In his interesting volume entitled _Reminiscences and Reflections of
an Octogenarian Gael_, Mr. Duncan Campbell, for over twenty-six years
editor of the _Northern Chronicle_, writes as follows with regard to
the Breadalbane Evictions:--
As second Marquis, “the son of his father,” contrary to all
prognostications, became, as soon as expiring leases permitted it, an
evicting landlord on a large scale, and he continued to pursue the
policy of joining farm to farm, and turning out native people, to
the end of his twenty-eight years’ reign. But like the first spout
of the haggis, his first spout of evicting energy was the hottest.
I saw with childish sorrow, impotent wrath, and awful wonder at
man’s inhumanity to man, the harsh and sweeping Roro and Morenish
clearances, and heard much talk about others which were said to be as
bad if not worse. A comparison of the census returns for 1831 with
those of 1861 will show how the second Marquis reduced the rural
population on his large estates, while the inhabitants of certain
villages were allowed, or, as at Aberfeldy, encouraged to increase.
When such a loud and long-continued outcry took place about the
Sutherland clearances, it seems at first sight strange that such small
notice was taken by the Press, authors, and contemporary politicians,
of the Breadalbane evictions, and that the only set attack on the
Marquis should have been left to the vainglorious, blundering, Dunkeld
coal merchant, who added the chief-like word “Dunalastair” to his
designation. One reason--perchance the chief one--for the Marquis’s
immunity was the prominent manner in which he associated himself
with the Nonintrusionists, and his subsequently becoming an elder
and a liberal benefactor of the Free Church. He had a Presbyterian
upbringing, and lived in accordance with that upbringing. His Free
Church zeal may, therefore, have been as genuine as he wished it to be
believed; but whether simply real or partly simulated, it covered as
with a saintly cloak his evictions proceedings in the eyes of those
who would have been his loud denouncers and scourging critics had he
been an Episcopalian or remained in the Church of Scotland. The people
he evicted, and all of us, young and old, who were witnesses of the
clearances, could not give him much credit for any good in what seemed
to us the purely hard and commercial spirit of the policy which he
carried out as the owner of a princely Highland property. Such of the
witnesses of the clearances as have lived to see the present desolation
of rural baronies on the Breadalbane estates can now charitably assume
that, had he foreseen what his land-management policy was to lead up
to, he would, at least, have gone about his thinning-out business in a
more cautious, kindly, and considerate manner, and not rudely cut, as
he did, the precious ties of hereditary mutual sympathy and reliance
which had long existed between the lords and the native Highland people
of Breadalbane.
It is quite true that in 1834 the population on the Breadalbane
estate needed thinning. The old Marquis had made a great mistake
in dividing holdings which were too small before, in order to make
room for Fencible soldiers who were not, as eldest sons, heirs to
existing holdings. In twenty years, congestion to an alarming extent
was the natural result of the old man’s mistaken kindness. There was
indeed a good deal of congestion before that mistake was committed,
although migration and emigration helped to keep it within some limits.
Emigration would have proceeded briskly from 1760 onwards had it
not been discouraged by landlords who found the fighting manhood on
their estates a valuable asset; and when not positively prohibited,
emigration was impeded in various ways by the Government, now alive
to the value of Highlands and Isles as a nursery of soldiers and
sailors. Although discouraged and impeded, emigration was never wholly
stopped, and after Waterloo Glenlyon, Fortingall, and Breadalbane,
Rannoch, Strathearn and Balquhidder, sent off swarms to Canada, the
United States, and the West Indies. A large swarm from Breadalbane,
Lochearnhead, and Balquhidder went off to Nova Scotia about 1828,
and got Gaelic-speaking ministers to follow them. In 1829 a great
number of Skyemen from Lord Macdonald’s estate went to Cape Breton,
where Gaelic is the language of the people and pulpit to this day.
The second Marquis of Breadalbane would have won for himself lasting
glory and honour, and done his race and country valuable service, if
he had chosen to place himself at the head of an emigration scheme
for his surplus people, instead of merely driving them away, and
further trampling on their feelings by letting the big farms he made
by clearing out the native population to strangers in race, language,
and sympathies. He was rich, childless, and gifted, and he utterly
missed his vocation, or grand chance for gaining lasting fame among the
children of the Gael.
