Highland Clearances on the Isle of Lewis
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Donald Macdonald has written what will surely be regarded as one of the most authoritative works ever to be published on the history ofthe Island of Lewis. The twenty-four chapters cover a wide variety of subjects and events from prehistoric times through the Norse period, the clan feuds and the various LEWIS proprietorships up until the present day, with every aspect oflife carefully examined. The many years of research involved in compiling this book was undertaken with a great affection and respect for a heritage which has long HISTOR o THE ISLAND been neglected by the educational system. However, there is a stirring of life in Lewis today, and the people have a genuine desire to learn more about their forebears who contributed so much to the development of the Island with little to compensate them for their labours. This book will provide an important reference for everyone interested in the history of Lewis and establish a sound basis for further research. Donald Macdonald was born in 1904 in the village of North Tolsta, a crofting-fishingcommunity on the Island of Lewis. On leaving the village school, he completed his secondary education at the Nicolson Institute in Stomoway and then attended Glasgow University where he graduated M.A. and was also awarded a blue for shinty. After teacher training at Jordanhill College, he came to Edinburgh where he taught for the nextTorty-one years, serving in deaf, primary, secondary and Further Education schools, and for a time during the War, in a pre-air crew Training Centre. For seven years, he was a Further Education Headmaster, and twenty years a Headmaster in Primary Schools, the last of which was Corstomhine 'E in Edinburgh where he spent fourteen years until his retiral in 1970. Donald Macdonald is a fellow ofthe Royal Scottish Geographical Society and a fellow of the Educational Institute of Scotland. The map ofLewis on the cover is reproduced by kind permission ofJohn Bartholomew & Son Ltd., Edinburgh 11 $9.95 Students were then unsuccessful, a new system was adopted. nominated by a EducationCommittee on the report of the school managers and Secondary successful students was teachers. (69) The amount awarded to barely sufficient 1919, it was E18 per annum; E6 to support them in Stornoway. In at the end of each term. Children who had to walk home as far as eighteen miles on Friday evenings EVICTIONS and the same distance back to school on Sunday afternoons, endured much hardship. During the school year, some travelled from 1,200 to 1,400 miles, mostly on foot, with the occasional ride in a cart or gig. Those who stayed in lodgings in town, were fortunate in having a Welfare The people of Lewis, in common with most Highlandersin the Highland Association to nineteenth Officer from the Edinburgh Ladies' take an interest century, firmly believed that they had a definite right to the land they in them in times of sickness, and in the promotion of social activities in the hall occupied, as long as they paid their rents regularly, and performed the on Friday and Saturday nights. services of the SandwickRoad Building Later, hostels demanded of them by either tacksmen or proprietor. This may have been due were provided for pupils who had to stay in town. to the tradition of the udal system of land tenure (where there was no feudal For a long time, there were no continuation classes in Lewis. Young lads superior) which probably prevailed in the island when it was under Norse who joined the Militiawere given instruction in the three R's, but the girls were domination. However, the real reason was more likely to be that the arable not given any instruction in subjects necessary to them such as Cookery, land had been reclaimed by the relentless toil of their ancestors. Housewifery and Needlework. (70) The people were always closely associated with the land, and this is clearly By 1910,some classes in Navigation were held in schools like Knock, where indicated in a report written between 1577and 1595,possibly for King James ten pupils were learning navigation and signalling. Similar classes were held in VI, in which it was estimated that Macleod of Lewis could put seven hundred Breasclete,where the sole teaching aid was a mariner's compass. (71) fighting men into the field, over and above the tillers of the soil who had "to Gardening was also taught in some schools. remaneat hame to labour the ground." (l) The two World Wars made the young men and women realise the importance After Culloden in 1746, the Highland chiefs were deprived of certain of technical knowledge, and as a result, the Domestic Science College for Girls privileges, but this had little effect on the relationship betweenthe rulers and at Duncraig,near Kyle, and the