Highland Land League
Encyclopedia
The first Highland Land League emerged as a distinct political force in Scotland
during the 1880s, with its power base in the country's Highlands and Islands. It was known also as the Highland Land Law Reform Association and the Crofters' Party. It was consciously modelled on the Irish Land League.
The Highland land League was successful in getting Members of Parliament (MPs) elected
in 1885 (in the 1885 general election). As a parliamentary force, it was dissipated by the Crofters' Act of 1886 and by the way the Liberal Party
was seen to adopt Land League objectives. The Land League also used direct action
protest tactics and the use of these tactics was to reappear in the early 20th century. The protests included rent strike
s and land occupations (which came to be known as land raids) by crofters
, cottars
and squatters. Perhaps the Land League's best known slogan was Is treasa tuath na tighearna. This Gaelic saying or proverb is usually translated as The people are mightier than a lord.
) having occurred during the decades following the Battle of Culloden
in 1746. Many emigrated to North America
. Many who did not emigrate were crammed into crofting townships on very small areas of land where they were very vulnerable to abuse and exploitation by their landlord
s. Many lacked even crofts of their own and became cottars and squatters on the crofts of other people. Landlords turned most of the land over to use as sheep farms and hunting parks called deer
forests. In addition, in the 1880s, the Highlands and Islands were recently ravaged by the potato famine
of the mid 19th century. The 1880s were also a time, however, of growing democracy
and of government
which was increasingly responsive to public opinion, particularly after the electoral reform Act of 1884.
In the early 1880s, in terms of gaining sympathetic public opinion, crofters were protesting very effectively, with rent strikes and land raids, about their lack of secure tenure of land and their severely reduced access to land. The government responded in 1883 with a commission of enquiry headed by Francis Napier
, and the Napier Commission
published recommendations in 1884. Napier's report fell a long way short of addressing crofters' demands, and it stimulated a new wave of protests.
there were Crofters' Party MPs elected by the constituencies of Argyllshire
(Donald Horne Macfarlane
), Inverness-shire
(Charles Fraser-Mackintosh
), Ross and Cromarty
(Roderick Macdonald
) and Caithness (Gavin Brown Clark). At Wick Burghs
John Macdonald Cameron
was also allied with the Crofters Party. A year later Parliament created the Crofters Act.
, Inverness-shire
, Ross and Cromarty
, Sutherland
, Caithness
, Orkney and Shetland. (The name is used now as a name for an electoral area of the Scottish Parliament
: please see Highlands and Islands
). The Act granted real security of tenure of existing crofts and established the first Crofters Commission (The same name was given to a different body in 1955). The Crofters Commission had rent-fixing powers. Rents were generally reduced and 50% or more of outstanding arrears were cancelled. The Act failed however to address the issue of severely limited access to land, and crofters renewed their protest actions. At the same time there was a shift in the political climate: William Gladstone
's Liberal government fell from power; the new Conservative
government was much less sympathetic to the plight of crofters and much more willing to use troops to quell protests. The Liberal Party appeared to adopt and champion Land League objectives and, as a distinct parliamentary force, the Land League fragmented during the 1890s. On the issue of access to land, therefore, little real progress was to be made until after the First World War.
Some resources were put into development of the communications infrastructure of the Highlands and Islands (roads, railways, and harbours) and, in the early years of the 20th century the Congested Districts Board
was able to push through the establishment of new crofting townships on Skye and in the Strathnaver
area of Sutherland. The Congested Districts Board was created in 1897 and can be seen as a precursor to the Highlands and Islands Development Board, which is known now as Highland and Islands Enterprise (HIE)
.
A new Liberal government, elected in 1906 (in the 1906 general election), abolished the Congested Districts Board
and created the Board of Agriculture for Scotland. The new board's principal task was supposed to be that of pressing forward with land reform
in the Highlands and Islands. It was largely ineffective. By 1913 crofters were again staging land raids.
. This organisation was a broadly left-wing group that sought the restoration of deer forests to public ownership, abolition of plural farms and the nationalisation of the land. Also they resolved to resolutely defend crofters facing eviction by their landlords and they supported home rule
for Scotland.
During the First World War (1914 to 1918) politicians made lavish promises about reform which would follow the war, and of course many croftsmen lost their lives in the war itself. After the war the words of politicians did not translate into action, but croftmen returning from the war were in no mood to accept government inaction. Land raids began again. At this time the Easter Rising
was recent history in Ireland
, as was the Communist revolution in Russia
.
In August 1918 the new Land League had affiliated with the Labour Party
, with four candidates for the 1918 general election
being joint League-Labour. By the 1920s they had fully merged with Labour, under the unfulfilled promise of autonomy for Scotland were Labour to gain power in the forthcoming years. Land League members were then key to the formation of the Scottish National Party in 1934.
