137-669: The Royal Caledonian School was a residential home and school for Scottish orphans, initially in London and subsequently in Bushey , Hertfordshire . The Caledonian Asylum was launched by members of the Highland Society of London in 1815 to provide a home and education for Scottish children in London who had been orphaned in the Napoleonic Wars . John Galt , the novelist, became secretary to
274-515: 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 Whilst English versions of these laws were repealed in 1778, in Scotland this did not happen until 1793.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
411-697: A European style of feudalism to Scotland along with an influx of people of French descent – by invitation, unlike England where it was by conquest. To this day, many of the common family names of Scotland can trace ancestry to Normans from this period, such as the Stewarts , the Bruces , the Hamiltons , the Wallaces and the Melvilles . The Northern Isles and some parts of Caithness were Norn -speaking (the west of Caithness
548-641: A centre for Scottish migration in the 1930s. In 1961 a third of residents were born in Scotland, and in 2011 the figure was 12.7%. Other European countries have had their share of Scots immigrants. The Scots have emigrated to mainland Europe for centuries as merchants and soldiers. Many emigrated to France, Poland, Italy , Germany, Scandinavia, and the Netherlands. Recently some scholars suggested that up to 250,000 Russian nationals may have Scottish ancestry. A number of Scottish people settled in South Africa in
685-567: 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
822-621: 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
959-520: A connection to Scotland. This connection may be active through cultural, linguistic, friendship, or professional links, or who may simply be interested Scotland’s heritage or culture). The majority of Scotch-Irish Americans originally came from Lowland Scotland and Northern England before migrating to the province of Ulster in Ireland (see Plantation of Ulster ) and thence, beginning about five generations later, to North America in large numbers during
1096-465: A few landlords displayed complete lack of concern for evicted tenants. The definition of "clearance" (as it relates to 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
1233-404: 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,
1370-627: A general (and derogatory) word to describe the activities of Highland landlords. Its use was ambiguous, as for some it meant only 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
1507-620: A holding. Highland Clearances The Highland Clearances ( Scottish Gaelic : Fuadaichean nan Gàidheal [ˈfuət̪ɪçən nəŋ ˈɡɛː.əl̪ˠ] , 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
SECTION 10
#17330856719851644-413: A large part of the story of the clearances. This involved 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
1781-628: A museum, 'The Scots House' in the town of Veere was the only place outwith Scotland where Scots Law was practised. In Rotterdam, meanwhile, the doors of the Scots International Church have remained open since 1643. The first Scots to be mentioned in Russia's history were the Scottish soldiers in Muscovy referred to as early as the 14th century. Among the 'soldiers of fortune' was the ancestor of
1918-444: 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
2055-515: 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
2192-458: 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,
2329-660: 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
2466-532: 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
2603-543: Is still spoken by a small number of residents. Cape Breton is the home of the Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts . Glengarry County in present-day Eastern Ontario is a historic county that was set up as a settlement for Highland Scots , where many from the Highlands settled to preserve their culture as a result of the Highland Clearances. Gaelic was the native language of the community since its settlement in
2740-473: 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
2877-535: Is the "Caledonian Asylum". At that time it catered for about 70 boys and 50 girls. The Asylum's band occasionally played at charitable and other events. By the late 19th century the Islington site, near to Pentonville Prison , was recognised as unsuitable, and a new boarding school was built in Bushey , Hertfordshire , from 1902. The Caledonian Estate was built on the school's site in Caledonian Road. Bricks from
SECTION 20
#17330856719853014-491: Is the fourth most commonly nominated ancestry and represents over 8.9% of the total population of Australia. Significant numbers of Scottish people also settled in New Zealand. Approximately 20 per cent of the original European settler population of New Zealand came from Scotland, and Scottish influence is still visible around the country. The South Island city of Dunedin , in particular, is known for its Scottish heritage and
3151-576: The Borders ( OE: Loðene ), a northern variety of Old English , also known as Early Scots , was spoken. As a result of David I, King of Scots' return from exile in England in 1113, ultimately to assume the throne in 1124 with the help of Anglo-Norman military force, David invited Anglo-Norman families from France and England to settle in lands he granted them to spread a ruling class loyal to him. This Davidian Revolution , as many historians call it, brought
