Charlie King
Born: February 25, 1942;
Died: February 8, 2026
The West Highlands lost a great champion with the recent death of former Mallaig councillor Charlie King. He was one of my oldest friends, with whom I campaigned over decades. He would work away tirelessly behind the scenes persuading those in authority that things needed to change. But he did so with a twinkle and a wee bit of mischief in his eye.
I first met him in 1986 as the newly elected Highland regional councillor for Mallaig, Ardnamurchan and the Small Isles. It was before local government reform. Charlie was the Lochaber district councillor for Mallaig and the Small Isles. Our council areas were amongst the most remote and fragile in the land.
The two levels of local authority didn’t always co-operate, but Charlie and I had shared goals. Not because of any party line, but because it was glaringly obvious what the area needed.
One of our earliest campaigns was to get the four-year Mallaig High School upgraded to a six-year comprehensive. The old school was in old Nissen huts, dating to the Second World War and its aftermath. To sit Highers, pupils had to go to Lochaber High in Fort William, staying in the hostel during the week along with island pupils. For some it was from S1.
The new school opened in 1989, a full senior secondary on a different site. The campus now includes a hostel for the pupils from the Small Isles and Knoydart, a community-operated swimming pool and an NHS respite facility for the elderly. Another full secondary was won later, Ardnamurchan High School in Strontian.
Many battles inevitably were about transport links. An important one was getting the tortuous Mallaig to Fort William A830 upgraded. Long stretches of single track justified its title as Britain’s worst trunk road.
In 1991 we organised a protest stopping traffic going through Morar to generate support for the campaign. The final section was only completed in 2009.
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As the Highland Council’s transport convener and chair of the Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership (HITRANS), Charlie was particularly proud of the European-supported £30million scheme to provide the Small Isles of Eigg, Muck, Rum and Canna, as well as Inverie in Knoydart, with slipways for their first ever car ferry service. Life was transformed. Lorries could come ashore to pick up sheep and cattle for mainland markets or bring materials to build houses.
We were involved in another ferry campaign. In the late 1990s CalMac withdrew the winter Kilchoan-Mull service, claiming it was not a lifeline service and therefore ineligible for subsidy. But without the Tobermory link, communities at the end of the Ardnamurchan peninsula faced 60 miles, mostly single track, to access the likes of a vet, dentist or shops in Fort William.
The Kilchoan Ferry Action Group was formed by local people to campaign against the cut, but in vain. However, we managed to put together a funding package from Highland and Argyll & Bute councils, their respective enterprise companies together with their EU Leader community funding, for a private operator to provide a winter passenger ferry.
Charlie, as chair of HITRANS, kept lobbying decision-makers. The private ferry service ran for six winters, with passenger numbers proving it was a lifeline. CalMac and ministers were finally persuaded. The service returned to the CalMac timetable.
Charlie also went all the way to the European Commission in Brussels to argue against breaking up CalMac and putting its routes out to tender to justify its public subsidy. Ministers in successive administrations in Edinburgh had insisted Europe required this, and there was no alternative. Charlie met the transport commissioner Jacques Barrot, but was surprised by his response. M Barrot told him to go away and stop wasting his time.
In 2003 there had been a ruling by the European Court of Justice about subsidy/state aid for a German bus company Altmark. CalMac received senior legal opinion that Altmark applied to CalMac and allowed tendering to stop without legal consequence.
M Barrot agreed, but Scottish ministers and their officials for some, still unexplained reason, didn’t.
An electrician to trade, Charlie’s attachment to his area was deep, although he was originally from Perth and was a passionate St Johnstone fan and shareholder. He and his wife Christine set up a guesthouse in Mallaig. He kept working to make improvements around the village.
He was instrumental in the crucial upgrading of Mallaig harbour, starting with the vital first breakwater. He had become a member of the Mallaig Harbour Authority in 1984 becoming vice-chairman in 1985. He was appointed chairman in 2015 ultimately retiring in 2021 after a remarkable 37 years of service.
He instinctively knew that for too long, too many Highland people had their lives controlled by outside forces. He quickly embraced the successful community ownership bids in Eigg, Knoydart and elsewhere.
Many small West Highland communities like them have cause to lament Charlie’s death. Thousands of miles travelled, he achieved much. But for those who knew him well it will be difficult not to have a wee smile when we remember him.
He is survived by his wife Christine, sons Charles and Colin, daughters-in-law Libby and Fiona and four grandchildren.
MICHAEL FOXLEY
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