When faced with new land raids the government responded by giving the Board of Agriculture the money and powers to do something like what had been promised. The Board's work was assisted by a downturn in the profitability of sheep farming and, by the late 1920s, perhaps 50,000 acre
s (200 km²) of arable land and 750,000 acres (3,000 km²) of hill pasture had been given over to establishing new crofts. Most of the new crofts were in the Hebrides
, the area where Gaelic best survives into present time. There at least it became possible to claim that the effects of the clearances had been largely reversed. Crofters benefited also in parts of Caithness, Sutherland, Shetland, and various other localities.
Crofting is still a distinct lifestyle today, and the Scottish Crofting Federation continues to represent crofters.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
during the 1880s, with its power base in the country's Highlands and Islands. It was known also as the Highland Land Law Reform Association and the Crofters' Party. It was consciously modelled on the Irish Land League.
The Highland land League was successful in getting Members of Parliament (MPs) elected
Election
An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...
in 1885 (in the 1885 general election). As a parliamentary force, it was dissipated by the Crofters' Act of 1886 and by the way the Liberal Party
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
was seen to adopt Land League objectives. The Land League also used direct action
Direct action
Direct action is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels. This can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action...
protest tactics and the use of these tactics was to reappear in the early 20th century. The protests included rent strike
Rent strike
A rent strike is a method of protest commonly employed against large landlords. In a rent strike, a group of tenants come together and agree to refuse to pay their rent en masse until a specific list of demands is met by the landlord...
s and land occupations (which came to be known as land raids) by crofters
Croft (land)
A croft is a fenced or enclosed area of land, usually small and arable with a crofter's dwelling thereon. A crofter is one who has tenure and use of the land, typically as a tenant farmer.- Etymology :...
, cottars
Cotter (farmer)
See also Canadian band The Cottars.Cotter, cottier or cottar is the Scots term for a peasant farmer formerly in the Scottish highlands. Cotters occupied cottages and cultivated small plots of land...
and squatters. Perhaps the Land League's best known slogan was Is treasa tuath na tighearna. This Gaelic saying or proverb is usually translated as The people are mightier than a lord.
Background
In the 1880s the common people or peasantry of the Highlands and Islands had been cleared from large areas of their ancestral lands, the clearances (known as the Highland ClearancesHighland Clearances
The Highland Clearances were forced displacements of the population of the Scottish Highlands during the 18th and 19th centuries. They led to mass emigration to the sea coast, the Scottish Lowlands, and the North American colonies...
) having occurred during the decades following the Battle of Culloden
Battle of Culloden
The Battle of Culloden was the final confrontation of the 1745 Jacobite Rising. Taking place on 16 April 1746, the battle pitted the Jacobite forces of Charles Edward Stuart against an army commanded by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, loyal to the British government...
in 1746. Many emigrated to North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. Many who did not emigrate were crammed into crofting townships on very small areas of land where they were very vulnerable to abuse and exploitation by their landlord
Landlord
A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant . When a juristic person is in this position, the term landlord is used. Other terms include lessor and owner...
s. Many lacked even crofts of their own and became cottars and squatters on the crofts of other people. Landlords turned most of the land over to use as sheep farms and hunting parks called deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
forests. In addition, in the 1880s, the Highlands and Islands were recently ravaged by the potato famine
Highland Potato Famine (1846 - 1857)
The Highland Potato Famine was a famine caused by potato blight that struck the Scottish Highlands in the 1840s. While the mortality rate was less than other Scottish famines in the 1690s, and 1780, the Highland potato famine caused over 1.7 million people to leave Scotland during the period 1846–52...
of the mid 19th century. The 1880s were also a time, however, of growing democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
and of government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
which was increasingly responsive to public opinion, particularly after the electoral reform Act of 1884.
In the early 1880s, in terms of gaining sympathetic public opinion, crofters were protesting very effectively, with rent strikes and land raids, about their lack of secure tenure of land and their severely reduced access to land. The government responded in 1883 with a commission of enquiry headed by Francis Napier
Francis Napier, 10th Lord Napier
Francis Napier, 10th Lord Napier and 1st Baron Ettrick, KT, PC , was a Scottish polyglot, diplomat and colonial administrator. He served as the British Minister to the United States from 1857 to 1859, Netherlands from 1859 to 1860, Russia from 1861 to 1864, Prussia from 1864 to 1866 and as the...
, and the Napier Commission
Napier Commission
The Napier Commission, officially the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Condition of Crofters and Cottars in the Highlands and Islands was a royal commission and public inquiry into the condition of crofters and cottars in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.The commission was appointed in...
published recommendations in 1884. Napier's report fell a long way short of addressing crofters' demands, and it stimulated a new wave of protests.