3288-478: 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,
3425-515: The Middle Ages . Craftsmen and tradesmen followed courtiers and in later centuries a brisk trade grew up between the two nations: Scotland's primary goods (wool, hides, salmon and then coal) in exchange for the luxuries obtainable in the Netherlands, one of the major hubs of European trade. By 1600, trading colonies had grown up on either side of the well-travelled shipping routes: the Dutch settled along
3562-482: 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
3699-549: The River Tweed to the south. They also occupied the southwest of Scotland up to and including the Plain of Kyle . Their language, Old English , was the earliest form of the language which eventually became known as Scots . Use of the Gaelic language spread through nearly the whole of Scotland by the 9th century, reaching a peak in the 11th to 13th centuries, but was never the language of
3836-492: The Statutes of Iona of 1609. The clan members continued to rely on dùthchas . This difference in viewpoints 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,
3973-766: The United States and Canada . Scots have travelled internationally for centuries, helping to build Scotland's international reputation and the promotion of Scottish culture , music , literature and art . The Scottish Government uses the term "Scottish connections" when described Scottish diaspora, and recognises Scottish connections as people of Scottish heritage (by ancestry, marriage or other family connection), lived diaspora (those who moved to Scotland to permanently reside at any time for any reason), educational diaspora (alumni of Scottish educational institutions, and Scots studying or working in international institutions) and affinity (individuals who associate themselves with
4110-589: The early Middle Ages from an amalgamation of two Celtic peoples , the Picts and Gaels , who founded the Kingdom of Scotland (or Alba ) in the 9th century. In the following two centuries, Celtic-speaking Cumbrians of Strathclyde and Germanic-speaking Angles of Northumbria became part of Scotland. In the High Middle Ages , during the 12th-century Davidian Revolution , small numbers of Norman nobles migrated to
4247-415: 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
Royal Caledonian School - Misplaced Pages Continue
4384-783: The plantation of Ulster , resulted in a Presbyterian and Scottish society, which formed the Ulster-Scots community. The Protestant Ascendancy did not however benefit them much, as the ascendancy was predominantly Anglican . The number of people of Scottish descent in England and Wales is difficult to quantify due to the many complex migrations on the island, and ancient migration patterns due to wars, famine and conquest. The 2011 Census recorded 708,872 people born in Scotland resident in England, 24,346 resident in Wales and 15,455 resident in Northern Ireland. Northamptonshire town Corby became
4521-634: The ' New World ' lands of North and South America, Australia and New Zealand . The highest concentrations of people of Scottish descent in the world outside of Scotland are in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island in Canada, Otago and Murihiku/Southland in New Zealand, the Falkland Islands , and Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom. Canada has the highest level of Scottish descendants per capita in
4658-462: 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
4795-485: 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
4932-561: The 1800s and were known for their road-building expertise, their farming experience, and architectural skills. The largest population of Scots in Latin America is found in Argentina , followed by Chile , , Colombia and Mexico . It is said that the first people from the Low Countries to settle in Scotland came in the wake of Maud's marriage to the Scottish king, David I , during
5069-444: The 1840s, Scots-born immigrants constituted 12% of the non-Aboriginal population. Out of the 1.3 million migrants from Britain to Australia in the period from 1861 to 1914, 13.5% were Scots. Just 5.3% of the convicts transported to Eastern Australia between 1789 and 1852 were Scots. A steady rate of Scottish immigration continued into the 20th century and substantial numbers of Scots continued to arrive after 1945. From 1900 until
5206-456: 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
5343-484: The 18th century although the number of speakers decreased as a result of English migration . As of the modern 21st century, there are still a few Gaelic speakers in the community. John Kenneth Galbraith in his book The Scotch (Toronto: MacMillan, 1964) documents the descendants of 19th-century Scottish pioneers who settled in Southwestern Ontario and affectionately referred to themselves as 'Scotch'. He states
