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148-401: He was born on the island of Islay of the western Scottish coast on 8 October 1921. He was the son of John Currie and Maggie Mactaggart. He attended Port Ellen Primary School then Bowmore High School. He was then sent to the mainland to attend Glasgow High School for his final school years, from whence he studied Medicine at Glasgow University graduating MB ChB in 1944. He then studied as

296-520: A standing stone at Carragh Bhan near Kintra marks Godred Crovan's grave. A genuine 11th-century Norse grave-slab was found at Dóid Mhàiri in 1838, although it was not associated with a burial. The slab is decorated with foliage in the style of Ringerike Viking art and an Irish-style cross, the former being unique in Scandinavian Scotland . Following Godred's death, the local population resisted Norway's choice of replacement, causing Magnus,

444-515: A "reformed Celt", having a Cornish Celtic heritage.) There is little doubt that racism against the Gael formed some part of the story. Roman Catholics had experienced a sequence of discriminatory laws in the period up to 1708. Whilst English versions of these laws were repealed in 1778, in Scotland this did not happen until 1793. However, religious discrimination is not considered, by some historians, to be

592-464: A brother of the legendary founder of Dál Riata, king Fergus Mór , but the existence of the Cenél Conchride seems to have been brief and the 430 households of the island are later said to have been comprised from the families of just three great-grandsons of the eponymous founder of Cenél nÓengus: Lugaid, Connal and Galán. The ninth-century arrival of Scandinavian settlers on the western seaboard of

740-567: A climax during the Highland Potato Famine of 1846–55. In general terms, the transformation of the Highlands resulted in two different types of rural economy. In the southern and eastern part of the region, as land was enclosed , it was let to fewer tenants, with larger individual holdings. These larger units employed farm servants and labourers and also provided work for cottars and crofters. This workforce included former tenants from

888-621: A commercial economy; rather they rejected the loss of status that the changes of improvement gave them. The first phase of the Clearances occurred mostly over the period 1760 to 1815. However, it started before the Jacobite Rising of 1745, with its roots in the decision of the Dukes of Argyll to put tacks (or leases) of farms and townships up for auction. This began with Campbell property in Kintyre in

1036-460: A continuation of the beds that underlie Jura. The geomorphology of these last two zones is dominated by a fold known as the Islay Anticline. To the south is a "shattered coastline" formed from mica schist and hornblende . The older Bowmore Group sandstones in the west centre of the island are rich in feldspar and may be of Dalradian origin. Loch Indaal was formed along a branch of

1184-507: A fellow medical student in 1942. They had three sons and two daughters. They were predeceased by one of their children. This Scottish biographical article related to medicine is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Islay Islay ( / ˈ aɪ l ə / EYE -lə ; Scottish Gaelic : Ìle , Scots : Ila ) is the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Known as "The Queen of

1332-568: A few non-resident estate owners; sheep farming and the few dairy cattle herds are run by tenant farmers. The island's web site indicates that some cultivation is also being done while some areas of high moorlands include estates for shooting deer. Some bogs are cut for fuel used by a few distilleries and some homeowners. The southeast and eastern areas of Islay also have some plantations growing coniferous trees. Highland Clearances The Highland Clearances ( Scottish Gaelic : Fuadaichean nan Gàidheal [ˈfuət̪ɪçən nəŋ ˈɡɛː.əl̪ˠ] ,

1480-404: A financial trap for their owners. In other cases, spending on famine relief depleted the financial resources of landowners—so even the prudent and responsible could ultimately be forced to increase the income from their estates. Lastly, investments in an estate, whether on roads, drainage, enclosure or other improvements might not realise the anticipated returns. The major financial pressure, though,

1628-467: A new harbour was constructed at Port Askaig. Initially, a sense of optimism in the fishing and cattle trades prevailed and the population expanded, partly as a result of the 18th-century kelp boom and the introduction of the potato as a staple. The population of the island had been estimated at 5,344 in 1755 and grew to over 15,000 by 1841. Islay remained with the Campbells of Shawfield until 1853 when it

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1776-655: A particular kin group; according to the Senchus fer n-Alban ("The History of the Men of Scotland"), it was the Cenél nÓengusa for Islay and Jura. In 627, the son of a king of the Irish Uí Chóelbad , a branch of the Dál nAraidi kingdom of Ulster (not to be confused with Dál Riata), was killed on Islay at the unidentified location of Ard-Corann by a warrior in an army led by King Connad Cerr of

1924-662: A postgraduate at Edinburgh University . From 1947, he lectured in Pathology at Glasgow University . In 1959 he took a job in London with the Imperial Cancer Research Fund as Head of Pathology, beginning a lifelong connection with cancer research. In 1962 he was offered the Regius Professor chair in Pathology at Aberdeen University . His research began to concentrate on cell death. During this he did joint research with

2072-444: A potential level of protection for tenants. Finally, the landlord might enter bankruptcy, with the estate passing into the hands of administrators whose legal obligation was to protect the financial interests of the creditors. This last case was often the worst outcome for tenants, with any considerations of them having no relevance whatsoever under the law. The 18th century was a time of population growth, almost continuous from

2220-515: A reason for evicting tenants as part of any clearance, and is seen more as a source of voluntary emigration by writers such as Eric Richards. There is one clear (and possibly solitary) case of harassment of Catholics which resulted in eviction by Colin MacDonald of Boisdale (a recent convert to Presbyterianism). This temporarily stalled when the risk of empty farms (and therefore loss of rent) became apparent when voluntary emigration to escape persecution

2368-556: A record of lands granted to an Islay resident in 1408, Brian Vicar MacKay, by Domhnall of Islay, Lord of the Isles , is one of the earliest records of Gaelic in public use, and is a significant historical document. In 1437, the Lordship was substantially expanded when Alexander, the Lord of the Isles , inherited the rule of Ross maternally; this included Skye. The expansion of MacDonald control caused

2516-458: A source of finance. The downside to this was a greater readiness of the lender to foreclose—and an increased willingness to lend in the first place, perhaps unwisely. Debt had three possible consequences, all of which were likely to involve the eviction of tenants. The landlord could try to avoid bankruptcy by introducing immediate improvements, putting up rents, clearing tenants to allow higher-paying sheep farmers to be installed. Alternatively,

2664-660: A source of recruitment for the army and navy was, in the words of T. M. Devine, "quite remarkable". Starting in the Seven Years' War (1756–63) and increasing during the American War of Independence , by the time of the Napoleonic Wars, one estimate put the Highland contribution to regiments of the line, militia, Fencibles and Volunteers at 74,000. This was out of a population of about 300,000. Even allowing for this estimate overstating

