Scotland in the nineteenth century

14. Poverty and relief measures

Section 14.3: Highlands and Islands

Robert Graham had been inspecting the Scottish Highlands and the west coast where he found most communities to be "in a state of unexampled destitution". The usual practice during shortages of the landowners feeding the poor on their own estates had been overwhelmed and for the first time since 1817 the proprietors had sought government aid. The severity of the problems being experienced were attributed to the bad weather which had caused crop failure and stopped the collection of fuel from the peat bogs.

The worst affected areas were the Isle of Skye and the chain of islands from Lewis to Barra.

The long term problems were thought to have been caused by the bad management of the Highlands which had allowed too great an increase in population, the failure of the kelp and fishing industries and the cessation of public works such as the Highland roads and Caledonian Canal.

The remedies suggested were the improvement of education, the erection of factories, the building of more roads, and the greater exploitation of the shellfish fishery.

Robert Graham believed the best way to avoid a recurrence of the problem was to encourage large-scale emigration (pp. 6-7), and gave the example of the Islands of Canna which had a population of c.500, 200 of which were sent for emigration and the management of the island estate revised. The land enclosures were enlarged and the houses improved. Only one married couple was allowed on each croft and no whisky was sold on the island in an effort to improve the moral condition of the islanders.

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A collection of letters in connection with the failure of the potato harvest in the Western Islands, and the desire of those corresponding for the Government to send relief to the population in the islands, either in the form of food or by the encouragement of emigration.

Between 3rd February 1851 and 17th April 1851 Sir John McNeill visited 27 parishes mainly on Long Island. In general he found the highlanders to have an over inflated idea of their right to relief and full employment. His main concern was to find out whether there were people with no right to claim relief but who were destitute and starving.

A number of cases were found of families existing on fish and collected shellfish but all were in a better condition than was expected. This was said to be as a consequence of parochial relief being given when the Government relief fund ran out. There also existed a certain amount of private charity.

McNeill believed that this had a bad effect, allowing the poor to remain when they would otherwise have been forced to leave the islands in search of work. The large numbers without employment meant that distress had become perennial and needed a permanent solution.

He also found that a number of crofters worked in the south during the summer, having planted their crops, and returned in the autumn to harvest their potatoes and spend the winter (p. 12).

Descriptions and definitions of crofters and cottars (pp. 8-9).

Includes reports from Skye, Lewis, Loch Broom, Harris, North Uist, South Uist, Glenelg, Glenshiel, Kintail, Lochalsh, Applecross, Lochcarron, Gairloch and Assynt.

The potato crop had failed and the crofters had no seed. The superintendents inspected the provisions for providing work and giving seed and meal to the needy.

In Skye the factor had heard of no one suffering from want of food and added that marriages were exceptionally numerous that year and the publican was doing an especially brisk trade.

Regarding Lewis, Alexander Campbell was scathing. "I am keenly alive to the evil of encouraging a population, naturally improvident to rely upon others instead of on themselves..." A more charitable view of the Lewis population emerges later in his report however. He noticed that the people did not look underfed in spite of the crop failure and was told "that from their kind feelings towards each other, no one was likely to suffer for want of food in any township whilst the rest possessed it."

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The investigation was carried out in the localities concerned during 1883, and testimony was received from 775 witnesses. In their report the Commissioners reported that the crofters and cottars... "in addition to the evils attached to an unproductive soil, high elevations, and a variable and boisterous climate, suffer from several causes of indigence, discouragement and irritation which are subject to remedial treatment. These may be enumerated as follows: undue contraction of the area of holdings; insecurity of tenure; want of compensation for improvements; defective communications; withdrawal of the soil in connection with the purposes of sport to these we may add... defects in education, defects in the machinery of justice and want of facilities for emigration."

