If you want to know about land inequality in Scotland, then I want to tell
you about the crofters' land wars on Skye. This is the first of a series of
three videos, and this one deals with the Battle of
the Braes that this cairn commemorates. Also if you're interested
in the people, places and events in Scottish history, then you can click
on the subscribe button at the bottom right hand side of the screen anytime
during this video. Also don't forget you'll find additional
information and ways to support the channel
in the description below. In the meantime, let me tell you a story. I'm on the Isle
of Skye. I'm about three miles south of Portree
to tell you the reason for this cairn. This area is called Braes
and behind me is the sound of Raasay. It's always been beautiful
but it hasn't always been tranquil. This was Macdonald country.
Under the clan system Skye was made up of Macleod in the north and west
with their seat at Dunvegan, and Macdonalds in the south and east with
their seat at Armadale but it's now 1882.
More than a hundred years since Culloden, the clan system has broken
down. You see it used to be the land belonged
to the people of Clan Macleod or Clan Macdonald
and of course the Chief was a trustee of the land, with responsibility to take
care of the people on it. He protected you
and you gave him service. You were his kith,
and he was your kin, and the nature of that relationship is passed from
generation to generation, in oral traditions, stories
and song. Your parents passed it to you by word of mouth.
But it turned out his parents passed it to him
on a piece of paper and now you're a tenant.
Somehow, whilst you were sleeping, capitalism has replaced clan,
profit replaced patriarchy and now you've woken up with a jolt.
In the next episode I'll tell you how Macleod of Macleod
sold large chunks of his clan land to outsiders,
who came in and said that you have to move off their land.
It seemed only yesterday that the land belonged to everybody!
In the Gaeltacht folks would spend the winter on lower ground and in summer
time the community en mass would move their
beasts up to the higher pastures called the Sheilings,
and they would obviously do this to carry out summer tasks and to get the summer
grazing. Here the people of Braes had been doing
this, well forever, and then in 1865 Macdonald
of Sleat, whose ancestors had been clan chiefs, but
who now seems to be the landowner, let out the
hillside of Ben Lee to a sheep farm. Suddenly you're told you can't use the
summer Sheilings! Huh? Now there was no discussion, there
was no compensation of any kind, there was no reduction in rent, in fact
as the years passed, rents were increased. Six years later in
1881, the lease for the sheep run was about to
expire. The crofters of Braes, justifiably
claimed that they had continued to pay the rent
and that they should be allowed to move their sheep back
onto the Sheilings. Macdonald of Sleat said no.
Macleod of Macleod now living in a townhouse in London,
sitting on a pile of cash from the sale of big chunks of previously clan land,
sent a tweet to the Highland papers in support of his landowning neighbour.
In it he said Ben Lee was common and what is common to all
is of no value to any. Ah-ha! So it is common land and it's got no
value d'oh. Nevertheless Macleod rejected all
petitions. The people of Braes moved their animals
onto the hill that their ancestors had shared
anyway, and they started a rent strike. The ante had been
upped and uncle Mcdonald didn't like it.
Here's a name for you, Baron Ronald Archibald
Boswell Macdonald. He had his agent issued notices of eviction against seven men
and three widows, who were seen to be the ringleaders of these events.
On the 7th of April 1882, events took place along this road.
The Sheriff Officer, along with two others headed from Portree towards Braes
with notices of eviction. Now as these upholders of the law and
order approached, youngsters at the northern approaches raised the
alarm and 100 to 200 bodies gravitated towards the approaching
invaders to stop them in their tracks. the Sheriff Officer said
he didn't need to reach the crofts, he could issue the
eviction notices here. The crowd said no, build a fire and
burn them. The three men looked at each other.
What happens now? The report in the Aberdeen Daily Free Press
said, that the interchanges of complements between the Officers of the
Law and the people were, as might be expected of a fiery
character. One way or another the notices were
burned here and when the Sheriff's Assistant tried
to make a stand, he was showered with something that meant he needed to shower
himself! Now you might be thinking tough shit.
Actually it was runny!
This was going to be more difficult than expected.
Word got back to the city. The Sheriff Officer had tried
and failed. There weren't enough police on Skye to deal with this.
There weren't even enough in Inverness. This called for extreme action.