2812-633: A spoken language in the southern Hebrides throughout the Norse period, but the place name evidence suggests it had a lowly status, possibly indicating an enslaved population. Consolidating their gains, the Norse settlers established the Kingdom of the Isles , which became part of the crown of Norway following Norwegian unification. To Norway, the islands became known as Suðreyjar (Old Norse, traditionally anglicised as Sodor , or Sudreys ), meaning southern isles . For

2960-597: A total area of almost 620 square kilometres (240 sq mi). There is ample evidence of the prehistoric settlement of Islay and the first written reference may have come in the first century AD. The island had become part of the Gaelic Kingdom of Dál Riata during the Early Middle Ages before being absorbed into the Norse Kingdom of the Isles . The later medieval period marked a "cultural high point" with

3108-428: Is almost total, and placenames on the island are a mixture of Norse and later Gaelic and English influences. Port Askaig is from the Norse ask-vík , meaning "ash tree bay" and the common suffix -bus is from the Norse bólstaðr , meaning "farm". Gaelic names, or their anglicised versions such as Ardnave Point, from Àird an Naoimh "height of the saint" ,are very common. Several of the villages were developed in

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3256-532: Is destined to give way ... before the higher capabilities of the Anglo-Saxon.' These views were held by people like Patrick Sellar , the factor employed by the Countess of Sutherland to put her plans into effect, who often wrote of his support for these ideas, and Sir Charles Trevelyan , the senior government representative in organising famine relief during the Highland Potato Famine . (Trevelyan regarded himself as

3404-513: Is not Gaelic and is of unknown origin. In 17th-century maps, the spelling appears as "Yla" or "Ila", a form still used in the name of the whisky Caol Ila . In poetic language, Islay is known as Banrìgh Innse Gall , or Banrìgh nan Eilean usually translated as "Queen of the Hebrides" and Eilean uaine Ìle – the "green isle of Islay" A native of Islay is called an Ìleach , pronounced [ˈiːləx] . The obliteration of pre-Norse names

3552-466: Is rugged and mountainous, rising steeply from the Sound of Islay , the highest peak being Beinn Bheigier , which is a Marilyn at 1,612 feet (491 m). The western peninsulas are separated from the main bulk of the island by the waters of Loch Indaal to the south and Loch Gruinart to the north. The fertile and windswept southwestern arm is called The Rinns , and Ardnave Point is a conspicuous promontory on

3700-473: Is that the shepherds employed to manage these flocks were from outside the Highlands. This is an oversimplification, as Gaelic-speaking tacksmen and drovers were to be found in the sheep trade from the 1780s. When sheep were introduced in the Sutherland Clearances, over half the leases were taken up by Sutherlanders. Since their origin in the early Middle Ages, clans were the major social unit of

3848-513: The Corcu Réti (the collective term for the Cenél nGabráin and Cenél Comgaill , before they split), based at Dunadd . The Senchus also lists what is believed to be the oldest reference to a naval battle in the British Isles —a brief record of an engagement between rival Dál Riatan groups in 719. There is evidence of another kin group on Islay – the Cenél Conchride, supposedly descended from

3996-498: The County of Argyll . During World War I two troop ships foundered off Islay within a few months of each other in 1918. The SS Tuscania , a converted British liner carrying American Doughboys to France, was torpedoed by SM  UB-77 on 5 February with the loss of over 160 lives and now lies in deep water 6.4 km (4 mi) west of the Mull of Oa. On 6 October HMS  Otranto

4144-689: The Great Glen Fault called the Loch Gruinart Fault; its main line passes just to the north of Colonsay . This separates the limestone, igneous intrusions and Bowmore sandstones from the Colonsay Group rocks of the Rhinns. The result is occasional minor earth tremors. There is a tillite bed near Port Askaig that provides evidence of an ice age in the Precambrian . In comparatively recent times

4292-531: The Gulf Stream keeps the climate mild compared to mainland Scotland. Snow is rarely seen at sea level and frosts are light and short-lived. However, wind speeds average 19 to 28 kilometres per hour (10 to 15 knots) annually and winter gales sweep in off the Atlantic , gusting up to 185 km/h (115 mph). This can make travelling and living on the island during the winter difficult, while ferry and air links to

4440-617: The Hebrides ", it lies in Argyll and Bute just south west of Jura and around 40 kilometres (22 nautical miles) north of the Northern Irish coast. The island's capital is Bowmore where the distinctive round Kilarrow Parish Church and a distillery are located. Port Ellen is the main port. Islay is the fifth-largest Scottish island and the eighth-largest island of the British Isles , with

4588-478: The Industrial Revolution presented an increased demand for food; land came to be seen as an asset to meet this need, and as a source of profit, rather than a means of support for its resident population. Before improvement, Highland agriculture was based on run rig arable areas and common land for grazing. Those working in this system lived in townships or bailtean . Under the run rig system,

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4736-466: The Neolithic , settlements had become more permanent, allowing for the construction of several communal monuments. The most spectacular prehistoric structure on the island is Dun Nosebridge . This 375-square-metre (4,040 sq ft) Iron Age fort occupies a prominent crag and has commanding views of the surrounding landscape. The name's origin is probably a mixture of Gaelic and Old Norse: Dun in

4884-482: The Poor Laws (that would have had the effect of formalising the obligation to feed all the destitute in each parish) was the final impetus to the various assisted emigration measures. In the decades following 1815, the ideological and political consensus changed. Surplus population slowly became thought of as a liability; their need to be fed could not be ignored in a philanthropic age. Therefore, large-scale expatriation

5032-526: The Scottish reformation , this led the Scottish-English crown to mount an expedition to subdue them. In 1614 the crown handed Islay to Sir John Campbell of Cawdor , in return for an undertaking to pacify it; this the Campbells eventually achieved. Under Campbell influence, shrieval authority was established under the sheriff of Argyll . With inherited Campbell control of the sheriffdom, comital authority

5180-508: The Sound of Islay . On account of the Corryvreckan whirlpool to the north of Jura, the Sound was the main safe sea route between the mainland and the rest of the Hebrides; Claig Castle essentially gave Somerled control of sea traffic. Following Somerled's 1164 death, the realm was divided between Godred's heirs, and Somerled's sons, whose descendants continued to describe themselves as King of

5328-460: The enclosure of the open fields managed on the run rig system and shared grazing. These were usually replaced with large-scale pastoral farms on which much higher rents were paid. The displaced tenants were expected to be employed in industries such as fishing, quarrying or the kelp industry . Their reduction in status from farmer to crofter was one of the causes of resentment. The second phase involved overcrowded crofting communities from

5476-415: The open fields were divided into equivalent parts and these were allocated, once a year, to each of the occupiers, who then worked their land individually. With no individual leases or ownership of plots of land, there was little incentive to improve it (for instance by drainage or crop rotation systems). Nor, with common grazing, could an individual owner improve the quality of his stock. Enclosure of