Recommendations

1. Land: The Commissioners recommended the improvement of townships, improving leases for individual tenants, valuation rents for some occupiers, compensation for improvements and the mitigation of arbitary removal. However, they felt unable to support suggestions regarding security of tenure.
2. Fishing: The industry required more and better harbours, tackle and boats and improved postal and telegraphic services.
3. Education: The lack of educational facilities was seen as significant. The Education Act, 1872 had been implemented slowly in the Islands. The school rate was seen as an intolerable financial burden, school attendance in the winter was poor and there were controversies regarding religion and the teaching of Gaelic. The Commissioners believed Gaelic should be encouraged in the schools and quoted Dr. Johnson, who visiting the Hebrides in 1773, found Gaelic prescribed in the schools and children taught to read... "a language which they may never use or understand." Finally they urged the appointment of Gaelic-speaking teachers and that Gaelic should be taught as a special subject.
4. Justice: The poor have difficulty in obtaining legal assistance. The sheriff substitute should have local court experience and speak Gaelic.
5. Deer forests and game: The crofters and cottars resented the forests because they believed that they were created by eviction and caused depopulation, because they felt the land could be better used by themselves, because deer caused the pasture to deteriorate and damaged their crops and because the employment that the forests provided for gillies and others, was seen to be of a temporary and demoralising nature. In fact the Commissioners found only one case where crofters were removed to make room for a deer forest. Usually a deer forest replaced a sheep forest and provided much the same employment.
6. Emigration: It was recommended that suitable cases should be assisted, and that emigration should be administered by a Government official and not at a local level.

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The appendices include a statement by MacLeod of MacLeod alleging the ... "circulating of communistic doctrines" (pp. 24-28).

Evidence: Vols. II, III, and IV.

Skye (pp. 1-438 and 4475-4643). The evidence from Skye was typical of the complaints received from all the islands. The crofters complained that they had too little land, were over-charged for it and subjected to undue interference from factors and landlords who, for example, dictated what types of livestock they could keep. Poor harvests, the division of crofts and the loss of hill grazing to deer forests had contributed to an increase in poverty. The crofters requested security of tenure and deer-proof fencing. The lack of good roads and the burden of school rates were also mentioned.

Absentee landlords were not especially blamed. One witness claimed ... "where the proprietor is resident, the people are in greater subjection and bondage. Let the people ask for no more charity, let them demand their rights." (Hugh Macrae p. 642, para. 10176). He linked the problem to "...the private ownership of land and the problem of distribution of wealth."

All these areas repeated grievances cited in earlier evidence. Crofters wanted more land and security of tenure while fishermen wanted better boats and tackle and improved communications.

In Glasgow Thomas Grahame, General Agent for Scotland of the Dominion Government of Canada (pp. 3019-3036), painted a glowing picture of the benefits of emigration.

Sir William Collins, publisher (pp. 3314-3325), gave evidence derived from holidays in the area and his involvement with a Relief Committee based in Glasgow. He was particularly critical of the truck system.

Alexander Robertson, a journalist (pp. 3341-3348), spoke scathingly of grouse shooting: "the Cockney who fires at the centre of a covey of grouse, wounding a greater number than he can kill, is much more deserving of fine or imprisonment than the Gilmarton carter, who overworks his horse seeking to procure income for the support of his family."

A letter from a Free Church minister from St. Kilda, reporting the destruction of corn, barley and potatoes on the island, the loss of a boat during a storm, and requesting provisions, was addressed to Robert Rainy, Principal of New College, Edinburgh, enclosed in a bottle and sent in a small boat to Harris. It was later discovered by a teacher at Taransay, Harris and forwarded to New College. In reply to the request, food was sent by the Highland and Agricultural Society by means of a steamer called the "Hebridean". Mr. McNeill of the Board of Supervision sailed to St. Kilda in H.M.S. "Jackal" to make an official report. This report included a memorandum on the health of the people of St. Kilda, prepared by the medical officer of the "Jackal". Mr. McNeill concluded that no further supplies were necessary.

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Meetings of parochial boards were held in Lewis and it was discovered that some destitution did exist. A previous inquiry into destitution on the island had been held in 1851, following the collapse of the kelp industry between 1844 and 1849 and the failure of the potato crop in 1846. The expansion of the herring industry had soon relieved the situation.

By 1888, however, over-production and foreign competition had affected the herring fishery and it became increasingly difficult for the cottars of Lewis to obtain credit from local merchants between the fishing seasons. In addition, an epidemic of measles had afflicted most of the population.

