In 1814, things took a change for the worse in the Highlands. The British had been defeated in their attempt to retake America, so Liberty and the threat of the lower class was now elevated in the minds of the landowners. The evictions that had been relatively peaceful in the past now took on a sense of urgency. No longer were the tenants who willingly left their homes allowed to take their belongings: they were quite simply burnt out.

There would be a knock at the door and the tenants were told to get out, immediately. Those who dallied to grab a few belongings had their home set fire while they were still inside. The result was the same when those inside the home were too feeble to move. Either a neighbor carried them out or they died in the blaze. The remains of the home were then knocked down so they would not interfere with grazing sheep.

These atrocities continued for about six years. Tenants evicted without their own food or possessions frequently starved or died of exposure. Only the hardiest survived long enough to gain passage elsewhere. Those who turned to the Church for help were informed to do as they were told and not to make trouble. The Scots who did survive long enough to gain passage found themselves without the money or possessions to trade for a voyage. Many were therefore forced to bargain their time in indentured servitude to pay for the voyage away from their home.

Later it was discovered that the Roman Catholic Church and Church of Scotland Clergy had been taking bribes from slave-traders to encourage transportation. During the scandal the Church of Scotland responded by claiming that "Neither Jesus nor his Holy Apostles regarded Slaveholding as a sin." None of the money taken by the Church was ever returned to the people.

In approximately 1820, word of the Clearances started to hit the newspapers in England to the astonishment of the general populace. In response, some people tried to raise money for the relief of the Scots and the evictions died down to a trickle. But the response was inadequate to feed the multitude of the homeless. The countryside was full of red deer that could have fed the people, but they were expressly forbidden from hunting the animals. That was the privilege of the Gentry who considered it great sport. Many landowners even removed some of their sheep to make room for more deer. This allowed their friends in England to visit and hunt the deer with them.

Twenty years later, the forcible evictions started again. Word reached the newspapers and some Highlanders were interviewed but later 'disappeared'. The newspaper coverage was quickly forgotten and the Clearances continued unabated in Glencalvie and now on the Isle of Skye also. From 1840-1880 over forty thousand Scots were cleared from the Isle of Skye alone. Many more were cleared from the mainland by whatever means possible.

On the Islands of Berra and South Uist, the tenants were told to attend a meeting on fair rent. To not attend was punishable by fine. All who attended the 'meeting' were tied hand and foot and forcibly placed on a ship to America. There were other incidents also: in one the women of Ross were beaten, killed and imprisoned to gain their eviction. The list is almost endless.

The only notice that was taken by the British Parliament to Scotland in this time was curious in its eccentricity. In 1854, during the Crimean War, when learning that only three regiments of Highlanders were fighting the Russians, the call went out asking, "Where were the Highlanders?" Of the few Highlanders left, those who remained no longer had any desire to serve Great Britain in any way.

For one to step back and look at the whole despicable episode is a little unnerving. The Clearances were done in the most part for vanity and money. That is all. This was done at the expense of a whole race of people who were systematically stripped of their power and then totally exploited to the point of death and starvation. The landowners, with very few exceptions, simply did not care what happened to the true Highlanders, even while they did their very best to imitate them.

Back to Highland Clearances Main Page

Highland Clearances Part One

Highland Clearances Part Two

Highland Clearances Part Three

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The Acts Against Highland Dress

Bonnie Prince Charlie

A Story of the '45