5624-709: The " heart of the Lordship " to move to the twin castles of Aros and Ardtornish , in the Sound of Mull . In 1462, the last and most ambitious of the Lords, John MacDonald II , struck an alliance with Edward IV of England under terms of the Treaty of Ardtornish-Westminster with the goal of conquering Scotland. The onset of the Wars of the Roses prevented the treaty from being discovered by Scottish agents, and Edward from fulfilling his obligations as an ally. A decade later, in 1475, it had come to

5772-522: The "eviction of the Gaels ") were the evictions of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands and Islands , mostly in two phases from 1750 to 1860. The first phase resulted from agricultural improvement , driven by the need for landlords to increase their income – many had substantial debts, with actual or potential bankruptcy being a large part of the story of the clearances. This involved

5920-462: The 1710s and spread after 1737 to all their holdings. First phase clearances involved break-up of the traditional townships ( bailtean ), the essential element of land management in Scottish Gaeldom. These multiple tenant farms were most often managed by tacksmen. To replace this system, individual arable smallholdings or crofts were created, with shared access to common grazing. This process

6068-485: The 1770s onwards. This was not initially seen as a problem by landlords as people were considered to be an asset—both to provide a pool for military recruitment and as an economic resource. Landowners and the government sought to discourage emigration, an attitude that resulted in the Passenger Vessels Act 1803 , which was intended to limit the ability of people to emigrate. The role of the Highlands in providing

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6216-456: The 1850s. It followed the collapse or stagnation of the wartime industries and the continuing rise in population. These economic effects are illustrated by the contemporary commodity prices. Kelp had been falling since 1810; in 1823 the market price in Liverpool was £9 a ton , but it fell to £3 13s 4d a ton in 1828, 41% of the 1823 price. Wool prices also shrank over a similar period to a quarter of

6364-407: The 18th or 19th centuries, and English is a stronger influence in their names as a result. Port Charlotte for example, was named after Lady Charlotte Campbell , daughter of 5th Duke of Argyll and wife of the island's then-owner, Colonel John Campbell (1770–1809) of Shawfield and Islay. Islay is 40 kilometres (25 mi) long from north to south and 24 kilometres (15 mi) broad. The east coast

6512-548: The 19th century. Particularly in the West Highlands and the Isles, the residents of these small agricultural plots were reliant on potatoes for at least three quarters of their diet. Until 1750, potatoes had been relatively uncommon in the Highlands. With a crop yield four times higher than oats, they became an integral part of crofting. After partial crop failures in 1836 and 1837, a severe outbreak of potato blight arrived in Scotland in 1846. Blight continued to seriously affect

6660-890: The Australian, John Kerr , and Andrew Wyllie . They called this process apoptosis , publishing their results in 1972. Glasgow University and Aberdeen Universities each awarded him an honorary doctorate: LLD from Glasgow and DSc from Aberdeen. In 1964 he was elected a member of the Harveian Society of Edinburgh . In 1964, he was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh . His proposers were George L Montgomery, James Norman Davidson , Thomas Symington and Richard H A Swain. He served as their Vice-President 1988–90 and President 1991–93 He died in Edinburgh on 12 January 1994. In 1949 he married Jeanne Clark, whom he had met as

6808-532: The Campbell's control of the sheriffdom; thereafter they could now only assert their influence in their role as Landlords. A defining aspect of 19th-century Argyll was the gradual improvement of transport infrastructure. Roads were built, the Crinan canal shortened the sea distance to Glasgow and the numerous traditional ferry crossings were augmented by new quays. Rubble piers were built at several locations on Islay and

6956-473: The Highland Clearances) is debatable. The term was not in common use during much of the clearances; landowners, their factors and other estate staff tended, until the 1840s, to use the word "removal" to refer to the eviction of tenants. However, by 1843, "clearance" had become a general (and derogatory) word to describe the activities of Highland landlords. Its use was ambiguous, as for some it meant only

7104-406: The Highland potato crop until about 1856. This was famine of a much greater scale and duration than anything previously experienced. By the end of 1846, the north-west Highlands and the Hebrides had serious food shortages, with an estimated three quarters of the population with nothing to eat. The Highland Potato Famine started a year after potato blight had first struck Ireland. The knowledge of

7252-523: The Highlands. Large amounts of capital were used to start industrial and commercial enterprises or build infrastructure like roads, bridges and harbours, but the return on this capital was very low by contemporary standards. This wasted investment is described by Eric Richards as "a loss to the national economy to be set beside any gains to be tallied." Some of this expenditure was used to build new towns, such as Bettyhill, which received tenants cleared from Strathnaver. This displacement has been compared to

7400-400: The Highlands. They were headed by a clan chief, with members of his family taking positions of authority under him. The mechanisms of clanship gave protection and agricultural land to the clansmen, who in return paid with service and rent which was paid, especially in earlier periods, mostly in kind (as opposed to money). Service included military service when required. The Highlands was one of

7548-642: The Irish catastrophe helped mobilise a response to the Highland crisis, with government action, the establishment of a large charitable fund (the Central Board for Highland Destitution) and much more responsible landlord behaviour than seen in Ireland. The richer landlords, such as the Duke of Sutherland, were able to fund their own famine relief for their tenants. Some, already overstretched by large debts, were bankrupted by providing

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7696-570: The Isles at the time, spurring Somerled into action. The two fought the Battle of Epiphany in the seas off Islay in January 1156. The result was a bloody stalemate , and the island kingdom was temporarily divided, with Somerled taking control of the southern Hebrides. Two years later Somerled completely ousted Godred Olafsson and re-united the kingdom. Somerled built the sea fortress of Claig Castle on an island between Islay and Jura, to establish control of

7844-543: The Isles there, upon an ancient seven-foot-square coronation stone bearing footprint impressions in which the new ruler stood barefoot and was anointed by the Bishop of Argyll and seven priests. The Lord's advisory " Council of the Isles " met on Eilean na Comhairle ( Council Island ), in Loch Finlaggan on Islay, within a timber framed crannog that had originally been constructed in the first century BC. The Islay Charter ,

7992-673: The MacDonalds, and in 1493 had thus been seen as the natural replacement for them, leading to a branch of the MacLeans being granted Dunyvaig Castle by king James, and expanding into Islay. Naturally, the restoration of the MacDonalds created some hostility with the MacLeans; in 1549, after observing that Islay was fertile, fruitful, and full of natural pastures, with good hunting and plentiful salmon and seals, Dean Monro describes Dunyvaig, and Loch Gorm Castle " now usurped be M’Gillayne of Doward ". . The dispute continued for decades, and in 1578

8140-517: The MacDougall lands forfeit, and distributed them between the MacDonalds and Macruari (the latter already owning much of Lorne , Uist , parts of Lochaber , and Garmoran ). The Macruari territories were eventually inherited by Amy of Garmoran ., who married her MacDonald cousin John of Islay in the 1330s; having succeeded Aonghus Óg as head of the MacDonalds, he now controlled significant stretches of