At a later period of my life than this of which I am now writing,
I looked into many kirk session books, and found that those of the
parishes of Kenmore and Killin indicated a worse state of matters in
Breadalbane than existed in any of the neighbouring parishes. Pauperism
was increasing at a rapid rate, although it was a notorious fact that
rents there were lower than on other Highland estates. The old Marquis
was never a rack-renter. Other proprietors, when leases terminated,
took more advantage than he did of a chance to raise rents, and when
once raised they strove ever afterwards to keep them up. But I do not
wonder that his son thought that if things were allowed to go on as he
found them on succeeding to titles and estates, a general bankruptcy
would soon be the result. Without ceasing to regret and detest his
methods, I learned to see the reasonableness of the second Marquis’s
view of the alarming situation. The population had simply outgrown
the means of decent subsistence from the carefully cultivated small
holdings which were the general rule. Had it not been for the frugality
and self-helpfulness of the people, the crisis of general poverty would
have come when the inflated war prices ceased, or at least in the
short-crop year of 1826, when the corn raised in Breadalbane, although
the hillsides were cultivated as far up as any cereal crop could
be expected to ripen in the most favourable season, did not supply
meal enough for two-thirds of the people. But the “calanas” of the
women, especially as long as flax-spinning continued in a flourishing
condition, brought in a good deal of money; and for many years “Calum
a Mhuilin” (Calum of the Mill), otherwise Malcolm Campbell, road
contractor, Killin, led out a host of young men to make roads in
various parts of the country, and these returned with their earnings to
spend the winter at home. These sources of profit were beginning to dry
up when the old Marquis died.
What came of the dispersed? The least adventurous or poorest of them
slipped away into the nearest manufacturing town, or mining districts
where there was a demand for unskilled labourers. There some of them
flourished, but not a few of them foundered. The larger portion of
them emigrated to Canada, mainly to the London district of Ontario,
where they cleared forest farms, cherished their Gaelic language and
traditions, prospered, and hated the Marquis more, perhaps, than
he rightly deserved when things were looked at from his own hard
political-economy point of view.
_STATISTICAL STATEMENT._
POPULATION IN 1831, 1841, 1851, 1881, AND 1911, OF ALL THE PARISHES IN
WHOLE OR IN PART IN THE COUNTY OF PERTHSHIRE.
1831 1841 1851 1881 1911
Aberdalgie 434 360 343 297 278
Aberfoyle 660 543 514 465 1102
Abernethy 1915 1920 2026 1714 1297
Abernyte 254 280 275 275 209
Arngask 712 750 685 547 652
Auchterarder 3182 3434 4160 3648 3175
Auchtergaven 3417 3366 3232 2195 1250
Balquhidder 1049 871 874 627 734
Bendochy 780 783 773 715 502
Blackford 1897 1782 2012 1595 1374
Blair-Athol 2495 2231 2084 1742 1342
Blairgowrie 2644 3471 2497 5162 ...
Callander 1909 1665 1716 2167 1977
Caputh 2303 2317 2037 2096 1565
Cargill 1628 1642 1629 1348 1329
Clunie 944 763 723 582 474
Collace 730 702 581 409 324
Culross 1484 1444 1487 1130 1499
Comrie 2622 2471 2463 1858 1447
Dron 464 441 394 335 256
Dull 4590 3811 3342 2565 ...
Dunbarney 1162 1104 1066 756 862
Dunkeld 2032 1752 1662 791 628
Dunning 2045 2128 2206 1639 1145
Errol 2992 2832 2796 2421 2083
Findo-Gask 428 436 405 364 357
Forgandenny 913 796 828 617 565
Forteviot 624 638 638 618 524
Fortingall 3067 2740 2486 1690 ...
Fossoway and Tulliebole 1576 1724 1621 1267 805
Foulis-Wester 1681 1609 1483 412 704
Glendevon 620 157 128 147 111
Inchture 878 769 745 650 545
Kenmore 3126 2539 2257 1508 686
Killin 2002 1702 1608 1277 913
Kilmadock 3752 4055 3659 3012 2272
Kilspindie 760 709 684 693 498
Kincardine 2455 2232 1993 1351 ...
Kinclaven 890 880 881 588 468
Kinfauns 732 720 650 583 558
Kinnaird 461 458 370 260 172
Kinnoull 2957 2879 3134 3461 4076
Kirkmichael 1568 1412 1280 849 421
Lethendy and Kinloch 708 662 556 404 327
Little Dunkeld 2867 2718 2155 2175 1945
Logierait 3138 2959 2875 2323 1371
Longforgan 1638 1660 1787 1854 1997
Madderty 713 634 593 527 438
Meigle 873 728 686 696 856
Methven 2714 2446 2454 1910 1843
Moneydie 300 315 321 233 232
Monzie 1195 1261 1199 753 428
Monievaird and Strowan 926 853 790 700 438
Moulin 2022 2019 2022 2066 2518
Muckhart 617 706 685 601 528
Muthill 3297 3067 2972 1702 1431
Redgorton 1866 1929 2047 1452 1086
Rhynd 400 402 338 297 205
St. Madoes 327 327 288 316 258
St. Martins 1135 1071 983 741 630
Scone 2268 2422 2381 2402 2389
Tibbermore 1223 1661 1495 1883 2443
Trinity-Gask 620 620 597 396 360
Tulliallan 3550 3196 3043 2207 2091
Weem 1209 890 740 474 391
POPULATION IN 1831, 1841, 1851, 1881, AND 1911, OF ALL THE PARISHES IN
WHOLE OR IN PART IN THE COUNTY OF ARGYLL.