5480-587: The 18th century as " Erse ") and the Inglis -speaking " Lowlanders " (a language later to be called Scots ). However, movement between the two regions increased over the last few centuries. Highlanders moved to major cities (e.g. Glasgow and Edinburgh) and regions bordering the southern Highlands (e.g. Lowland Stirlingshire and Perthshire). This is evidenced by people with traditional Gaelic surnames (including anglicised varieties) currently living in these areas. Lowlanders also settled in Highland regions such as Moray , which
5617-529: The 1950s, Scots favoured New South Wales, as well as Western Australia and Southern Australia. A strong cultural Scottish presence is evident in the Highland Games , dance, Tartan Day celebrations, clan and Gaelic-speaking societies found throughout modern Australia. According to the 2011 Australian census , 130,204 Australian residents were born in Scotland, while 1,792,600 claimed Scottish ancestry, either alone or in combination with another ancestry. This
Royal Caledonian School - Misplaced Pages Continue
5754-596: 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
5891-582: The Asylum in 1815. The first Asylum was at 16 Cross Street, Hatton Garden , London from December 1819 until 1828 when it relocated to Copenhagen Fields , Islington . Its long residence in Islington resulted in the naming of Caledonian Market and the Caledonian Road . In 1852 Queen Victoria became Patron and the Asylum was renamed the Royal Caledonian Schools , although legally it was and still
6028-457: 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
6165-523: 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
6302-400: 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
6439-642: 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
6576-773: The Lowlands. In the 13th century, the Norse-Gaels of the Western Isles became part of Scotland, followed by the Norse of the Northern Isles in the 15th century. In modern usage, "Scottish people" or "Scots" refers to anyone whose linguistic, cultural, family ancestral or genetic origins are from Scotland. The Latin word Scoti originally referred to the Gaels, but came to describe all inhabitants of Scotland. Considered pejorative by some,
6713-670: The Scots. The Russian census lists do not distinguish Scots from other British people, so it is hard to establish reliable figures for the number of Scots living and working in modern Russia. From as far back as the mid-16th century there were Scots trading and settling in Poland . A "Scotch Pedlar's Pack in Poland" became a proverbial expression. It usually consisted of cloths, woollen goods and linen kerchiefs (head coverings). Itinerants also sold tin utensils and ironware such as scissors and knives. Along with
6850-473: The South Island. All over New Zealand, the Scots developed different means to bridge the old homeland and the new. Many Caledonian societies were formed, well over 100 by the early twentieth century, that helped maintain Scottish culture and traditions. From the 1860s, these societies organised annual Caledonian Games throughout New Zealand. The Games were sports meets that brought together Scottish settlers and
6987-452: 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
SECTION 50
#17330856719857124-440: 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
7261-599: The area around Edinburgh. Their descendants gradually occupied all of the Lowlands." Knox College 's Stuart Macdonald, who specialises in early modern Scottish history, writes that during the 18th and 19th centuries, the people of Scotland remained grouped into multiple ethnicities: To speak of Scots as a single ethnic group is also somewhat problematic. It would be more accurate in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to talk of two distinct Scottish ethnic communities divided by language and culture, and, at times, mutual antagonisms – Highlanders and Lowlanders. With regard to
7398-656: 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
7535-636: 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
7672-482: The best-known being James Wylie . The next wave of migration established commercial links with Russia. The 19th century witnessed the immense literary cross-references between Scotland and Russia. A Russian scholar, Maria Koroleva, distinguishes between 'the Russian Scots' (properly assimilated) and 'Scots in Russia', who remained thoroughly Scottish. There are several societies in contemporary Russia to unite
7809-399: 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
7946-481: The book was meant to give a true picture of life in the community in the early decades of the 20th century. By 1830, 15.11% of the colonies' total non-Aboriginal population were Scots, which increased by the middle of the century to 25,000, or 20–25% of the non-Aboriginal population. The Australian Gold Rush of the 1850s provided a further impetus for Scottish migration: in the 1850s 90,000 Scots immigrated to Australia, far more than other British or Irish populations at
8083-422: 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
8220-401: 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
8357-591: 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
SECTION 60
#17330856719858494-400: 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
