Bearing the People Away The Portable Highland Clearances Companion June Skinner Sawyers Bearing the People Away The Portable Highland Clearances Companion June Skinner Sawyers CAPE BRETON UNIVERSITY PRESS SYDNEY, NOVA SCOTIA For the Macdonald clan of Skye and Inverness: Roddy Martin, Sheena, Eileen, Tina, Roddy Angus, Morag Copyright 2013 June Skinner Sawyers All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Responsibility for the research and the permissions obtained for this publication rests with the author. CBU Press recognizes fair dealing uses under the Copyright Act (Canada). Cape Breton University Press recognizes the support of the Province of Nova Scotia, through the Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage and the support received for its publishing program from the Canada Council for the Arts Block Grants Program. We are pleased to work in partnership with these bodies to develop and promote our cultural resources. Cover design: Cathy MacLean Design, Chéticamp, NS Cover photo (Assynt) by Mike Hunter, Port Hawkesbury and Sydney, NS Author photo: Theresa Albini Layout: Laura Bast, Sydney, NS eBook development: WildElement.ca First printed in Canada Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Sawyers, June Skinner, 1957-, author Bearing the people away : the portable Highland Clearances companion / June Skinner Sawyers. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-927492-59-8 (pbk.) ISBN 978-1-927492-60-4 (web pdf.) ISBN 978-1-927492-61-1 (epub.) ISBN 978-1-927492-62-8 (mobi.) 1. Scotland--History--18th century. 2. Scotland--History--19th century. 3. Scots--Migrations. I. Title. DA809.S28 2013 941.1 C2013-903767-5 Cape Breton University Press PO Box 5300 1250 Grand Lake Road Sydney, NS B1P 6L2 CA www.cbu.ca/press Table of Contents Acknowledgments Chronology Introduction Bearing the People Away Appendix Map of the Highlands (1804) References Index I think ... every Highlander should have copies of the histories of the Clearances along with the Bible in his bookcase. —John Maclean, Inverness harbour master and father of artist Will Maclean We have not become so civilised in our behaviour, or more concerned with men than profit, that this story holds no lesson for us. —John Prebble Acknowledgments My interest in the Highland Clearances began a long time ago, in the mid-1980s if I recall correctly, when I bought a copy of John Prebble’s The Highland Clearances at the Inverness Museum in the capital of the Highlands. I read it from cover to cover numerous times (I still have that copy, but now it is a rather fragile state, held together by a rubber band). Around the same time I picked up an earlier version of Rob Gibson’s Highland Clearances Trail, at that time it was just a small pamphlet (many years later, the Edinburgh-based Luath Press published a more elaborate edition). I remember the day too when Rob very generously gave me a black and white photograph that he took of the windowpane in the Croick Church in Glencalvie; the same diamond-shaped windowpane that has etched on its surface the troubling words, “Glencalvie people the wicked generation.” I still have that photograph.1 It wouldn’t be the first time that a Lowlander was fascinated by Highland history and culture. Even today the Highlands is considered, by some, to be “exotic.” When describing locations for the latest Bond film Skyfall, an American reporter referred to the numerous locations where the film was shot, including such “exotic” locales as Turkey, Shanghai and, yes, “the Scottish Highlands.” The Highlands continue to fascinate the Scots and, especially, non-Scots public on so many levels. A book of this kind is dependent upon the work of others. Thus, I would like to direct readers to the bibliography at the end of this volume. In addition to the scholars represented in the bibliography, I am also grateful for the feedback and input of the following people: Kenny Brill, Charlie Burns, Dr. Linda F. Carnes-McNaughton, Bill Caudill, Rob Gibson, James Hunter, Jacquie Aitkin, Tom Devine, Angus Peter Campbell, Michael Russell, David Woods, Tara Clark, Jennifer Williams, Anne Landin and Virginia Blankenhorn. I would also like to thank my editor, Mike Hunter, for his belief in the project and for his patience during the on-and-off again writing of this volume. It is no exaggeration to say that this book could not have been written without the generosity of family and friends: my cousins Janet and Bert McFarlane in Glasgow, Drew and Lynn Campbell in Montrose, and John and Elspeth Campbell in Blairgowrie; Eileen Macdonald in Glenlomond, and Roddy and Sheena Macdonald in Skye, Diane and Robert Rae in Edinburgh, and Erlend and Hélène Clouston, also in Edinburgh. I also have fond memories of of chasing the sun in the Outer Hebrides with the Canadian folk band Cowboy Celtic. A personal thanks to the ladies (Hannah, May