AYRSHIRE-L Archives

From: "Paul F. Burton" <>
Subject: Highlanders
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1998 09:05:04 +0100

Gordon Johnson wrote:
<snip>
It was this poor regard of Highlanders which allowed their mistreatment by
landowners to go ahead without serious objection by the rest of the
population. Incidentally, these nasty landowners who evicted the
Highlanders were
almost all the clan chiefs!

History is never as simple as we expect it to be.
Sorry to have diverted from the subject. I will now shut up.

While Highlanders were certainly regarded as barbarous and uncouth by many
Lowland Scots, I think it is pushing it to connect this attitude with their
mistreatment by landowners, the clearances, etc. People were usually
cleared off the land simply to make way for sheep, which were seen as a
more profitable commodity than the inefficient farming of the land. Some
landowners tried to provide alternative land for the people affected, some
didn't; some were clan chiefs, some were Lowlanders who bought the land or
"acquired" it after the 1745 rebellion. For an excellent discussion on the
problem, see T.C. Smout, A history of the Scottish people 1560-1830.
Fontana Press 1985. ISBN 0-00-686027-3. Chapter 14.

And now I'll shut up as well!

Paul

This thread:

• Highlanders by "Paul F. Burton" <>