8288-577: The Macleans were expelled from Loch Gorm by force, and in 1598 their branch was finally defeated at the Battle of Traigh Ghruinneart . However, when Sorley Boy MacDonnell (of the Islay MacDonalds) had a clash with the Irish branch of the Macleans, and the unpopularity of the MacDonalds in Edinburgh (where their use of Gaelic was regarded as barbaric), weakened their grip on their southern Hebridean possessions. In 1608, Coupled with MacDonald hostility to

8436-566: The Norwegian king died. In 1266, his more peaceable successor ceded his nominal authority over Suðreyjar to the Scottish king ( Alexander III ) by the Treaty of Perth , in return for a very large sum of money. Alexander generally acknowledged the semi-independent authority of Somerled's heirs; the former Suðreyjar had become a Scottish crown dependency, rather than part of Scotland. By this point, Somerled's descendants had formed into three families –

8584-413: The Norwegian king , to launch a military campaign to assert his authority. In 1098, under pressure from Magnus, the king of Scotland quitclaimed to Magnus all sovereign authority over the isles. In the mid 12th century, a granddaughter of Godred Crovan's married the ambitious Somerled , a Norse-Gaelic Argyle nobleman. Godred Olafsson , grandson of Godred Crovan, was an increasingly unpopular King of

8732-558: The Scots that no one who built a ship or boat dared use more than three iron bolts". Godred also became King of Dublin at an unknown date, although in 1094 he was driven out of the city by Muircheartach Ua Briain , later known as High King of Ireland , according to the Annals of the Four Masters . He died on Islay " of pestilence ", during the following year. A local tradition suggests that

8880-452: The Statutes of Iona reined in the steady transition to landlordism because the ability to raise a band of fighting men at short notice became important again. The civil war that started in 1638 reinvigorated the military aspects. The restoration of Charles II in 1660 brought peace, but also increased taxes, restarting the financial pressure. The succession of Jacobite rebellions emphasised again

9028-408: The Sudreys until the 13th century. Somerled's grandson, Donald received Islay, along with Claig Castle, and the adjacent part of Jura as far north as Loch Tarbert . Nominal Norwegian authority had been re-established after Somerled's death, but by the mid 13th century, increased tension between Norway and Scotland led to a series of battles, culminating in the Battle of Largs , shortly after which

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9176-440: The alternative of simple eviction. The potato famine followed shortly after the collapse of the kelp industry. Faced with a severe famine, the government made clear to any reluctant landlords that they had the primary responsibility of feeding their destitute tenants, whether through employment in public works or estate improvement, or simply by the provision of famine relief. The threat of full application, and possible reform, of

9324-604: The associated farm incomes which allowed higher rents to be charged. The origin of some of this debt went back to the Statutes of Iona, when some lairds were forced to live part of the year in Edinburgh – much more expensive than living on their own lands. Profligate spending was a significant cause. The costs of involvement in political activity was a factor for some. The landed classes of the Highlands socialised with southern landowners, who had more diverse sources of income, such as mineral royalties and windfall income from urban expansion. The low productivity of Highland lands made this

9472-412: The attention of the Scottish court, but calls for forfeiture of the Lordship were calmed when John quitclaimed his mainland territories, and Skye. However, ambition wasn't given up so easily, and John's nephew launched a severe raid on Ross , but it ultimately failed. Within 2 years of the raid, in 1493, MacDonald was compelled to forfeit his estates and titles to James IV of Scotland ; by this forfeiture,

9620-419: The bedrock at the northern end of the Rinns. It is a quartz -rich metamorphic marine sandstone that may be unique to Scotland and which is nearly 5,000 m (16,400 ft) thick. South of Rubh' a' Mhail there are outcrops of quartzite , and a strip of mica schist and limestone cuts across the centre of the island from The Oa to Port Askaig. Further south is a band of metamorphic quartzite and granites,

9768-572: The benefits to those forced to make a new start after eviction. The provision of new accommodation for cleared tenants was often part of a planned piece of social engineering; a large example of this was the Sutherland Clearances, in which farming tenants in the interior were moved to crofts in coastal regions. The intent was that the land allotted to them would not be enough to provide all of their needs, and they would need to seek employment in industries like fishing or as seasonal itinerant farm labourers. The loss of status from tenant farmer to crofter

9916-399: The better climate of the southern and eastern Highlands, the more diverse agricultural system gave a reasonable level of prosperity to the area. Agricultural change in the Hebrides and the western coastal areas north of Fort William produced a different economic and social structure. This area is termed the "crofting region"; crofting communities became the dominant social system here, as land

10064-422: The case, in time of war, the Highlands was seen as a significant recruiting resource. The attitude towards increasing population was altered in the first half of the 19th century. First, the kelp trade collapsed in the years immediately following the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. Those working in the kelp trade were crofters, with not enough land to make a living, or cottars, the very poorest in society with

10212-401: The common lands and the run rig fields was a method of improvement. More commonly, there was a greater change in land use: the replacement of mixed farming (in which cattle provided a cash crop) with large-scale sheep farming. This involved displacement of the population to crofts on the same estate, other land in the Highlands, the industrial cities of Scotland or other countries. The common view

10360-433: The context of revolution in France, and caused alarm. As Sheriff Depute, Donald Macleod reported events to the Lord Advocate, Robert Dundas, in Edinburgh, asking for military help. The request was forwarded to London, where Henry Dundas (Robert's uncle) gave orders for the Black Watch to be sent north to assist. Until they arrived, Macleod avoided the risk of any action against the protestors that might not be successful. In

10508-400: The crofting region (as per T. M. Devine's definition of the term), whilst the "farming" south and east Highlands contained 121,224 people. Agriculture in the Highlands had always been marginal, with famine a recurrent risk for pre-clearance communities. Nevertheless, population levels increased steadily through the 18th and early 19th centuries. This increase continued through nearly all of

10656-496: The displacement of large numbers of people from a single place at one time. For others, the eviction of a single tenant at the end of a lease could be termed "clearance". Eric Richards suggests that current usage is broad, meaning "any displacement of occupiers (even of sheep) by Highland landlords". He adds that it can apply to both large and small evictions, and includes voluntary or forced removal and instances involving either emigration or resettlement nearby. T. M. Devine also takes

10804-435: The early hours of 5 August, Macleod, a large party of the gentry from the region, and three companies of soldiers moved to where the sheep had been gathered. Most of the protestors fled, but eight were captured in the vicinity and a further four were taken in their homes. The protest rapidly faded away. Eight of the captives were tried on charges of assaulting the sheep farmers who had impounded their cattle, but were acquitted on