and Jane) of the Lifestyle slimming club in Kelty for an entertaining evening. As we go to press, the American filmmaker Guy Perrotta is working on a documentary about the Clearances, its legacy and the worldwide Scottish diaspora, which only proves, yet again, that the Clearances continues to be an endless source of fascination not only in Scotland but around the globe. J.S.S. Note 1. See page 269 for two views of the window at Croick Church. Chronology Major events in the history of the Highlands and Islands ca. 500 Kingdom of Dalriada established 563 Columba lands at Iona ca. 780-800 Norse settlement of Scotland begins 843 Union of the Kingdom of Picts and Scots under Kenneth MacAlpin ca. 1100 Somerled of Clan Donald 1164 Death of Somerled, founder of the Lordship of the Isles 1296 Battle of Stirling Bridge 1314 Battle of Bannockburn 1408 Islay Gaelic Charter 1493 Forfeiture of the Lordship of the Isles 1513 Battle of Flodden 1603 Union of the Crowns of Scotland and England 1609 Statues of Iona 1645 Battle of Inverlochy 1647 Death of Alasdair MacColla 1689 Battle of Killiecrankie 1690 Establishment of the Church of Scotland 1692 Massacre of Glencoe 1707 Union of the Parliaments of Scotland and England 1715 First Jacobite Rising 1736 Settlement of Darien, Georgia, by Highlanders 1739 First migrations from Scotland to Cape Fear, North Carolina 1745 Second Jacobite Rising 1746 Battle of Culloden 1760 Introduction of large-scale sheep farming in the Highlands 1769-1774 Peak years of Highland emigration to Cape Fear, NC 1773 Voyage of the Hector from Loch Broom to Pictou, Nova Scotia; James Boswell and Samuel Johnson’s tour of the Hebrides 1785, 1791, 1802 Emigration from Glengarry, Scotland, to Glengarry County, Ontario 1788 Death of Bonnie Prince Charlie 1792 Bliadhna nan Caorach (Year of the Sheep) 1802-1803 Some 8,300 Highlanders emigrate to North America 1803 Passenger Act passed, restricting emigration by raising the price of passage on emigrant ships 1803 Lord Selkirk settles Highlanders in Prince Edward Island 1807 Publication of the Gaelic Bible 1812 Red River Settlement in Manitoba begins 1814 The Year of the Burnings 1816 The trial of Patrick Sellar in Inverness 1819 Kildonan and Strathnaver evictions 1828-1838 Peak years of Highland emigration to Cape Breton 1843 Disruption; founding of the Free Church 1845 Glencalvie evictions; the Times (of London) sends a Special Commissioner 1846 Potato blight in Scotland; establishment of Destitution Relief Boards in Glasgow and Edinburgh 1847 Queen Victoria purchases Balmoral Castle 1849 Sollas evictions in North Uist 1851 South Uist and Barra evictions 1853 Boreraig and Suishnish evictions in Skye; Harriet Beecher Stowe, on her first visit to Britain, meets with the second Duchess of Sutherland 1854 Massacre of the Rosses 1856 Harriet Beecher Stowe’s second visit to Britain; she stays in Inveraray and at Dunrobin Castle, gathering material on the Clearances, which she publishes as Sunny Memories 1857 Donald Macleod publishes Gloomy Memories, his account of the Strathnaver clearances 1874 Bernera Riot in Lewis 1881-1882 The Crofter’s War 1882 Battle of the Braes; Skye Rent Strike; Glendale Martyrs arrested 1882 Highland Land League formed 1883 Appointment of the Napier Commission 1886 Crofting Act; Crofter’s Commission created by Act of Parliament 1887 Pairc Deer forest raid, Lewis 1888 Aignish Riot, Lewis 1891 Founding of An Comunn Gàidhealach (The Highland Association) in Oban 1892 Deer Forest Commission 1900 Land raids in Vatersay and Lewis 1920 Land raids in North Uist, Skye, Raasay and Sutherland 1948 Knoydart land raids 1951 Foundation of the School of Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh 1955 Crofting (Scotland) Act 1965 Establishment of Highlands and Islands Development Board in Inverness 1968 Gaelic Books Council established 1972 The West Highland Free Press established in Skye 1973 Crofting Reform Bill; The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil tour 1975 Foundation of Comhairle nan Eilean, the Western Isles Council 1979 Radio nan Eilean goes on the air 1983 Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the Gaelic College in Skye, opens 1984 Museum nan Eilean opens 1985 An Lanntair Art Gallery opens in Stornoway 1997 Transfer of Crofting Estates Act goes into effect 1998 National Museum of Scotland opens in Edinburgh 1999 The Scottish Parliament meets for the first time since 1707 in Edinburgh 2001 Scottish Land Fund established to encourage community buy-outs 2003 Passage of Land Reform Act by Scottish Parliament 2004 Opening of the new Scottish Parliament Building in Edinburgh 2007 The Scottish National Party (SNP) wins the most seats in the Scottish Parliament for the first time in Scottish history, governing as a minority administration with party leader Alex Salmond serving as First Minister of Scotland.