It has been shown, under “Glengarry,” that a chief’s widow, during her
son’s minority, was responsible for the Knoydart evictions in 1853.
Another chief’s widow, _Marsali Bhinneach_--Marjory, daughter of Sir
Ludovick Grant of Dalvey, widow of Duncan Macdonnell of Glengarry, who
died in 1788--gave the whole of Glencruaich as a sheep farm to one
south country shepherd, and to make room for him she evicted over 500
people from their ancient homes. The late Edward Ellice stated before
a Committee of the House of Commons, in 1873, that about the time of
the rebellion in 1745, the population of Glengarry amounted to between
5000 and 6000. At the same time the glen turned out an able-bodied
warrior in support of Prince Charles for every pound of rental paid
to the proprietor. To-day it is questionable if the same district
could turn out twenty men--certainly not that number of Macdonalds.
The bad example of this heartless woman was unfortunately imitated
afterwards by her daughter Elizabeth, who, in 1795, married William
Chisholm of Chisholm, and to whose evil influence may be traced the
great eviction which, in 1801, cleared Strathglass almost to a man of
its ancient inhabitants. The Chisholm was delicate, and often in bad
health, so that the management of the estate fell into the hands of
his strong-minded and hard-hearted wife. In 1801, no less than 799
took ship at Fort William and Isle Martin from Strathglass, the Aird,
Glen Urquhart, and the neighbouring districts, all for Pictou, Nova
Scotia; while in the following year, 473 from the same district left
Fort William, for Upper Canada, and 128 for Pictou. Five hundred and
fifty went aboard another ship at Knoydart, many of whom were from
Strathglass. In 1803, four different batches of 120 souls each, by
four different ships, left Strathglass, also for Pictou; while not a
few went away with emigrants from other parts of the Highlands. During
these three years we find that no less than 5390 were driven out of
these Highland glens, and it will be seen that a very large portion of
them were evicted from Strathglass by the daughter of the notorious
_Marsali Bhinneach_. From among the living cargo of one of the vessels
which sailed from Fort William no less than fifty-three souls died,
on the way out, of an epidemic; and, on the arrival of the living
portion of the cargo at Pictou, they were shut in on a narrow point
of land, from whence they were not allowed to communicate with any of
their friends who had gone before them, for fear of communicating the
contagion. Here they suffered indescribable hardships.
By a peculiar arrangement between the Chisholm who died in 1793, and
his wife, a considerable portion of the people were saved for a time
from the ruthless conduct of _Marsali Bhinneach’s_ daughter and her
co-adjutors. Alexander Chisholm married Elizabeth, daughter of a Dr.
Wilson, in Edinburgh. He made provision for his wife in case of her
outliving him, by which it was left optional with her to take a stated
sum annually, or the rental of certain townships, or club farms. Her
husband died in 1793, when the estate reverted to his half-brother,
William, and the widow, on the advice of her only child, Mary, who,
afterwards became Mrs. James Gooden of London, made choice of the joint
farms, instead of the sum of money named in her marriage settlement;
and though great efforts were made by _Marsali Bhinneach’s_ daughter
and her friends, the widow, Mrs. Alexander Chisholm, kept the farms in
her own hands, and took great pleasure in seeing a prosperous tenantry
in these townships, while all their neighbours were heartlessly driven
away. Not one of her tenants were disturbed or interfered with in any
way from the death of her husband, in February 1793, until her own
death in January, 1826, when, unfortunately for them, their farms all
came into the hands of the young heir (whose sickly father died in
1817), and his cruel mother. For a few years the tenants were left
in possession, but only waiting an opportunity to make a complete
clearance of the whole Strath. Some had a few years of their leases to
run on other parts of the property, and could not just then be expelled.
In 1830 every man who held land on the property was requested to meet
his chief at the local inn of Cannich. They all obeyed, and were there
at the appointed time, but no chief came to meet them. The factor soon
turned up, however, and informed them that the laird had determined to
enter into no negotiation or any new arrangements with them that day.
They were all in good circumstances, without any arrears of rent, but
were practically banished from their homes in the most inconsiderate
and cruel manner, and it afterwards became known that their farms
had been secretly let to sheep farmers from the south, without the
knowledge of the native population in possession.
Mr. Colin Chisholm, who was present at the meeting at Cannich,
writes:--“I leave you to imagine the bitter grief and disappointment
of men who attended with glowing hopes in the morning, but had to
tell their families and dependents in the evening that they could see
no alternative before them but the emigrant ship, and choose between
the scorching prairies of Australia and the icy regions of North
America.” It did not, however, come to that. The late Lord Lovat,
hearing of the harsh proceedings, proposed to one of the large sheep
farmers on his neighbouring property to give up his farm, his lordship
offering to give full value for his stock, so that he might divide
it among those evicted from the Chisholm estate. This arrangement
was amicably carried through, and at the next Whitsunday--1831--the
evicted tenants from Strathglass came into possession of the large
sheep farm of Glenstrathfarrar, and paid over to the late tenant of
the farm every farthing of the value set upon the stock by two of the
leading valuators in the country; a fact which conclusively proved
that the Strathglass tenants were quite capable of holding their own,
and perfectly able to meet all claims that could be made upon them by
their old proprietor and unnatural chief. They became very comfortable
in their new homes; but about fifteen years after their eviction from
Strathglass they were again removed to make room for deer. On this
occasion the late Lord Lovat gave them similar holdings on other
portions of his property, and the sons and grandsons of the evicted
tenants of Strathglass are now, on the Lovat property, among the most
respectable and comfortable middle-class farmers in the county.
