Chatsworth. Jessica and Deborah married nephews of prime ministers Winston Churchill and Harold Macmillan, respectively. Deborah and Diana both married wealthy aristocrats. Unity and Diana were well-known during the 1930s for being close to Adolf Hitler. Jessica turned her back on her inherited privileges and ran away to become a communist. Jessica's memoir, "Hons and Rebels", describes their upbringing, and Nancy obviously drew upon her