8631-493: The descendants of emigrants, often Gaelic-speaking, from the Maritime Provinces of Canada , from the 1880s onward. Americans of Scottish descent outnumber the population of Scotland, where 4,459,071 or 88.09% of people identified as ethnic Scottish in the 2001 Census. In the 2013 American Community Survey 5,310,285 identified as Scottish and 2,976,878 as of Scots-Irish descent. Americans of Scottish descent outnumber
8768-435: 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
8905-518: The eastern seaboard of Scotland; the Scots congregating first in Campvere —where they were allowed to land their goods duty-free and run their own affairs—and then in Rotterdam , where Scottish and Dutch Calvinism coexisted comfortably. Besides the thousands (or, according to one estimate, over 1 million) of local descendants with Scots ancestry, both ports still show signs of these early alliances. Now
9042-432: The eighteenth century. In the 2000 census, 4.8 million Americans self-reported Scottish ancestry, 1.7% of the total U.S. population. Over 4.3 million self-reported Scotch-Irish ancestry, for a total of 9.2 million Americans self-reporting some kind of Scottish descent. Self-reported numbers are regarded by demographers as massive under-counts, because Scottish ancestry is known to be disproportionately under-reported among
9179-423: 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
9316-444: The end of this period, giving greater urgency to 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
9453-445: 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
9590-427: 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,
9727-427: The famous Russian poet Mikhail Lermontov , called George Learmonth. A number of Scots gained wealth and fame in the times of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great . These include Admiral Thomas Gordon , Commander-in-Chief of Kronstadt , Patrick Gordon , Paul Menzies , Samuel Greig , Charles Baird , Charles Cameron , Adam Menelaws and William Hastie . Several doctors to the Russian court were from Scotland,
9864-680: The following: "The basic ethnic and cultural division in the British Isles has been that between the Anglo-Saxon peoples of England and the Scottish Lowlands and the Celtic peoples of Wales, Ireland and the Scottish Highlands. In 2014, historian Steven L. Danver, who specialises in indigenous ethnic research, wrote regarding Lowlands Scots and Gaelic Scots' unique ancestries: "The people of Scotland are divided into two groups - Lowland Scots in
10001-520: 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
10138-460: 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
10275-461: 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
10412-470: 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
10549-521: 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
10686-399: 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
10823-421: 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
10960-508: 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
11097-439: 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
11234-487: 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
11371-455: 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
11508-405: 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
11645-712: The majority of mixed ancestry, and because areas where people reported "American" ancestry were the places where, historically, Scottish and Scotch-Irish Protestants settled in North America (that is: along the North American coast, Appalachia , and the Southeastern United States ). Scottish Americans descended from nineteenth-century Scottish emigrants tend to be concentrated in the West, while many in New England are
11782-486: 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
11919-424: 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
12056-538: 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
12193-515: The old Caledonian Asylum were used to build two blocks of flats in Widdenham Road, London N7, known collectively as Loraine Mansions. The Royal Caledonian offered education until 1948, after which resident children received their education at local schools, in later years Queens' School which lies adjacent on Aldenham Road. In 1996 the premises were sold to the Purcell School . The proceeds of
12330-478: 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
12467-605: 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,
12604-440: 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
12741-540: The people, also known as the Gaels , in the Kingdom of Dál Riata, in the western edge of Scotland. Bede used the word natio (nation) for the Scots, where he often refers to other peoples, such as the Picts, with the word gens (race). In the 10th-century Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , the word Scot is mentioned as a reference to the "Land of the Gaels". The word Scottorum was again used by an Irish king in 1005: Imperator Scottorum
12878-478: The period spanning the 16th century to the 18th century, sociologist Ian Carter's research into marriage patterns found little intermarrying between the groups. Today, Scotland has a population of just over five million people, the majority of whom consider themselves Scottish. It is estimated around 40 million people worldwide claim Scottish ancestry, particularly in Australia , New Zealand , continental Europe ,
