SCOTTISH TRADITION ISSN 0703-1580 GENERAL EDITORS Paul D. Dickson, University of Guelph Scott A. McLean, Queen’s International Study Centre, Herstmonceux Castle REVIEW EDITORS J.R.D. Falconer, University of Guelph Janay Nugent, University of Guelph EDITORIAL BOARD E.L. Ewan, University of Guelph K. J. James, University of Guelph L.L. Mahood, University of Guelph R.M. Sunter, University of Guelph CORRESPONDING MEMBERS I. Campbell, University of Edinburgh E. J. Cowan, University of Glasgow W. Ferguson, University of Edinburgh D. Withrington, University of Aberdeen ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Barbara Merritt, University of Guelph The Editors assume no responsibility for statements of fact or opinion made by contributors. All contents are © copyrighted by Scottish Tradition and/or their author, 2001. Book production by Stewart Publishing & Printing Markham, Ontario • 905 294-4389 www.stewartbooks.com Scottish Tradition Vol. 26 2001 SUBMISSION OF ARTICLES FOR PUBLICATION All manuscripts, including endnotes and captions are to be typed, double-spaced, on consecutively numbered 8½ x 11 inch sheets. Two copies of the manuscript should be submitted along with a copy on disk in Word Perfect or Microsoft Word. Submissions should utilize endnotes, in general referring to the Chicago Manual of Style, 13th edition. Manuscripts should be approximately 25 to 30 double-spaced pages in length, although shorter papers will also be considered. Contributors are requested to provide their title and current appointment. Manuscripts and disks should be submitted to: The Editor, Scottish Tradition Canadian Association for Scottish Studies Dept. of History, University of Guelph Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1 MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION Individuals interested in the history and culture of Scotland and the decisive influence of the Scots in North America are invited to join the Canadian Association for Scottish Studies/ Scottish Studies Foundation. Membership in the Association is $20.00 per annum and includes the journal subscription. Please make cheques or money orders payable in Canadian funds to Scottish Studies Foundation and send to: Membership Secretary Scottish Studies Foundation, P.O. Box 45069, 2482 Yonge Street Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 3E3 www.scottishstudies.ca www.uoguelph.ca/history/scotstudy Contents ARTICLES Introduction: Some Thoughts on the Nature of Scottish Regiments ......3 by Paul D. Dickson For Something More Than King and Country: The Persistence of the ..19 Mercenary Tradition in Seventeenth Century Scottish Military History by Andrew Nicholls Continuity, Coercion and Myth: The Recruitment of Highland ............30 Regiments in the Later Eighteenth Century by Andrew McKillop The Problems of Recruitment for Scottish Line Regiments ................56 during the Napoleonic Wars by R.M. Sunter An Officer and a Gentleman?: Military Reform and the .................... 69 93rd Highlanders in Canada, 1838-1848 by Scott A. McLean REVIEWS Medieval A.D.M. Barrell, Medieval Scotland: ......................................84 Cambridge Medieval Textbooks by R. Andrew McDonald J. Marsden, Somerled and the Emergence of ........................87 Gaelic Scotland by R. Andrew McDonald B. Smith, Colonisation and Conquest in Medieval Ireland: ......91 The English in Louth, 1170-1330 by Chris O’Shea A.J. Macdonald, Border Bloodshed: Scotland, England ..........95 and France at War, 1369-1403 by Cynthia J. Neville J. Cameron, James V: The Personal Rule, 1528-1542 ........100 by Elizabeth Ewan Early Modern I.D. Whyte, Scotland’s Society and Economy in Transition, ....104 c.1500 - c.1760 by Elizabeth Ewan R. Mitchison, The Old Scottish Poor Law in Scotland: ..........107 The Experience of Poverty, 1574-1845 by Gordon DeBrisay R.K. Marshall, The Days of Duchess Anne: Life in the ..........111 Household of the Duchess of Hamilton, 1656-1716 by Barbara C. Murison Late Modern R. Eagles, Francophilia in English Society, 1748-1815 ........114 by Jeffrey D. Burson M.M. Mitchell, The Irish in the West of Scotland, ................118 1797-1848: Trade Unions, Strikes and Political Movements by Michael E. Vance C. Macdonald, The Radical Thread: Political Change in ........121 Scotland: Paisley Politics, 1885 - 1924 by Susan Banks P. McVeigh ‘Look after the Bairns’: a Childhood in ................125 East Lothian by Meghan Cameron L. Bennie, J. Brand & J. Mitchell, How Scotland Votes: ........129 Scottish Parties and Elections; C. Harvie, Scotland and Nationalism: Scottish Society and Politics, 1707 to the Present by Tim Mau N. Davidson, The Origins of Scottish Nationhood; ................133 A. Wright (ed.), Scotland: The Challenge of Devolution by Kevin James Miscellaneous D. Petrie, Screening