The result of the Strathglass evictions was that only two of the
ancient native stock remained in possession of an inch of land on the
estate of Chisholm. When the present Chisholm came into possession he
found, on his return from Canada, only that small remnant of his own
name and clan to receive him. He brought back a few Chisholms from the
Lovat property, and re-established on his old farm a tenant who had
been evicted nineteen years before from the holding in which his father
and grandfather died. The great-grandfather was killed at Culloden,
having been shot while carrying his commander, young Chisholm,
mortally wounded, from the field. The gratitude of that chief’s
successors had been shown by his ruthless eviction from the ancient
home of his ancestors; but it is gratifying to find the present chief
making some reparation by bringing back and liberally supporting the
representatives of such a devoted follower of his forbears. The present
Chisholm, who has the character of being a good landlord, is descended
from a distant collateral branch of the family. The evicting Chisholms,
and their offspring have, however, every one of them, disappeared,
and Mr. Colin Chisholm informs us that there is not a human being
now in Strathglass of the descendants of the chief, or of the south
country farmers, who were the chief instruments in evicting the native
population.
To give the reader an idea of the class of men who occupied this
district, it may be stated that of the descendants of those who lived
in Glen Canaich, one of several smaller glens, at one time thickly
populated in the Strath, but now a perfect wilderness--there lived in
the present generation, no less than three colonels, one major, three
captains, three lieutenants, seven ensigns, one bishop, and fifteen
priests.
Earlier in the history of Strathglass and towards the end of last
century, an attempt was made by south country sheep farmers to persuade
Alexander Chisholm to follow the example of Glengarry, by clearing out
the whole native population. Four southerners, among them Gillespie,
who took the farm of Glencruaich, cleared by Glengarry, called upon
the Chisholm, at Comar, and tried hard to convince him of the many
advantages which would accrue to him by the eviction of his tenantry,
and turning the largest and best portions of his estate into great
sheep walks, for which they offered to pay him large rents. His
daughter, Mary, already referred to as Mrs. James Gooden, was then in
her teens. She heard the arguments used, and having mildly expressed
her objection to the heartless proposal of the greedy southerners, she
was ordered out of the room, crying bitterly. She, however, found her
way to the kitchen, called all the servants together, and explained
the cause of her trouble. The object of the guests at Comar was soon
circulated through the Strath, and early the following morning over
a thousand men met together in front of Comar House, and demanded an
interview with their chief. This was at once granted, and the whole
body of the people remonstrated with him for entertaining, even for a
moment, the cruel proceedings suggested by the strangers, whose conduct
the frightened natives characterised as infinitely worse than that of
the freebooting Lochaber men who, centuries before, came with their
swords and other instruments of death to rob his ancestors of their
patrimony, but who were defeated and driven out of the district by
the ancestors of those whom it was now proposed to evict out of their
native Strath, to make room for the greedy freebooters of modern times
and their sheep. The chief counselled quietness, and suggested that the
action they had taken might be construed as an act of inhospitality to
his guests, not characteristic, in any circumstances, of a Highland
chief.
The sheep farmers who stood inside the open drawing-room window,
heard all that had passed, and, seeing the unexpected turn events were
taking, and the desperate resolve shown by the objects of their cruel
purpose, they adopted the better part of valour, slipped quietly out
by the back door, mounted their horses, galloped away as fast as their
steeds could carry them, and crossed the river Glass among the hooting
and derision of the assembled tenantry, heard until they crossed the
hill which separates Strathglass from Corriemony. The result of the
interview with their laird was a complete understanding between him and
his tenants; and the flying horsemen, looking behind them for the first
time when they reached the top of the Maol Bhuidhe, saw the assembled
tenantry forming a procession in front of Comar House, with pipers at
their head, and the Chisholm being carried, mounted shoulder-high,
by his stalwart vassals, on their way to Invercannich. The pleasant
outcome of the whole was that chief and clan expressed renewed
confidence in each other, a determination to continue in future in the
same happy relationship, and to maintain, each on his part, all modern
and ancient bonds of fealty ever entered into by their respective
ancestors.
This, in fact, turned out to be one of the happiest days that ever
dawned on the glen. The people were left unmolested so long as
this Chisholm survived--a fact which shows the wisdom of chief and
people meeting face to face, and refusing to permit others whether
greedy outsiders or selfish factors--to come and foment mischief and
misunderstanding between parties whose interests are so closely bound
together, and who, if they met and discussed their differences, would
seldom or ever have any disagreements of a serious character. Worse
counsel prevailed after Alexander’s death, and the result under the
cruel daughter of the notorious _Marsali Bhinneach_, has been already
described.
Reference has been made to the clearance of Glenstrathfarrar by the
late Lord Lovat, but for the people removed from there and other
portions of the Lovat property, he allotted lands in various other
places on his own estates, so that, although these changes were most
injurious to his tenants, his lordship’s proceedings can hardly be
called evictions in the ordinary sense of the term. His predecessor,
Archibald Fraser of Lovat, however, evicted, like the Chisholms,
hundreds from the Lovat estates.