13015-415: The political practicalities of nation building . Academics have explored how 15th and 16th-century Scottish poets and orators, such as Blind Harry , constructed terms such as 'trew Scottis' in an effort to diminish differences between the ethnic groups living within Scotland in the popular consciousness. A 1974 International Political Science Association report defined this ethnic plurality in Scotland as
13152-515: The population of Scotland, where 4,459,071 or 88.09% of people identified as ethnic Scottish in the 2001 Census. The number of Americans with a Scottish ancestor is estimated to be between 9 and 25 million (up to 8.3% of the total US population), and "Scotch-Irish", 27 to 30 million (up to 10% of the total US population), but these subgroups overlap and are often not distinguishable. The majority of Scotch-Irish originally came from Lowland Scotland and Northern England before migrating to
13289-567: The preferred term is Scots . Many Scottish people find the term Scotch to be offensive when applied to people. The Oxford Dictionary describes Scotch as an old-fashioned term for "Scottish". In the Early Middle Ages , Scotland saw several ethnic or cultural groups mentioned in contemporary sources, namely the Picts , the Gaels , the Britons , and the Angles , with the last of these settling in
13426-449: 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
13563-501: The protection offered by King Stephen in the Royal Grant of 1576, a district in Kraków was assigned to Scottish immigrants. Records from 1592 mention Scots settlers who were granted citizenship of Kraków give their employment as traders or merchants. Fees for citizenship ranged from 12 Polish florins to a musket and gunpowder, or an undertaking to marry within a year and a day of acquiring
13700-677: The province of Ulster in Ireland (see Plantation of Ulster ) and thence, beginning about five generations later, to North America in large numbers during the 18th century. Several Presidents of the United States have claimed Scottish ancestry or Scotch-Irish ancestry, including James Monroe through his great-great-grandfather Patrick Andrew Monroe emigrated to America, Andrew Jackson , Theodore Roosevelt , Franklin D. Roosevelt , Harry S. Truman , Lyndon B. Johnson , Richard Nixon , Ronald Reagan , Bill Clinton , George W. Bush and Donald Trump , whose mother, Mary Anne MacLeod Trump ,
13837-538: The question and the numerous responses for "Canadian" do not give an accurate figure for numerous groups, particularly those of British Isles origins. Scottish-Canadians are the 3rd biggest ethnic group in Canada. Scottish culture has particularly thrived in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia ( Latin for "New Scotland"). There, in Cape Breton , where both lowland and highland Scots settled in large numbers, Canadian Gaelic
13974-405: 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
14111-787: The sale were used for the charity to operate as the Royal Caledonian Education Trust , which continues to provide support to "children (no age limit) of Scots who have served in the Armed Forces, or the children of poor Scots living in the London area". Another objective is to allow the children of Scots serving in the armed forces a level of continuity in their education despite the frequent re-posting of their parents. Scottish people Modern ethnicities The Scottish people or Scots ( Scots : Scots fowk ; Scottish Gaelic : Albannaich ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Scotland . Historically, they emerged in
14248-458: 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
14385-540: 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
14522-569: The south-east of the country. King Edgar divided the Kingdom of Northumbria between Scotland and England; at least, most medieval historians now accept the 'gift' by Edgar. In any case, after the later Battle of Carham the Scottish kingdom encompassed many English people, with even more quite possibly arriving after the Norman invasion of England in 1066. South-east of the Firth of Forth , then in Lothian and
14659-456: The southeast of the country. Culturally, these peoples are grouped according to language. Most of Scotland until the 13th century spoke Celtic languages , and these included, at least initially, the Britons , as well as the Gaels and the Picts . Germanic peoples included the Angles of Northumbria , who settled in south-eastern Scotland in the region between the Firth of Forth to the north and
14796-468: The southern part of the country and Highland Scots in the north - that differ from one another ethnically, culturally, and linguistically ... Lowlanders differ from Highlanders in their ethnic origin. While Highland Scots are of Celtic (Gaelic) descent, Lowland Scots are descended from people of Germanic stock. During the seventh century C.E., settlers of Germanic tribes of Angles moved from Northumbria in present-day northern England and southeastern Scotland to
14933-567: The term Scotch has also been used for Scottish people, now primarily outwith Scotland. People of Scottish descent live in many countries. Emigration, influenced by factors such as the Highland and Lowland Clearances , Scottish emigration to various locales throughout the British Empire , and latterly industrial decline and unemployment, have resulted in the spread of Scottish languages and culture . Large populations of Scottish people settled