Scotland by James Davies....................137 C. Craig, The Modern Scottish Novel: Narrative and the ........141 National Imagination by Sharon Alker A. Fenton, The Northern Isles: Orkney and Shetland ............144 by George M. Brunsden G.W. Lockhart, The Scots and Their Oats;............................148 G.W. Lockhart, The Scots and Their Fish by Barbara C. Murison G.W. Mason, The Castles of Glasgow and the Clyde..............151 H.G. Slade, Glamis Castle by Mairi Cowan P. Galloway, The Cathedrals of Scotland by Mairi Cowan........154 WORKS RECEIVED ................................................................157 FRANK WATSON PRIZE..............................................................158 Scottish Tradition Vol. 26 2001 INTRODUCTION: SOME THOUGHTS ON THE NATURE OF SCOTTISH REGIMENTS ighland regiments or regiments of the line of Highland origin have long excited the imagination of writers, H historical and literary, and readers alike, a romantic relationship that dates from the Napoleonic wars. The poetry, literature and painting that in the wake of the Allied victory over Napoleon at Waterloo enshrined it as an historic moment - it is one of Sir Edward Creasy’s fifteen decisive battles and com- memorative medals were issued to all troops involved for the “first time in the history of the British army” - also elevated the Highland regiments to new heights in the British popular imagination. The image of the Highlanders’ square bristling with cold steel, the Scots steadfast as the French cavalry bears down on them, the piper playing “Cogadh na sith” within the square, captured the hearts of the English and quelled any lingering doubts about the loyalty of the Scots to the political entity that was the United Kingdom. With the entry of Ireland into the union in 1801, the pacification of one segment of the “Celtic fringe” was of no small import.1 Since Waterloo, the image of the Highland regiments has changed little; regimental fortunes have waxed and waned but they have maintained for themselves an image as an elite force, embodying the martial and tribal aspects that many would describe as central to the Scottish experience and perhaps, more importantly, have come to represent the maintenance of Scottish identity in the face of numerous pressures for acculturation. The articles in this special issue suggest that the Highland regiment experience is much more complex. Regiments repre- sent a variety of military experiences, both collectively and for the individual. The importance of understanding the regiment in 3 Scottish Tradition Vol. 26 2001 the context of the mercenary tradition rather than that of the clan or the prism of nation building is highlighted by Andrew Nicholl’s “For More than King and Country.” That the regiment is a useful unit for measuring social change as much as tradition and continuity is evident from Scott McLean’s “An Officer and a Gentleman”. The Scottish and British political experience is also a fruitful area to explore through the prism of recruitment. Was the recruitment of Highlander manpower a grand experi- ment in nation building or an extension of an intrusive state? These are some of the issues addressed by Ron Sunter and Andrew McKillop respectively. The topic of state building suggests the utility of examining regiments. The growth of the state, and nations, was an impor- tant development during the modern period. One could argue that the experience that the Highland regiments most clearly embody is the reduction of the Highland and Scottish culture during the 18th and 19th centuries by the British state and then that culture’s reconstruction within a new British Empire framework. Some suggest that the Highland regiments indeed represent a tremendous success story in the building of a national identity: a British identity. The paradox of the Highland regiments is that they can represent both the maintenance of the older culture while being both a key agent and a prime example of acculturation. Perhaps if there is one central theme that runs through the establishment of the Highland regiments it is that of the evolution of the British state and the gradual development of identifiable symbols of that state, shared symbols that would provide the framework for a national identity. In some ways Highland regiments represent what C.A. Bayly defines as “tribu- tary patriotisms,” national identities based on a rediscovery of indigenous languages, literatures or customs, all encouraged by the state and compatible with the new identity. Fostering a subordinate form of nationalism within the United Kingdom by the rediscovery, or construction, of indigenous customs was assimilation by patriotism: if the empire and the monarchy became the symbols of the new British national identity in the 19th century, the army and empire were the