Kay Matheson

Kay Matheson (7 December 1928 – 6 July 2013) was a Scottish teacher, political activist, and Gaelic scholar. She was one of the four University of Glasgow students involved in the 1950 removal of the Stone of Scone.

Life Matheson was born in Inverasdale near Loch Ewe in 1928, to a crofting family. She attended the University of Glasgow, studying domestic science, and taught in both English and Gaelic. Following the Christmas Day raid she returned to Inverasdale to live with her mother, and teach locally. She taught home economics, Gaelic, and physical education at Achtercairn School in Gairloch, also taught at various primary schools in Wester Ross. She was involved with An Comunn Gàidhealach, an organisation that promotes the teaching and use of Gaelic- and in 1979 they made her an honorary vice-president. She ran against Charles Kennedy in the 1983 United Kingdom general election as an SNP candidate, and was an active member of the party.

In 1996, the Stone was returned to Scotland, in a ceremony at Edinburgh Castle at which Matheson was present.

In popular culture In 2000, BBC Alba broadcast a short film entitled An Ceasnachadh: Interrogation of a Highland Lass, about the police's interrogation of Matheson. In the 2008 film Stone of Destiny she was played by Kate Mara.

Death Matheson never married, and died at the age of 84, in Aultbea's Isle View Nursing Home, where she had lived for 20 years, and cared for by a relative, and former pupils. by Angus MacNeil (MP) as a "feisty and funny woman", and by Charles Kennedy, with whom she became friends after standing against him in 1983, as an "inspirational force."