Ardchattan and Muckairn 2420 2264 2313 2005 2047
Ardnamurchan 5669 5581 5446 4105 3172
Campbeltown 9472 9539 9381 9755 9497
Craignish 892 970 873 451 325
Dunoon and Kilmun 2416 2853 4518 8002 6107
Gigha and Cara 534 550 547 382 326
Glassary 4054 5369 4711 4348 ...
Glenorchy and Inishail 1806 831 1450 1705 931
Inveraray 2233 2277 2229 946 919
Inverchaolain 596 699 474 407 371
Jura and Colonsay 2205 2291 1901 1343 843
Kilbrandon and Kilchattan 2833 2602 2375 1767 1370
Kilcalmonell and Kilberry 3488 2460 2859 2304 815
Kilchoman 4822 4505 4142 2547 1459
Kilchrenan and Dalavich 1096 894 776 504 357
Kildalton 3065 3315 3310 2271 1471
Kilfinan 2004 1816 1695 2153 928
Kilfinichen and Kilviceuen 3819 4102 3054 1982 1403
Killarrow and Kilmeny 7105 7341 4882 2756 2552
Killean and Kilchenzie 2866 2401 2219 1386 1019
Kilmartin 1475 1213 1144 811 582
Kilmodan 648 578 500 323 264
Kilmore and Kilbride 2836 4327 3131 5142 7154
Kilninian and Kilmore 4830 4322 3954 2540 1811
Kilniver and Kilmelford 1072 970 714 405 392
Knapdale, North 2583 2170 1666 927 656
Knapdale, South 2137 1537 2178 2536 2100
Lismore and Appin 4365 4193 4097 3433 3279
Lochgoilhead and Kilmorich 1196 1100 834 870 1023
Morvern 2036 1781 1547 828 635
Saddell and Skipness 2152 1798 1504 1163 964
Small Isles 1015 993 916 550 396
Southend 2120 1598 1406 955 767
Strachur and Stralachan 1083 1086 915 932 700
Tiree and Coll 5769 6096 4818 3376 2214
Torosay 1889 1616 1361 1102 959
POPULATION IN 1831, 1841, 1851, 1881, AND 1911, OF ALL THE PARISHES IN
WHOLE OR IN PART IN THE COUNTY OF INVERNESS.
Abernethy 2092 1920 1871 1530 1228
Alvie 1092 972 914 707 564
Ardersier 1268 1475 1241[29] 2086 1913
Ardnamurchan 5669 5581 5446 4105 3172
Boleskin and Abertarff 1829 1876 2006 1448 1791
Cawdor 1187 1150 1202 1070 859
Cromdale 3234 3561 3990 3642 1920
Croy 1664 1684 1770 1709 1384
Daviot and Dunlichity 1641 1681 1857 1252 907
Dores 1736 1745 1650 1148 794
Duthil 1920 1759 1788 1664 1345
Glenelg 2874 2729 2470 1601 1638
Inverness 14324 15418 16496 21725 25669
Kilmallie 4210 5397 5235 4157 3704
Kilmonivaig 2869 2791 2583 1928 1234
Kilmorach (including Beauly) 2709 2694 3007 2618 1811
Kiltarlity 2715 2896 2965 2134 1523
Kingussie and Insh 2080 2047 2201 1987 2199
Kirkhill 1715 1829 1730 1480 1237
Laggan 1196 1201 1223 917 754
Moy and Dalarossie 1098 967 1018 822 696
Petty 1836 1749 1784 1531 1263
Urquhart and Glenmoriston 2942 3104 3280 2438 1675
Urray 2768 2716 2621 2478 1848
_Insular_--
Barra 2097 2363 1873 2161 2620
Bracadale 1769 1824 1597 929 805
Duirinish 4765 4983 5330 4391 3093
Harris 3900 4429 4250 4814 4944
Kilmuir 3415 3629 3177 2562 1964
North Uist 4603 4428 3918 4264 4096
Portree 3441 3574 3557 3191 2431
Sleat 2756 2706 2531 2060 1385
Small Isles 1015 993 916 550 396
Snizort 3487 3220 3101 2120 1694
South Uist 6890 7333 6173 6078 5469
Strath 2962 3150 3243 2616 1947
[29] Including 948 military and militia in Fort-George in 1881.
