Crofting and Land Reform
The tilling of the soil is the most natural of all occupations, and the agriculturist, when all is said and done, is perhaps the most important member of the community, Without the results of his labours we are poor indeed, for most of our so-called necessaries of life are but luxuries when the fruits of the soil are at stake.
“Scottish Life And Character”, Dobson, H.J. & Sanderson, Wm, London, 1919, p117
After the commotion of the Jacobite rebellion Scotland settled down to a much quieter way of life. While the south, and particularly Edinburgh, enjoyed the changes the Enlightenment brought, the Highlands looked set to return to its quiet, farming-based existence. With the clan system broken up as a result of post-’45 legislation, land ownership and tenancy took a new shape.
The crofting system seemed a perfect marriage; the landowners who replaced the Clan Chiefs could no longer ask their tenants to raise arms, or provide other services for them, but they could make money by leasing off small areas of land – or crofts – to many tenants. In turn, the now landless Highlanders had a chance to rent their own piece of land for them and their family to live on and live off. The rent was usually paid in goods, rather than money, and although it was a harsh life, the crofting ‘communities’ would pull together and help each other out.
Crofting was an entirely self–subsiding way of life. The family home would be built on the plot of land, with the rest of the space (usually around 5 hectares in total) used for growing crops. Sometimes a small area was left aside for grazing animals. Fuel had to be found for the winter, usually in the form of peat, and anything else the crofters required had to be made themselves, or bartered for from the trades-people who would travel from community to community.
This seemingly balanced way of life didn’t last long. Profit seeking landlords were looking for ways of making more money out of their land; rents got higher, and now had to be paid in cash. The land itself was struggling, as fathers tried to share their small plots of land with their sons, and landowners tried to squeeze more tenants onto their lands.
“As the population grew, the crofts tended to be subdivided into ever smaller units, and, while it was true that growing potatoes a very small croft could sustain life in a good year, it could not maintain the cattle on which tenants had relied for a money income to cover their rents and other necessities”
“Scotland. The Shaping of a Nation”; Donaldson, G; London 1974
With many of the crofters struggling to survive, raising the rent wasn’t realistic. Landowners quickly realized that new land uses, such as sheep farming, would raise far more money than leasing land to crofters. And so, around 1790 the Highland Clearances began in earnest. Crofters were forced from their land by unrealistic rents, and sometimes by force. They headed to the cities, enticed by the promise of new jobs in new industries. Many thousands more emigrated to the New World, boarding ships bound for North America to join the land rush.
Those who stayed found themselves working twice as hard, producing extra grain to take to the mills in the South, or moving to the coast to fish for extra food and money. Some flitted between the croft and the cities, picking up seasonal work through the long winters. Farming began to change as well, with small farms joining together, expanding and offering board and food to young men willing to come and work there.
While the face of crofting had changed forever, it was a way of life that had not died out entirely. By the middle of the 1850’s the Clearances were all but over, but those that remained in the Highlands were faced with insecurity, both in terms of what had happened to so many of their clansmen, and the fear of a repeat of the famine which swept Ireland in 1845-50. Eventually, it was nature rather than man that tipped the scale. In 1882 the potato crop failed and gales destroyed the grain. Unsure who to blame for this latest setback, the crofters took it out on their old enemy – the land owners.
For the next few years, inspired by similar action in Ireland, the crofters took action into their own hands. They began 6 years of agitation known as “The Crofter Wars”. Unrest spread across the area, with land raids and rent strikes, but it was events on Skye that gained notoriety
“The Battle of the Braes” took place on the estate of Lord MacDonald, to the south of Portree in April 1882. Protesting crofters who had been served notice of eviction resisted the advance of a Sheriff’s officer and 50 policemen with sticks, stones and whatever else was to hand. The story was reported nationally, and the plight of the crofters was brought to the attention of the public, and perhaps more importantly, the government.
In 1883, The Napier Commission was set up to inquire into the condition of crofters. Over five months they held meetings throughout the Highlands. The Highlanders however, weren’t waiting for the government to act. The Highland Land Law Reform Association (HLLRA), or Land League was established in 1884. In turn, they formed the Crofters Party to stand for parliamentary election – and returned 4 MP’s in January 1886. They challenged the parliament to deal with the conditions of the poorer classes of Scotland.
The 1886 Crofters Holding Act was passed, based on the 3 F’s: Fixty of tenure, free sale and fair rent. However, the crofters weren’t appeased, and the disturbances grew worse, with sheep farms and deer forests being regularly raided. A second act, passed by the newly elected Conservative government, in 1897 went further to securing crofters fair rights, although it wasn’t until after World War I that the issues were finally settled. Following the 1897 Act a Crofters Commission was established to protect the rights of the workers.