The Crofters' Party
The earlier protests had been largely confined to Skye. In 1884 protest action was much more widespread, many thousands of crofters became members of the Highland Land League and among MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1885MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1885
This is a list of Members of Parliament elected to the 23rd Parliament of the United Kingdom at the 1885 general election, held over several days from 24th November 1885 to 18th December 1885....
there were Crofters' Party MPs elected by the constituencies of Argyllshire
Argyllshire (UK Parliament constituency)
Argyllshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1800 and of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 until 1950, when it was renamed Argyll...
(Donald Horne Macfarlane
Donald Horne Macfarlane
Sir Donald Horne Macfarlane was a Sottish merchant who entered politics and became a Member of Parliament , firstly as a Home Rule League MP in Ireland and then as Liberal and Crofters Party MP in Scotland....
), Inverness-shire
Inverness-shire (UK Parliament constituency)
Inverness-shire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 until 1918....
(Charles Fraser-Mackintosh
Charles Fraser-Mackintosh
Charles Fraser-Mackintosh was a Scottish lawyer, land developer, author and Liberal and Crofters Party politician. He was a significant champion of the Scottish Gaelic language in Victorian Britain.Fraser-Mackintosh was the son of Alexander Fraser, of Dochnalurg, Inverness and his wife Marjory...
), Ross and Cromarty
Ross and Cromarty (UK Parliament constituency)
Ross and Cromarty was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1832 to 1983. The constituency elected one Member of Parliament using the first-past-the-post voting system....
(Roderick Macdonald
Roderick Macdonald (politician)
Roderick Macdonald, MD, FRCS was a Scottish doctor and a Crofters Party politician. As a coroner he presided over the inquest of one of the victims in the Whitechapel murders....
) and Caithness (Gavin Brown Clark). At Wick Burghs
Wick Burghs (UK Parliament constituency)
Wick Burghs, sometimes known as Northern Burghs, was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1832 to 1918...
John Macdonald Cameron
John Macdonald Cameron
John Macdonald Cameron was a Scottish chemist and Liberal Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1885 to 1892....
was also allied with the Crofters Party. A year later Parliament created the Crofters Act.
The Act of 1886
The Act applied to croft tenure in an area which is now recognisable as a definition of the Highlands and Islands: that of the ancient counties of ArgyllArgyll
Argyll , archaically Argyle , is a region of western Scotland corresponding with most of the part of ancient Dál Riata that was located on the island of Great Britain, and in a historical context can be used to mean the entire western coast between the Mull of Kintyre and Cape Wrath...
, Inverness-shire
Inverness-shire
The County of Inverness or Inverness-shire was a general purpose county of Scotland, with the burgh of Inverness as the county town, until 1975, when, under the Local Government Act 1973, the county area was divided between the two-tier Highland region and the unitary Western Isles. The Highland...
, Ross and Cromarty
Ross and Cromarty
Ross and Cromarty is a variously defined area in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. There is a registration county and a lieutenancy area in current use...
, Sutherland
Sutherland
Sutherland is a registration county, lieutenancy area and historic administrative county of Scotland. It is now within the Highland local government area. In Gaelic the area is referred to according to its traditional areas: Dùthaich 'IcAoidh , Asainte , and Cataibh...
, Caithness
Caithness
Caithness is a registration county, lieutenancy area and historic local government area of Scotland. The name was used also for the earldom of Caithness and the Caithness constituency of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . Boundaries are not identical in all contexts, but the Caithness area is...
, Orkney and Shetland. (The name is used now as a name for an electoral area of the Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
: please see Highlands and Islands
Highlands and Islands
The Highlands and Islands of Scotland are broadly the Scottish Highlands plus Orkney, Shetland and the Hebrides.The Highlands and Islands are sometimes defined as the area to which the Crofters' Act of 1886 applied...
). The Act granted real security of tenure of existing crofts and established the first Crofters Commission (The same name was given to a different body in 1955). The Crofters Commission had rent-fixing powers. Rents were generally reduced and 50% or more of outstanding arrears were cancelled. The Act failed however to address the issue of severely limited access to land, and crofters renewed their protest actions. At the same time there was a shift in the political climate: William Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
's Liberal government fell from power; the new Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
government was much less sympathetic to the plight of crofters and much more willing to use troops to quell protests. The Liberal Party appeared to adopt and champion Land League objectives and, as a distinct parliamentary force, the Land League fragmented during the 1890s. On the issue of access to land, therefore, little real progress was to be made until after the First World War.