10952-423: The end of the 1850s. Eric Richards describes this as a "financial suicide" by an entire class of people. Debt was not a new problem for Highland landowners in the 19th century—it had been equally prevalent in the 17th and 18th. The change was in the lender. The further development of the banking system at the beginning of the 19th century meant that landowners did not need to look to family members or neighbours as

11100-494: The estate could be sold to wipe out the debts. A new owner was highly likely to have plans for improvement which would include clearance. They also had the money to fund assisted passages for cleared tenants to emigrate, so putting into practice ideas suggested in the 1820s and 1830s. As most purchasers were from outside the Highlands or from England, they neither understood nor followed the Gaelic principle of dùthchas , so removing

11248-427: The estate. In some areas, land remained in arable use after clearance but was farmed with more intensive modern methods. Some of the earliest clearances had been to introduce large-scale cattle production. Some later clearances replaced agriculture with sporting estates stocked with deer. There were instances of an estate being first cleared for sheep and later being cleared again for deer. The major transition, however,

11396-427: The first phase that had lost the means to support themselves, through famine and/or collapse of industries that they had relied on. This is when "assisted passages" were common, when landowners paid the fares for their tenants to emigrate . Tenants who were selected for this had, in practical terms, little choice but to emigrate. The Highland Potato Famine struck towards the end of this period, giving greater urgency to

11544-406: The former language means "fort" and knaus-borg in the latter means "fort on the crag". There is no evidence that Islay was ever subject to Roman military control although small numbers of finds such as a coin and a brooch from the third century AD suggest links of some kind with the intermittent Roman presence on the mainland. The ruins of a broch at Dùn Bhoraraic south east of Ballygrant and

11692-520: The good behaviour of the clan. Overall, this reduced the need for the protection provided by a clan whilst increasing the costs for the clan leaders. The clan chiefs who fully subscribed to this new system of regulation were rewarded with charters that formalised their ownership of clan lands. The combination of these initiated the demise of clanship. The process continued as clan chiefs began to think of themselves as landlords, rather than as patriarchs of their people. The various intervals of warfare since

11840-460: The government planned to introduce an 'able-bodied Poor Law', so formally putting the potentially crippling burden of famine relief on each parish (and hence on the landlord); the Central Board made clear that they would wind up their relief effort in 1850. The new Highland landowner class (who had bought financially failing estates) and the remaining wealthier hereditary landlords had the funds to support emigration of their destitute tenants. The result

11988-461: The government would recover the cost of famine relief from those who could provide it, but chose not to. Clearance and emigration were an integral part of the Highland potato famine; the length and severity of the crisis seemed to leave little alternative. The choice faced by the government was between indefinitely continuing with charitable efforts and public works, or removing the excess population permanently. Rumours circulated, from 1849, that

12136-470: The grounds that the violence was self defence. Seven of the prisoners were tried on charges of insurrection and found guilty. The penalties, at a time when the death penalty was frequently used, were mild. The most severe was seven years transportation to Australia for two of the protestors. This was not carried out, because they escaped from the prison cells in the Inverness Tolbooth . No serious attempt

12284-754: The heirs of Donald (the MacDonalds , led by Aonghas Óg MacDonald ), those of Donald's brother (the Macruari , led by Ruaidhri mac Ailein), and those of Donald's uncle (the MacDougalls , led by Alexander MacDougall ). At the end of the 13th century, when king John Balliol was challenged for the throne by Robert the Bruce , the MacDougalls backed Balliol, while the Macruari and MacDonalds backed Robert. When Robert won, he declared

12432-624: The heirs of the wealthier Highlanders to be educated in the Lowlands and required clan chiefs to appear annually in front of the Privy Council in Edinburgh. This exposed the top layer of Highland society to the costs of living in Edinburgh in a manner fitting to their status. Unlike their Lowland counterparts, their lands were less productive and were not well integrated into the money economy. Large financial sureties were taken from clan leaders to guarantee

12580-399: The higher-rent-paying sheep farms. Over time, crofts were subdivided, allowing more tenants to live on them (but with less land per person). Crofting communities had a high proportion of cottars—those with the least access to land and without any formal lease to document what they did hold. Population growth was rapid, due to both subdivision and the lower rate of migration to the Lowlands. When

12728-421: The improvements that required clearance at different times and for different reasons. The common drivers of clearance are as follows: Replacement of the old-style peasant farming with a small number of well-capitalised sheep farmers allowed land to be let at much higher rents. It also had the advantage, for the landowner, that there were fewer tenants to collect rent from, thus reducing the administrative burden of

12876-553: The island was ice-covered during the Pleistocene glaciations save for Beinn Tart a' Mhill on the Rinns, which was a nunatak on the edge of the ice sheet. The complex changes of sea level due to melting ice caps and isostasy since then have left a series of raised beaches around the coast. Throughout much of late prehistory the low-lying land between the Rinns and the rest of the island was flooded, creating two islands. The influence of

13024-614: The island was recorded at over 6,600 cows and 2,200 horses in a 1722 rental listing. In 1726 Islay was purchased by John Campbell of Mamore using compensation from Glasgow Town Council (£9000) for damages during the Malt tax riots . When he died in 1729 the island passed to his son, Daniel Campbell of Shawfield . Following the Jacobite insurrections of 1745–6, the Heritable Jurisdictions Act 1746 abolished comital authority, and

13172-565: The kelp market collapsed a few years after the end of the Napoleonic Wars , the deficiency of the crofting model was exposed: overcrowded communities with limited or no ability to grow enough food for subsistence and now without the industry on which their community relied. This is the area that was most reliant on the potato, and therefore severely hit by the Highland Potato Famine. The census of 1841 recorded 167,283 people living in

13320-745: The king. A charter was soon sent from the Scottish King confirming this state of affairs; it declares that Skye and the Outer Hebrides are to be considered independent from the rest of the former Lordship, leaving only Islay and Jura remaining in the comital unit. James V sent gunners to garrison forts in Islay in 1540. Initially dispossessed in the wake of royal opposition to the Lordship, Clan MacDonald of Dunnyveg 's holdings in Islay were restored in 1545. The MacLean family had been granted land in Jura in 1390, by

13468-517: The land their predecessors had farmed for centuries. In 1891 the census recorded only 7,375 citizens, with many evictees making new homes in Canada, the United States and elsewhere. The population continued to decline for much of the 20th century and today is about 3,500. In 1899, counties were formally created, on shrieval boundaries, by a Scottish Local Government Act ; Islay therefore became part of

13616-439: The landowner, even if only distantly. They acted as the middle stratum of pre-clearance society, with a significant role in managing the Highland economy. They were the first sector of Gaelic society to feel the effect of the social and economic changes that included the Clearances, when landlords restricted their power to sub-let, so increasing the rental income directly to the laird; simple rent increases were also applied. This