POPULATION IN 1831, 1841, 1851, 1881, AND 1911, OF ALL THE PARISHES IN
WHOLE OR IN PART IN THE COUNTIES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.
Alness 1437 1269 1240 1033 898
Applecross 2892 2861 2709 2239 2498
Avoch 1956 1931 2029 1691 1782
Contin 2023 1770 1562 1422 957
Cromarty 2900 2662 2727 2009 5637
Dingwall 1159 2100 2364 2220 2942
Edderton 1023 975 890 431 545
Fearn 1695 1914 2122 2135 1785
Fodderty 2232 2437 2342 2047 1648
Gairloch 4445 4880 5186 4594 3328
Glenshiel 715 745 573 424 339
Killearnan 1479 1643 1794 1059 741
Kilmuir-Easter 1556 1486 1437 1146 887
Kiltearn 1605 1436 1538 1182 1138
Kincardine 1887 2108 1896 1472 1025
Kintail 1240 1186 1009 688 ...
Knockbain 2139 2565 3005 1866 1397
Lochalsh 2433 2597 2299 2050 1761
Lochbroom 4615 4799 4813 4191 2794
Lochcarron 2136 1960 1612 1456 982
Logie-Easter 934 1015 965 827 700
Nigg 1404 1426 1457 1000 827
Resolis or Kirkmichael 1470 1549 1551 1424 954
Rosemarkie 1799 1719 1776 1357 726
Rosskeen 2916 3222 3699 3773 3362
Tain 3078 3128 3574 3009 2507
Tarbat 1809 1826 2151 1878 1224
Urquhart and Logie-Wester 2864 2997 3153 2525 2006
Urray 2768 2716 2621 2474 1848
_Insular_--
Barvas 3011 3850 4189 5325 6040
Lochs 3067 3653 4256 6248 6689
Stornoway 5491 6218 8057 10389 13438
Uig 3041 3316 3209 3489 3436
POPULATION IN 1831, 1841, 1851, 1881, AND 1911, OF ALL THE PARISHES IN
WHOLE OR IN PART IN THE COUNTY OF CAITHNESS.
1831 1841 1851 1881 1911
Bower 1615 1689 1658 1608 1393
Canisbay 2364 2306 2437 2626 1866
Dunnet 1906 1880 1868 1607 1147
Halkirk 2847 2963 2918 2705 2041
Latheron 7030 7637 8224 6675 4512
Olrig 1146 1584 1873 2002 1450
[31]Reay 2881 2811 2506 2191 1811
Thurso 4679 4881 5096 6217 4732
Watten 1234 1966 1351 1406 1079
Wick 9850 10393 11851 12822 12772
POPULATION IN 1801, 1811, 1821, 1831, 1841, 1851, 1871, 1881, AND 1911,
OF ALL THE PARISHES IN WHOLE OR IN PART IN THE COUNTY OF SUTHERLAND.
1801 1811 1821 1831 1841 1851 1871 1881 1911
Assynt 2419 2479 2803 3161 3178 2989 3006 2781 2111
Clyne 1643 1639 1874 1711 1765 1933 1733 1812 1749
Creich 1974 1969 2354 2562 2852 2714 2524 2223 1713
Dornoch 2362 2681 3100 3380 2714 2981 2764 2525 2724
Durness 1208 1155 1004 1153 1109 1152 1049 987 830
Eddrachillis 1253 1147 1229 1965 1699 1576 1530 1525 1259
Farr 2408 2408 1994 2073 2217 2403 2019 1930 1673
Golspie 1616 1391 1049 1149 1214 1529 1804 1556 1685
Kildonan 1440 1574 565 257 256 [30]2288 1916 1942 1786
Lairg 1209 1354 1094 1045 913 1162 978 1335 995
Loth 1374 1330 2008 2234 2526 [30]640 583 584 367
[31]Reay 2406 2317 2758 2881 2811 2506 2331 2191 1581
Rogart 2022 2148 1986 1805 1501 1535 1341 1227 892
Tongue 1348 1493 1736 2030 2041 2018 2051 1929 1609
[30] The lands of Helmsdale and others previously in the parish of Loth
were, about this time, added to Kildonan, which accounts for this large
increase. It also accounts for the decrease in Loth.
[31] Note that Reay is given both in Caithness and Sutherland records
same figures. The parish lies one half in each county.
_APPENDICES._