The Glasgow Polis! Now just in case you're not familiar with the Glasgow
Polis, let me tell you a story that might kind of put
things in context. At one point there was an inter-agency
competition held between the Glasgow Police, the Canadian
Mounties and the FBI, and it was held in Canada in the winter
time, and the competition was that each of
them were given the opportunity and as much
time as they wanted to find a white rabbit
in a wood, in the snow. The Canadian Mounties
went first. They were pretty confident. It was their
area, it was their environment, this wasn't their first
rodeo. They go in, they spend half a day, and they come out and they admit failure,
and they were pretty disappointed, because they were sure that they
were aaah they were in their element. The FBI
go in. Now the FBI have got all sorts of technical equipment; electronics, they've
got satellites trying to attract this white rabbit,
they've got the infrared cameras to find ...
they had everything! They spent overnight, they spent the whole of the next day, they
came back out and they said we can't find it, it's impossible to
find, there is no white rabbit in there.
The Glasgow Polis said it's our turn. The Glasgow Polis go in. Half an hour
later the Glasgow Polis come out, and they've got a brown bear
with its hands up going okay I admit it, I admit it, I'm a white rabbit!
The Glasgow Polis.
Twelve days later, forty Glasgow Polis, ten Inverness Polis,
a handful from Skye, the Portree Sheriff Officer,
the Procurator Fiscal from Skye, the Procurator Fiscal from Inverness,
the Sheriff from Inverness, the Sheriff's Substitute
from Skye, and several journalists to record events
all arrived in Portree. If cats and dogs get into heaven, and on
the day in question, they were falling from there,
making for hellish weather, unlike today. As half a century of law officers
approached along this road, they passed this point approaching the
township and warning signals were sounded.
They were brought to halt further up the road by a group similar to the last one.
Not only that but people were running from every croft around.
Some were half dressed; women with their hair down,
a township unprepared for what was coming.
Everyone arrived with whatever makeshift weapons they could get their hands on;
pots, pans, sticks, stones. There was a lot of name calling. It took
a 20-minute struggle but eventually the police managed to home in
on the five targets on their list. Some women called for retribution. Stones
started to fly. The police went for their batons. This triggered a full-scale
attack. The police grabbed on to the prisoners. The
crofters were throwing stones at the police.
The police were hitting the crofters. The crofters were hitting their prisoners,
it was carnage, it was chaos, it was violent.
The police realized that they were getting the worst of it,
so they turned and tried to force their way through this point.
It was too late though, crofters had already mounted the rocky points on
either side. They were pelting the police with stones
from above. They turned to retreat, which meant rushing back into the waiting mob.
Damn it! The mob threw stones, The police started throwing stones back,
it was mental! They had another attempt to get through
this gully, but they were beaten back again. Finally they realized that they
were trapped. They had no option but to face the storm
of stones and keep going through to get out to open ground. With a
gargantuan effort, they managed to get through
battered and bruised past this point. Once
they were out, the mob let them go to Portree.
When they arrived back in Portree, they were welcomed by a baying crowd
as they led Alexander Finlayson, Malcolm Finlayson,
Peter Macdonald, Donald Nicholson and James Nicholson
in to the prison. Now whose side are you on?
Let me know in the comments section below. The public in Skye and in the Highlands, and
indeed in Scotland in general were largely on the side of the crofters.
As they were transferred to prison in Inverness, the Braes Defense Committee
was set up in Glasgow. Now remember that
Glasgow was full of Highlanders, who themselves
had had to leave the land, but it was more than that.
Bail money was raised by businessmen and entrepreneurs, who just
saw the injustice. All five were found guilty of assault
in Inverness Court, but a cheque was immediately handed over
for their fines, their fares for train and steamer back to Portree were paid, and
they were warmly welcomed back home here with honor. No proceedings were taken
against the crofters who'd attacked the police at the Battle of the Braes.
William Ivory, the Sheriff of Inverness was furious,
as you'll see in the next two episodes. Macdonald of Sleat,
he complained bitterly that the law no longer stood in Skye, but before the end
of the year he'd agreed that the Braes' crofters
could graze animals on Ben Lee for an annual fee of 74 pounds and 15
shillings. All he had to do now was collect it.
In the ongoing war with the landed, the landless had won a battle, at least
for now. If you want to support the channel, then please
click on the link in the description below to help me make more videos.
Tha mi an dochas bum bith lath math leibh Tiorridh an drasda.