Ghillie Dhu the Ghillie Dhu was a gentle and kind-hearted mountain spirit, or a "rather unusual nature fairy." The Ghillie Dhu was an individual male modern day fairy described by Osgood Mackenzie, a Scottish landowner and horticulturist, in his memoirs that were published in 1921. The fairy was generally timid, yet he could also be "wild". Residing in the birch woods near Loch a Druing, in the north-west Highland area of Gairloch, he was mainly seen in the latter part of the 18th century. The woods are in a dip alongside a hilly area around from where Rua Reidh Lighthouse was later
John Lilley and Gillie Ltd close links with Observator in Rotterdam, who manufactured one of the first fully reliable transmitting magnetic compass systems. The Observator shareholders, Holland America Line, bought the share capital of John Lilley and Gillie Limited., but retained all the personnel and the directors. In 1975 Mr. C.H. Turnbull joined the company as M.D. and during 1976 the company bought the shares in the London chart agent, Brown and Perring Limited, and re-acquired Lilley and Reynolds. Since then, the company has consolidated its position as a Class A Admiralty Chart Agent and nautical instrument manufacturer, and has gradually entered the field of