The Highland Clearances stands out as one of the most emotive chapters in the history of Scotland.This book traces the origins of the Clearances from the eighteenth century to their culmination in the crofting legislation of the 1880s. In considering both the terrible suffering of the Highland people as well as the stark choices that faced landowners during a period of rapid economic change, it shows how the Clearances were one of many 'attempted' solutions to the problem of how to maintain a population on marginal and infertile land, and were, in fact, part of a wider European movement of rural depopulation.

In drawing attention away from the mythology to the hard facts of what actually happened, The Highland Clearances offers a balanced analysis of events which created a terrible scar on the Highland and Gaelic imagination.

• Cover
• Title page
• Dedication page
• Copyright page
• Contents
• Preface to the 2008 edition
• Preface
• 1 The Distant Coronach
• I Suishnish in Skye in 1854
• II The rage
• III Definition
• IV The rage maintained, 1770–2000
• V Landlords
• 2 Classic Highland Clearances: Glencalvie and Strathconan
• I Glencalvie
• II Strathconan
• 3 The Highland Clearances and Rural Revolution
• I Context
• II The great change in the nation
• III Before the clearances
• IV Food supply
• V Paving the way
• VI The pastoral problem
• VII The population imperative
• VIII The dilemma
• 4 Parallels and Precedents
• I Beginnings
• II Parallels
• III British precursors
• IV Uplands and Ireland
• V Within Scotland
• VI Emigration
• 5 The Quiet March of the Sheep
• I Conquerors
• II Southern models
• III Sheep in the Highlands
• IV Sheep breeds
• V The power of the landlords
• VI Rents and the turnover of ownership
• VII The progress of the sheep
• VIII The empire of sheep extended
• IX Local sheep farmers
• X Beyond the Great Glen
• 6 The Insurrection of 1792
• I North of the Great Glen
• II Borderland
• III The new sheep farm at Kildermorie
• IV The official story
• V Lord Adam Gordon’s reaction
• VI The press
• VII Punishment
• 7 Aftermath and the Widening Sheep Empire
• I Defeat
• II Aftermath
• III Amelioration
• IV A new century
• V Land Leviathans
• 8 Clearing Sutherland: Lairg, Assynt and Kildonan 1807–13
• I The statue
• II The perfect plan
• III Famine and progress
• IV Impatience
• V Tender clearances
• VI The new beginning
• VII The second round
• VIII Calm clearances in Assynt, 1812
• IX Turmoil in Kildonan and Clyne, 1812
• 9 Sensation in Strathnaver 1814–16
• I The factor-cum-sheep farmer
• II The Strathnaver clearances, 1814–15
• III Trouble with the people
• IV Common elements
• V The indictment
• VI Prejudice
• VII Relief
• VIII End of a phase
• IX Pause
• 10 The Greatest Clearances: Strathnaver and Kildonan in 1818–19
• I Preparations, 1816
• II 1818
• III The summers of 1818 and 1819
• 11 The Last of the Sutherland Clearances
• I Mounting tension
• II Whitsun 1819–Whitsun 1820
• III The 1820 clearances
• IV Smaller removals
• V Consequences
• VI Rare voices
• 12 Sweeping the Highlands: The Middle Years – Lewis, Rum, Harris, Freswick and Strathaird (Skye)
• I Clearance by attrition and by stealth
• II The changed context
• III The Hebrides
• IV The Island of Rum
• V Harris in 1841
• VI The tenacity of the small tenantry
• VII Sinclair of Freswick
• VIII Potato famine
• IX The Strathaird evictions
• 13 Colonel Gordon, Barra and the Uists
• I Headlines
• II The reputation of Gordon of Cluny
• III A Hebridean investment
• IV Clearance and famine on Barra
• V Internal refugees
• VI Coerced emigration
• 14 Trouble in the Islands: The Macdonald Estates in North Uist, Benbecula and Skye
• I Famine relief
• II Lord Macdonald and Sollas
• III The moment of clearance
• IV The Sollas trial
• V Boreraig and Suishnish in 1853
• VI Islands of clearance
• 15 Frustrated Lairds and Bloody-Minded Crofters: Lewis, Durness and Coigach
• I Highland poverty
• II Rich and poor
• III Contrasting landlords
• IV Coigach and the naked clearer
• 16 Landlords Unrestrained: Knoydart and Greenyards
• I Power and opinion
• II Macdonnell of Glengarry and Knoydart
• III Clearances and emigration
• IV Corroboration
• V Poverty and wealth
• VI ‘The slaughter at Greenyards’: Spring 1854
• VII The official account
• 17 Nervous Landlords, 1855–86
• I The landlords’ fear
• II The decline of clearances
• III Riddell and the new élites
• IV Carnegie and others
• V Shetland and Mull
• VI Lesser clearances
• VII Deer and a different bleating
• 18 The Crofters’ First Triumph
• I Anarchy and triumph
• II Revolting crofters
• III Running the gauntlet
• IV Napier, 1884
• V Politics and crofters
• VI The Act
• VII Recidivism
• VIII The demand for land
• 19 The Highland Clearances: Answers and Questions
• I Rural flights
• II The clearance model and its variants
• III The landlords
• IV A people adrift
• V Famine in Highland history
• VI The Winners
• VII Losers
• Maps
• Bibliography
• Index
• List of Illustrations