Some resources were put into development of the communications infrastructure of the Highlands and Islands (roads, railways, and harbours) and, in the early years of the 20th century the Congested Districts Board
Congested Districts Board (Scotland)
The Congested Districts Board was set up by the Congested Districts Act, 1897 for the purpose of administering the sums made available by the government for the improvement of congested districts in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland....
was able to push through the establishment of new crofting townships on Skye and in the Strathnaver
Strathnaver
Strathnaver or Strath Naver is the fertile strath of the River Naver, a famous salmon river that flows from Loch Naver to the north coast of Scotland...
area of Sutherland. The Congested Districts Board was created in 1897 and can be seen as a precursor to the Highlands and Islands Development Board, which is known now as Highland and Islands Enterprise (HIE)
Highlands and Islands Enterprise
Highlands and Islands Enterprise is the Scottish Government's economic and community development agency for a diverse region which covers more than half of Scotland and is home to around 450,000 people....
.
A new Liberal government, elected in 1906 (in the 1906 general election), abolished the Congested Districts Board
Congested Districts Board (Scotland)
The Congested Districts Board was set up by the Congested Districts Act, 1897 for the purpose of administering the sums made available by the government for the improvement of congested districts in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland....
and created the Board of Agriculture for Scotland. The new board's principal task was supposed to be that of pressing forward with land reform
Land reform
[Image:Jakarta farmers protest23.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Farmers protesting for Land Reform in Indonesia]Land reform involves the changing of laws, regulations or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution,...
in the Highlands and Islands. It was largely ineffective. By 1913 crofters were again staging land raids.
Second League in 1909
Meanwhile, in Glasgow, in 1909, a second Highland Land League was formed as a political partyPolitical party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
. This organisation was a broadly left-wing group that sought the restoration of deer forests to public ownership, abolition of plural farms and the nationalisation of the land. Also they resolved to resolutely defend crofters facing eviction by their landlords and they supported home rule
Home rule
Home rule is the power of a constituent part of a state to exercise such of the state's powers of governance within its own administrative area that have been devolved to it by the central government....
for Scotland.
During the First World War (1914 to 1918) politicians made lavish promises about reform which would follow the war, and of course many croftsmen lost their lives in the war itself. After the war the words of politicians did not translate into action, but croftmen returning from the war were in no mood to accept government inaction. Land raids began again. At this time the Easter Rising
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...
was recent history in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, as was the Communist revolution in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
.
In August 1918 the new Land League had affiliated with the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
, with four candidates for the 1918 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1922
The United Kingdom general election of 1922 was held on 15 November 1922. It was the first election held after most of the Irish counties left the United Kingdom to form the Irish Free State, and was won by Andrew Bonar Law's Conservatives, who gained an overall majority over Labour, led by John...
being joint League-Labour. By the 1920s they had fully merged with Labour, under the unfulfilled promise of autonomy for Scotland were Labour to gain power in the forthcoming years. Land League members were then key to the formation of the Scottish National Party in 1934.
When faced with new land raids the government responded by giving the Board of Agriculture the money and powers to do something like what had been promised. The Board's work was assisted by a downturn in the profitability of sheep farming and, by the late 1920s, perhaps 50,000 acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
s (200 km²) of arable land and 750,000 acres (3,000 km²) of hill pasture had been given over to establishing new crofts. Most of the new crofts were in the Hebrides
Hebrides
The Hebrides comprise a widespread and diverse archipelago off the west coast of Scotland. There are two main groups: the Inner and Outer Hebrides. These islands have a long history of occupation dating back to the Mesolithic and the culture of the residents has been affected by the successive...
, the area where Gaelic best survives into present time. There at least it became possible to claim that the effects of the clearances had been largely reversed. Crofters benefited also in parts of Caithness, Sutherland, Shetland, and various other localities.
Crofting is still a distinct lifestyle today, and the Scottish Crofting Federation continues to represent crofters.
Further reading
- Ian Bradley, "'Having and Holding': The Highland Land War of the 1880s," History Today, Dec 1987, Vol. 37#12 pp 23-28
- Ewen A. Cameron, "Communication or Separation? Reactions to Irish Land Agitation and Legislation in the Highlands of Scotland, c. 1870-1910," English Historical Review, June 2005, Vol. 120 Issue 487, pp 633-666, doi:10.1093/ehr/cei124
- Andrew G. Newby, The Life and Times of Edward McHugh (1853 - 1915): Land Reformer, Trade Unionist, and Labour Activist
- Andrew G. Newby, Ireland Radicalism and the Scottish Highlands, 1870-1912
- Mairtin O'Caithain, Fenianism, Michael Davitt and Land and Labour in Scotland
- John D. Wood, Henry George's Influence on Scottish Land Reform