15070-399: 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
15207-645: The time. Literacy rates of the Scottish immigrants ran at 90–95%. By 1860, Scots made up 50% of the ethnic composition of Western Victoria , Adelaide , Penola and Naracoorte . Other settlements in New South Wales included New England , the Hunter Valley and the Illawarra . Much settlement followed the Highland Potato Famine , Highland Clearances and the Lowland Clearances of the mid-19th century. In
15344-410: 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
15481-587: 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
15618-472: The wider New Zealand public. In so doing, the Games gave Scots a path to cultural integration as Scottish New Zealanders. In the 1961 census there were 47,078 people living in New Zealand who were born in Scotland; in the 2013 census there were 25,953 in this category. Many people of Scottish descent live in other parts of the United Kingdom. In Ulster particularly the colonial policies of James VI , known as
15755-502: The words Scot and Scottish are applied mainly to inhabitants of Scotland. The possible ancient Irish connotations are largely forgotten. The language known as Ulster Scots , spoken in parts of northeastern Ireland, is the result of 17th- and 18th-century immigration to Ireland from Scotland. In the English language, the word Scotch is a term to describe a thing from Scotland, such as Scotch whisky . However, when referring to people,
15892-555: The world and the second-largest population of Scottish descendants, after the United States. Originally the Romans used Scotia to refer to Ireland. The Venerable Bede ( c. 672 or 673 – 27 May, 735) uses the word Scottorum for the nation from Ireland who settled part of the Pictish lands: " Scottorum nationem in Pictorum parte recipit ." This can be inferred to mean the arrival of
16029-454: 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
16166-713: Was Gaelic-speaking into the 20th century, as were some small communities in parts of the Central Highlands). From 1200 to 1500, the Early Scots language spread across the lowland parts of Scotland between Galloway and the Highland line, being used by Barbour in his historical epic The Brus in the late 14th century in Aberdeen. From 1500 on, Scotland was commonly divided by language into two groups of people, Gaelic-speaking " Highlanders " (the language formerly called Scottis by English speakers and known by many Lowlanders in
16303-535: Was born in Tong on the Isle of Lewis . As the third-largest ethnic group in Canada and amongst the first Europeans to settle in the country, Scottish people have made a large impact on Canadian culture since colonial times. According to the 2011 Census of Canada , the number of Canadians claiming full or partial Scottish descent is 4,714,970, or 15.10% of the nation's total population. Many respondents may have misunderstood
16440-458: 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
16577-521: 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
16714-577: 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
16851-401: 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
16988-400: 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;
17125-475: Was named as a tribute to Edinburgh by the city's Scottish founders. Scottish migration to New Zealand dates back to the earliest period of European colonisation, with a large proportion of Pākehā New Zealanders being of Scottish descent. However, identification as "British" or "European" New Zealanders can sometimes obscure their origin. Many Scottish New Zealanders also have Māori or other non-European ancestry. The majority of Scottish immigrants settled on
17262-444: 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
17399-482: Was one of the causes of resentment. The second phase involved overcrowded crofting communities from 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
17536-531: 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
17673-430: 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
17810-493: 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
17947-572: 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
18084-400: 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
18221-471: 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
18358-426: 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
18495-450: Was the title given to Brian Bóruma by his notary, Mael Suthain, in the Book of Armagh . This style was subsequently copied by the Scottish kings. Basileus Scottorum appears on the great seal of King Edgar (1074–1107). Alexander I ( c. 1078 –1124) used the words Rex Scottorum on his great seal, as did many of his successors up to and including James VI . In modern times,
18632-564: 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
18769-408: Was traditionally Gaelic-speaking but replaced with Doric in the 19th century. Today, immigrants have brought other languages, such as Polish , Punjabi and Urdu , but almost every adult throughout Scotland is fluent in the English language. Historian Susan Reynolds has put forward how, since the Middle Ages , there have been attempts to obfuscate the ethnic plurality of Scottish people due to
#984015