13764-520: The lands became part of Scotland, rather than a crown dependency. James ordered Finlaggan demolished, its buildings razed, and the coronation stone destroyed, to discourage any attempts at restoration of the Lordship. When Martin Martin visited Islay in the late 17th century he recorded a description of the coronations Finlaggan had once seen. . John was exiled from his former lands, and his former subjects now considered themselves to have no superior except

13912-487: The larger farmers who departed at the same time, represented not only a flight of capital from Gaeldom but also a loss of entrepreneurial energy. In the opinion of T. M. Devine, tacksmen and the middle-ranked tenant farmers represented the economic backbone of the peasant communities of the Western Highlands. Devine repeats the views of Marianne McLean, that those of them who emigrated were not refusing to participate in

14060-455: The least access to land on which to grow food. Without alternative employment, which was not available, destitution was inevitable. The landlords (or in some cases the trustees of their bankrupt estates) no longer tried to retain their tenants on their land, either encouraging or assisting emigration, or, in the more desperate circumstances, virtually compelling those in substantial rent arrears to accept an assisted passage (i.e., to emigrate), with

14208-405: The likely consequences. The kelp trade was badly affected by the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 and had collapsed totally by 1820. Kelp (or seaweed) was harvested from the seashore at low tide, dried and burnt to yield an alkali extract used in the manufacture of soap and glass. It was a very labour-intensive industry. Production had steadily grown from the 1730s to a peak level in 1810, and

14356-402: The main commercial activities are agriculture, malt whisky distillation and tourism. The island has a long history of religious observance, and Scottish Gaelic is spoken by about a quarter of the population. Its landscapes have been celebrated through various art forms, and there is a growing interest in renewable energy in the form of wave power . Islay is home to many bird species such as

14504-493: The mainland can suffer delays. The driest months are April to July and the warmest are May to September, which as a result are the busiest times for tourism. Sunshine hours are typically highest around the coasts, especially to the west. The earliest settlers on Islay were nomadic hunter-gatherers who may have first arrived during the Mesolithic period after the retreat of the Pleistocene ice caps. A flint arrowhead , which

14652-477: The mainland had a long-lasting effect, beginning with the destruction of Dál Riata. As is the case in the Northern Isles , the derivation of place names suggests a complete break from the past. Jennings and Kruse conclude that although there were settlements prior to the Norse arrival " there is no evidence from the onomasticon that the inhabitants of these settlements ever existed ". Gaelic continued to exist as

14800-486: The martial aspects of clanship, but the defeat at Culloden brought an end to any willingness to go to war again. The loss of heritable jurisdictions across Scotland highlighted the changed role of clan chiefs. A tacksman (a member of the daoine uaisle , sometimes described as "gentry" in English) was the holder of a lease or "tack" from the landowner, subletting the land to lesser tenants. They were often related to

14948-424: The movement of Glaswegians to Castlemilk in the 1950s—with a similar distance from the original settlement and a comparable level of overall failure of the project to produce the anticipated social benefits. In the second phase of the clearances, when population reduction was the primary intention, the actions of landlords can be viewed as the crudest type of social engineering with a very limited understanding of

15096-519: The name "river" despite their small size. The most significant of these are the River Laggan which discharges into the sea at the north end of Laggan Bay, and the River Sorn which, draining Loch Finlaggan, enters the head of Loch Indaal at Bridgend. There are numerous small uninhabited islands around the coasts, the largest of which are Eilean Mhic Coinnich and Orsay off the Rinns, Nave Island on

15244-587: The nearby mainland and adjacent islands, lay within the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata with strong links to Ireland. The widely accepted opinion is that Dál Riata was established by Gaelic migrants from Ulster, displacing a native Brythonic culture (such as the Picts ), but some scholars claim that the Gaels in this part of Scotland were indigenous to the area. Dál Riata was divided into a small number of regions, each controlled by

15392-538: The necessary relief. The landlord of most of Islay, Walter Frederick Campbell , was a spectacular example. Another whose benevolence during the crisis brought bankruptcy was Norman Macleod of Macleod , owner of one of the two major estates in Skye. Conversely, some landlords were criticised for using the voluntarily raised relief funds to avoid supporting their tenants through the crisis. A few were recipients of strongly critical letters from senior civil servants, with threats that

15540-519: The next four centuries and more this Kingdom was under the control of rulers of mostly Norse origin. Godred Crovan was one of the most significant of the rulers of this sea kingdom . Though his origins are obscure, it is known that Godred was a Norse-Gael , with a connection to Islay. The Chronicles of Mann call Godred the son of Harald the Black of Ysland, (his place or origin variously interpreted as Islay, Ireland or Iceland ) and state he "so tamed

15688-608: The northwest coast, Am Fraoch Eilean in the Sound of Islay, and Texa off the south coast. The underlying geology of Islay is intricate for such a small area. The deformed Palaeoproterozoic igneous rock of the Rhinns complex is dominated by a coarse-grained gneiss cut by large intrusions of deformed gabbro . Once thought to be part of the Lewisian complex , it lies beneath the Colonsay Group of metasedimentary rocks that forms

15836-475: The northwest coast. The south coast is sheltered from the prevailing winds and, as a result, relatively wooded. The fractal coast has numerous bays and sea lochs, including Loch an t-Sailein , Aros Bay and Claggain Bay . In the far southwest is a rocky and now largely uninhabited peninsula called The Oa , the closest point in the Hebrides to Ireland. The island's population is concentrated mainly in and around

15984-478: The old system. Whilst there were large pastoral farms, there were also mixed and arable farms—both of which needed labour. The population of the south and east Highlands only grew slightly from 1755 to 1841. This is explained by migration to the accessible Lowlands to find work and the relative unavailability of small tenancies. This gave this part of the Highlands some similarities to the Lowland clearances . Together with

16132-605: The only possibility was fishing, which was also in decline at the same time. The overall population of the Western Isles had grown by 80 per cent between 1755 and 1821. The economic collapse of an industry that was a major employer in a greatly over-populated region had an inevitable result. Not only did the level of poverty increase in the general population, but many landlords, failing to make prompt adjustments to their catastrophic fall in income, descended into debt and bankruptcy. The Highlands, as an agriculturally marginal area,

16280-440: The parts of Scotland where law and order were not maintained by central government, hence the need for protection from a powerful leader. Clan leaders controlled the agricultural land, with its distribution generally being achieved through leases to tacksmen, who sublet to the peasant farmers. The basic farming unit was the baile or township, consisting of a few (anything from 4 to 20 or more) families working arable land on

16428-501: The population of Argyll was to be found dispersed in small clachans of farming families and only two villages of any size, Killarow near Bridgend and Lagavulin, existed on Islay at the time. (Killarow had a church and tolbooth and houses for merchants and craft workers but was razed in the 1760s to "improve" the grounds of Islay House.) The agricultural economy was dependent on arable farming including staples such as barley and oats supplemented with stock-rearing. The carrying capacity of

