In 1826 MacLean of Coll, owner of the Isle of Rhum, paid five pounds and 14 shillings passage for each adult to go to Canada. He evicted 300 people this way but this apparently large investment was well worth the cost as the income of the island rose from 300 pounds Sterling per annum in rent to 800 pounds Sterling per annum under sheep. Whereas the chieftain had once been the father figure, the protector and provider of the clan, and "clan" means family in the Gaelic, now they were the abusers and repressors.

Yet, chieftans still wielded considerable power over the ordinary clan members and they had the legal right to make these forced evictions. They also had the right to say who married who or, more often than not, who didn't marry who. As late as 1857 the records show that In the Parish of Clyne on the Duke of Sutherland's estate there were 75 bachelors, ranging in age from 35 to 75, there had only ever been two marriages and one baptism recorded for the whole parish.

The landlords called this replacing of people with sheep "The Improvements" because they saw it as a way of improving the profitability of their land. The people referred to the improvements as "The Clearances" for they were simply cleared out of the way to make way for the hated sheep. To be "Cleared" usually meant that, often without warning, the factor, or landlord's agent, would arrive one morning at your home, order you out and burn down the house without even allowing sufficient time to remove people or property. Roof timbers were destroyed so that houses or even temporary shelters from the cruel Scottish weather could not be built in an area where trees are scarce.

At the height of the Clearances as many as 2,000 homes were being burned in a day. Many of these small crofts had been occupied by the same family for as long as 500 years. Because many crofters were still loyal to their chieftain they often placed the blame for the Clearances and their hardships on the factors. It was beyond their comprehension that their chief would treat them in such a manner.

Written and published by the Highland Clearances Memorial Fund

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