Lewis Castle Technical College, came into the ruled, as far as Lewis was concerned. Everything on land, sea or air being. The latter seemed destined to be of even more benefit to the people of belonged to the proprietor, who could treat his tenants as he wished,for Lewis than the more academic Nicolson Institute. successiveActs of Sederunt had given him legal sanction to do this. By these Formerpupils of the Nicolson are now to be found in all branches of Acts, tenants could be removed from their lands as if they were animals, education, industry, commerce, and the services. Quite a few have held or are provided a warning of removal had been given, or an action brought against holdingChairs in universitiesat home and overseas, and the grandson of a the individuals concerned, before a judge, at least forty days before the crofter, the late Mr Iain Macleod, became the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Whitsunday term. (2) Such legal actions did not trouble the Lewis factors Whereverone goes in the world, old Nicolsonians are to found holding unduly. In 1818.one of them considered it sufficient warning if the ground positions of authority. officer gave-thünants a yerbal intimation of removing.(3) At long last, it looks as if John Knox's ideal of pupils being educated There were three main reasons why summonses of removal could be issued according to their abilities is being realised. to tenants. The first of these, and the one which accounted for nine-tenthsof all summonses, was for arrears of rent. This did not mean immediate eviction, for other legal proceedings had to be undertaken before this could take place. However, during the nineteenth century, every Lewis tenant expected to receive at least one of these summonses during his life-time, a privilegewhich cost them anything up to thirty shillings. The second reason for issuing a removal summons, was for a breach of the peace between individuals or townships. There were many instances of this, of which a few may be cited. In 1797, Allan a Ness tacksman, complained to the factor about a Morison, his woman who not only threatened to set his house on fire, but also abused wife because conscripted into the Militia. The tacksman also her son had been that alleged that the husband, John Roy, was so unruly a character, woman's his wife he did not feel safe anywhere near him. Needless to say, John Roy and were evicted. who quarrelled In Gravir in 1825, the factor wanted a troublesome occupant with thief from Eishken, (4) while all his neighbours exchanged for a notorious with a about the same ground time, the suspected of sheep list of persons he considered should be evicted. One was 158 159 with his rent; another had Mor, the Big Weaver, a native of Seaforth Head, who had gone to as well as being in arrears absconded for Breabadair stealing for sheep stealing, and a third was a 'great thief', who after some poinded horses. fearof beingpunished Valamos brother Alexander, a much more respectable detectedfleecing a neighbour's sheep on the moors. (5) Stewart, with his man, is had been from which there was no have arrived in Park with only 60 sheep, 50 of which were ewes. The third reason, and the one ossibility of believedto the sake of land 'improvement', which simp y meant evasions-•vasfor (10) litigious Dr MacAulay, "a land rabb r and clearingof townshipsto make way for sheep farms. The arrogant and o pressor Lewisevictions did not receive the same publicity, nor ____insatiable_opeute" (Il) ma e I e extreme y difficult for his tenants, Althoughthe were whenever possible. they on the same scale as those of Sutherland and other Highland districts, the exactinghis 'pound of flesh' dispossessedsuffered similar hardships, and endured the same harsh treatment LewisMaciver of Gress, seldom needed an excuse for removing his tenants. at the hands of the Estate officials; migration or emigration was their lot. The A shrewd business man, he showed little consideration for anyone who desertedvillages on the Island, especially in Park and Uig, bear testimony to interfered with his plans. His sub-tenants, in Back and Gress, led an the wholesale evictions which occurred. unenviable,uncertain existence. In 1822, his tenants in Gress complained to The Mackenzieproprietors left the government of the Island chiefly in the Seaforth of having been dispossessed of their lands twice in as many years and hands6fih@fåéiGs, who showed little consideration for the people entrusted sent to the "Edge of the Town" for no known reason, especiallyas they had to their care. As these proprietors seldom lived on the island for any length of paid their rents on "The Day". (12) time, they may not always have known the indignities their unfortunate The irascible Maciver fought a duel with a Customs official in Goathill Park tenants suffered.