16576-449: The price obtained in 1818, and black cattle nearly halved in price between 1810 and the 1830s. In the second phase, landlords moved to the more draconian policy of expelling people from their estates. This was increasingly associated with 'assisted emigration', in which landlords cancelled rent arrears and paid the passage of the 'redundant' families in their estates to North America and, in later years, also to Australia. The process reached

16724-561: The process. The eviction of tenants went against dùthchas , the principle that clan members had an inalienable right to rent land in the clan territory. This was never recognised in Scottish law. It was gradually abandoned by clan chiefs as they began to think of themselves simply as commercial landlords, rather than as patriarchs of their people—a process that arguably started with the Statutes of Iona of 1609. The clan members continued to rely on dùthchas . This difference in viewpoints

16872-479: The remains of numerous Atlantic roundhouses indicate the influences of northern Scotland, where these forms of building originate. There are also various crannogs on Islay, including sites in Loch Ardnave, Loch Ballygrant and Loch Allallaidh in the south east where a stone causeway leading out to two adjacent islands is visible beneath the surface of the water. By the sixth century AD Islay, along with much of

17020-404: The royalist garrison at Dunnyvaig, laying waste to the island. It was not until 1677 that the Campbells felt sufficiently at ease to construct Islay House at Bridgend to be their principal, and unfortified, island residence. Martin Martin recorded that Sir Hugh Campbell of Caddell was the king's steward of Islay in the late seventeenth century. At the beginning of the 18th century much of

17168-405: The run rig management system, and grazing livestock on common land. Clans provided an effective business model for running the trade in black cattle: the clan gentry managed the collection of those beasts ready for sale and negotiated a price with lowland drovers for all the stock produced on the clan lands. The sale proceeds were offset against the rentals of the individual producers. The growth in

17316-458: The severity of famines in the pre-clearance Highlands: in 1845, the Sutherland estate management argued among themselves over the level of famine relief that had been needed in the past, including this opinion: "The cattle on Sutherland were that Spring dying from scarcity of provender... and this is the condition to which your morbid Philanthropists of the present day refer as the days of comfort for

17464-540: The sheep and drive them south over the River Beauly . It was put into effect in a highly organised manner, gathering all the sheep in the area (except that of Donald Macleod of Geanies, the Sheriff Depute of Ross - perhaps out of either fear or respect for him). The first flocks were gathered on the 31 July and by 4 August many thousand sheep had been collected. The protest was seen by local landowners and law officers in

17612-399: The time of the clearances, peaking in 1851, at around 300,000. Emigration was part of Highland history before and during the clearances, and reached its highest level after them. During the first phase of the clearances, emigration could be considered a form of resistance to the loss of status being imposed by a landlord's social engineering . Different landowners decided to introduce

17760-410: The trade in cattle demonstrates the ability of pre-clearance Highland society to adapt to and exploit market opportunities—making clear that this was not an immutable social system. James VI was one of the kings who sought to impose control on the Highlands. On becoming James I of England in 1603, he gained the military force to do this. The Statutes of Iona controlled some key aspects; this forced

17908-525: The transfer of the Hebrides to the Kingdom of Scotland and the emergence of the Clan Donald Lordship of the Isles , originally centred at Finlaggan . During the 17th century the power of Clan Donald waned, but improvements to agriculture and transport led to a rising population, which peaked in the mid-19th century. This was followed by substantial forced displacements and declining resident numbers. Today, Islay has over 3,000 inhabitants, and

18056-699: The view that "clearance" has a broader meaning now than when it was used in the 19th century. The first phase of the Highland Clearances was part of the Scottish Agricultural Revolution but happened later than the same process in the Scottish Lowlands . Scottish agriculture in general modernised much more rapidly than in England and, to a large extent, elsewhere in Europe. The growing cities of

18204-416: The villages of Bowmore and Port Ellen . Other smaller villages include Bridgend , Ballygrant , Port Charlotte , Portnahaven and Port Askaig . The rest of the island is sparsely populated and mainly agricultural. There are several small freshwater lochs in the interior including Loch Finlaggan , Loch Ballygrant, Loch Lossit and Loch Gorm, and numerous burns throughout the island, many of which bear

18352-405: The western seaboard of Scotland from Morvern to Loch Hourn , and the whole of the Hebrides save for Skye (which Robert had given to Hugh of Ross instead). From 1336 onwards John began to style himself Dominus Insularum —" Lord of the Isles ", a title that implied a connection to the earlier Kings of the Isles and by extension a degree of independence from the Scottish crown; this honorific

18500-534: The wintering populations of Greenland white-fronted and barnacle goose , and is a popular destination throughout the year for birdwatchers. The climate is mild and ameliorated by the Gulf Stream . Islay was probably recorded by Ptolemy as Epidion , the use of the "p" suggesting a Brittonic or Pictish tribal name. In the 7th century Adomnán referred to the island as Ilea , and the name occurs in early Irish records as Ile and as Íl in Old Norse . The root

18648-454: The wretched Highlanders." (11 June 1845 letter to James Loch). Even accepting the level of debate on the subject among historians and the incomplete body of evidence, there is a clear case that, for example, pre-clearance Strathnaver (in Sutherland) experienced recurrent famine in a society operating at the margin of subsistence. Crofting communities became more common in the early part of

18796-606: Was also an RAF Coastal Command flying boat base at Bowmore from 13 March 1941 using Loch Indaal. In 1944 an RCAF 422 Squadron Sunderland flying boat's crew were rescued after their aircraft landed off Bowmore but broke from her moorings in a gale and sank. There was an RAF Chain Home radar station at Saligo Bay and RAF Chain Home Low station at Kilchiaran. The mainstays of the modern Islay economy are agriculture, fishing, distilling , and tourism. Much of Islay remains owned by

18944-448: Was an inevitable source of grievance. The actions of landlords varied. Some did try to delay or limit evictions, often to their financial cost. The Countess of Sutherland genuinely believed her plans were advantageous for those resettled in crofting communities and could not understand why tenants complained. However, a few landlords displayed complete lack of concern for evicted tenants. The definition of "clearance" (as it relates to

19092-409: Was claimed by his heirs for several generations. The MacDonalds had thus achieved command of a strong semi-independent maritime realm, and considered themselves equals of the kings of Scotland, Norway, and England. Initially, their power base was on the shores of Loch Finlaggan in northeastern Islay, near the present-day village of Caol Ila . Successive chiefs of Clan Donald were proclaimed Lord of

19240-458: Was considered as a solution to the social crisis in the Highlands. The ideas of Malthus were adopted by many in a position to influence policy. The Passenger Vessels Act was repealed in 1827 and in 1841 a select committee of the House of Commons concluded that the crofting parishes had a surplus population of 45,000 to 60,000. The primary motivation for clearance was economic. Associated with this