Mr. Fraser and Mr. McNeill visited 108 houses in the parishes of Lochs and Stornoway. Tabulated results of their inquiries are included in the appendix. They found that the soil was of poor quality, there was a shortage of food and "a listless apathy is everywhere apparent." They predicted starvation on the island and recommended that some of the surplus population should be removed.

Appendix: Minutes of the parochial boards, statements of inspectors of the poor, medical officers, Free Church ministers etc., and extracts concerning emigration, subdivision of land and food supply.

The Commission inquired into the possibility of developing the natural resources of these districts, i.e. from Cape Wrath to the south point of the island of Mull, and therefore, relieve the destitution. They concentrated their attention mainly on the question of the necessity of making grants from public funds to develop the fishing industry in the Western Islands. The area of their inquiry was later extended to include certain districts on the north coasts of Sutherland and Caithness, in the Orkney and Shetland Islands and on the Island of Islay.

Most of the islanders combined agriculture with fishing, but the latter was usually a subsidiary means of livelihood. The Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act, 1886, had granted them fixity of tenure, the Crofters Commission ensured fair rents and they had the right of grazing on common land. In spite of this, their standard of living was low; "so many thousands of people, in the Long Island especially, [are]... content to live in the habitations which are not likely to create a feeling of self respect, and which would probably at once be condemned by any sanitary authority" (p. 6).

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The Commissioners, however, attributed this destitution mainly to laziness. They said "there seems no general disposition among the people to raise themselves by exertion, or to seek new paths of industry in this country or elsewhere" (p. 7).

There was little evidence of any systematic fishing on the west coast of Scotland. The fishing grounds around Long Island in particular were not exploited to their full extent as a result of the stormy character of the sea, the lack of postal and telegraphic communication, the difficulty in transporting the fish to market and the fact that the low price of fish made the industry unremunerative.

The Commissioners did not recommend that public funds should be used to construct railway lines because no one in the islands was prepared to contribute any portion of the funds. They did recommend, however, that £8,000 or £10,000 per annum should be contributed for perhaps four years from public funds to improve or extend the steam boat routes. They also made recommendations concerning the construction of harbours, piers and landing places at Mallaig, and on the island of Lewis, the extension of telegraphs, the erection of lighthouses and beacons, and assistance in obtaining suitable boats and tackle. The Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act, 1886, had already empowered the Scottish Fishery Board to make loans for building and repairing boats and buying tackle.

The Commissioners thought that destitution would be prevalent in the Western Highlands and Islands in the event of failure of crops and herring fishing. They thought emigration should be encouraged to relieve the over-population, especially in the case of Long Island and some parts of Skye.

Appendix: Proposals for improved lines of communication in the west coast.

The Commissioners completed their inquiry on the north coast of Sutherland and Caithness and in the Orkney and Shetland Islands. They found the fishing industry was flourishing at Portskerra and Skerray, and recommended the construction of small harbours there and the extension of Scrabster Harbour.

Turning their attention to the Orkney and Shetland Islands, they discovered that the Orcadians relied mainly on agriculture, whilst the principal industry of Shetland was fishing. The Shetlanders were less prosperous than the inhabitants of Orkney as they had fewer resources since the soil on the islands was infertile.

The Commissioners inquired into the mail service in Orkney, the extension of the Highland Railway and the construction of a pier at Gills Bay. Applications had been made for telegraph extension and the construction of roads and steamboat piers on Orkney. The estates of the Bishops of Orkney had been annexed to the Crown in 1690 on the final abolition of episcopacy in the Church of Scotland. The surplus revenue arising from these estates should have been used for constructing roads, bridges, harbours, piers and other public works, but the funds had not been used for these purposes.

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Similar applications were made by the Shetlanders for telegraph extension, the construction of harbours, piers and roads, and the construction of a railway line from Lerwick to Scalloway. The Commissioners recommended that the subsidy should be increased to provide a daily mail service direct from Aberdeen. They thought a grant should he made to Lerwick harbour. They believed that if the transportation facilities could be improved, the trade in fresh fish with the Scottish mainland could be developed. The cost of sending fish from Shetland was high as the fish had to be packed with ice on the journey to Aberdeen. They suggested that mail steamers should be provided with small refrigerating chambers.