19388-521: Was enclosed and the run rig management of the multi-tenant baile replaced. The major part of the land was given over to large-scale pastoral sheep farming. This provided few jobs, compared to the arable and mixed farms in the south and east Highlands. The main industries intended for those displaced to crofting communities were fishing and kelp. Initially, this seemed, to the landlords and their advisors, an ideal way of providing profitable employment for those made redundant by competition for farm leases by

19536-582: Was erected on the coast of The Oa by the American Red Cross to commemorate the sinking of these two ships. A military cemetery was created at Kilchoman where the dead from both nations in the latter disaster were buried (all but one of the American bodies were later exhumed and returned home). During World War II , the RAF built an airfield at Glenegedale which later became the civil airport for Islay. There

19684-577: Was for the benefit of those affected. Patrick Sellar , the factor (agent) of the Countess of Sutherland , was descended from a paternal grandfather who had been a cottar in Banffshire and had been cleared by an improving landlord. For the Sellars, this initiated a process of upward mobility (Patrick Sellar was a lawyer and a graduate of Edinburgh University), which Sellar took to be a moral tale that demonstrated

19832-540: Was found in a field near Bridgend in 1993 and dates from 10,800 BC, is amongst the earliest evidence of a human presence found so far in Scotland. Stone implements of the Ahrensburgian culture found at Rubha Port an t-Seilich near Port Askaig by foraging pigs in 2015 probably came from a summer camp used by hunters travelling round the coast in boats. Mesolithic finds have been dated to 7000 BC using radiocarbon dating of shells and debris from kitchen middens . By

19980-482: Was involved in a collision with HMS Kashmir in heavy seas while similarly transporting American Doughboys from New York Harbor . Otranto lost steering and drifted towards the west coast of the Rinns. Answering her SOS the destroyer HMS Mounsey attempted to come alongside and managed to rescue over 350 men. Nonetheless, the Otranto was wrecked on the shore near Machir Bay with a total loss of 431 lives. A monument

20128-401: Was let to sheep farmers who repeatedly impounded the cattle of neighbouring tenants, alleging that they had strayed onto the sheep grazing. Eventually the owners of the cattle obtained the help from tenants of a nearby estate, and went and recovered their stock after an angry confrontation. Emboldened by this success, a few days later, at a wedding celebration, a plan was developed to round up all

20276-400: Was mostly located in the Hebrides. The end of war reintroduced competition from Spanish barilla , a cheaper and richer product. This, combined with the reduction of duty on the foreign import, and the discovery that cheaper alkali could be extracted from common salt, destroyed the seasonal employment of an estimated 25 to 40 thousand crofters. There was little prospect of alternative employment;

20424-444: Was often accompanied by moving the people from the interior straths and glens to the coast, where they were expected to find employment in, for example, the kelp or fishing industries. The properties they had formerly occupied were then converted into large sheep holdings. Essentially, therefore, this phase was characterised by relocation rather than outright expulsion. The second phase of clearance started in 1815–20, continuing to

20572-531: Was one of the reasons for the resentment of the Clearances. The planned acts of social engineering needed investment. This money often originated from fortunes earned outside Scotland, whether from the great wealth of Sir James Matheson (the second son of a Sutherland tacksman, who returned from the Far East with a spectacular fortune), the more ordinary profits from Empire of other returning Scots, or Lowland or English industrialists attracted by lower land values in

20720-430: Was part of a slow phasing out of this role; it accelerated from the 1770s, and by the next century, tacksmen were a minor component of society. T. M. Devine describes "the displacement of this class as one of the clearest demonstrations of the death of the old Gaelic society." Many emigrated to America, in the words of Eric Richards: "often cocking a snook at the landlords as they departed". Emigrating tacksmen, and

20868-493: Was possible. However, in 1771, thirty-six families did not have their leases renewed (out of some 300 families who were tenants of Boisdale); 11 of these emigrated the next year with financial assistance from the Roman Catholic church. In 1792 tenant farmers from Strathrusdale led a protest by driving more than 6,000 sheep off the land surrounding Ardross . It was the first large protest over clearances. It started when land

21016-506: Was relatively superfluous, and the provincial identity ( medieval Latin : provincia ) of Islay-Jura faded away. The situation was soon complicated by the Civil War , when Archibald , the head of the most powerful branch of the Campbells, was the de facto head of Covenanter government, while other branches (and even Archibald's son ) were committed Royalists . A Covenanter army under Sir David Leslie arrived on Islay in 1647, and besieged

21164-534: Was sold to James Morrison of Berkshire , ancestor of the third Baron Margadale , who still owns a substantial portion of the island. The sundering of the relationship between the landowners and the island's residents proved consequential. When the estate owners realised they could make more money from sheep farming than from the indigenous small farmers, wholesale Clearances became commonplace. Four hundred people emigrated from Islay in 1863 alone, some for purely economic reasons, but many others having been forced off

21312-622: Was that almost 11,000 people were provided with "assisted passages" by their landlords between 1846 and 1856, with the greatest number travelling in 1851. A further 5,000 emigrated to Australia, through the Highland and Island Emigration Society . To this should be added an unknown, but significant number, who paid their own fares to emigrate, and a further unknown number assisted by the Colonial Land and Emigration Commission . Many Highland landlords were in debt, despite rising commodity prices and

21460-400: Was the end of the Napoleonic Wars, which had supported high prices for the small range of commodities produced in the Highlands. The extent of indebtedness among Highland landowners was enormous. The evidence of this is the very high number of hereditary lands that were sold, especially in the first half of the 19th century. Over two-thirds of Highland estates had changed hands in this way by

21608-471: Was the last part of mainland Britain to remain at risk of famine, with notable instances before the 19th century in 1680, 1688, the 1690s, 1740–1, 1756 and 1782–3. The history of the trade in meal suggests that the region balanced this import with exporting cattle, leading to a substantial reliance on trade for survival that was greater than anywhere else in Britain. There was near-contemporaneous dispute as to

21756-475: Was the suggestion by some theorists that the Celtic population were less hardworking than those of Anglo-Saxon stock (i.e., Lowlanders and, in some instances, English), so giving an economic element to a racial theory. James Hunter quotes a contemporary Lowland newspaper: 'Ethnologically the Celtic race is an inferior one and, attempt to disguise it as we may, there is ... no getting rid of the great cosmical fact that it

21904-564: Was to pastoral agriculture based on sheep. The most productive sheep were the Cheviot , allowing their owners to pay twice as much rent as if they had stocked with Blackfaces . The Cheviot's disadvantage was that it was less hardy and needed low-level land on which to overwinter. This was usually the old arable land of the evicted population, so the choice of sheep breed dictated the totality of clearance in any particular Highland location. Some of those carrying out clearances believed that this

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