Ulster Scots, Scotch Irish, planters, improvers, oppressors:
different folks have different names for the people forged by
their arrival along this coastline but how did it really start?
That s a story of intrigue and opportunism that s easily forgotten.
If you re interested in the people,
places and events in Scottish history then click the subscribe
button on the bottom left of the screen. In the meantime, let me tell you a story.
Here in the 17th century a people were fashioned through tempest and fire, bible and sword.
Depending on whether you re a descendant one of those people living here, or abroad,
a modern Irish republican, or for that matter a modern Scot,
you might have very different views of the people forged in that fire.
The well-rehearsed story is of James VI becoming James I of England
and his strategy of confiscating land and planting people
after the flight of the Ulster Earls in 1607, but today I want to dig a little deeper
into a story probably little known outside this province.
A story of private ambition a story of greed, intrigue prison break,
opportunity and one man s ambition. I found the details in a book The Scottish
Migration to Ulster by Percival Maxwell. I ll leave a link in the description
Two months after being crowned king of England James I, as he was to them, granted lands in
Ulster to the Scotsman, Sir Randall MacDonnell but that was really only rubber stamping
a reality on the ground created during the reign of Elizabeth.
But this official grant said that MacDonnell had to break the land into
manours and put a strong house onto each Given that England s nine-year war against
indigenous Irish had only ended six days after Elizabeth s death,
strong houses probably weren t a bad idea depending who s side you were on
Don t make that mistake over here
Anyway our story really starts here with another Scot.
He was an Ayrshire laird called Hugh Montgomery. or Wee Shug tae his pals
He was an ex-military man, and a crafty lad. His brother had emigrated to England in 1584
and he d been in Elizabeth s good graces during her lifetime.
Wee Shug s southern brother would send information back north to Shug,
who would send it on to James VI, and before long
Shuggie Montgomery had earned his brownie badge for spying.
What s more, when James made his way down to London to try his buttocks on the big seat
who was one of the Scottish gentlemen that went with, but Wee Shug fae Ayrshire.
He took the opportunity to catch up with his ever-alert brother
and they decided between them that now that the nine-year war was over,
and a Scottish king was on the English throne Ireland was the place of opportunity.
Now by a stroke of luck the Gaelic chief of County Down, Big Conn O Neil
had been languishing here in Carrickfergus Castle with little to look forward to
but a head chopping. England s Lord Deputy of Ireland had locked Big
Con up for rebellion against Elizabeth, although Conn himself
described it as a fight in the pub don t you just love the Irish.
Back over the water in Ayrshire, we Shug Montgomery saw this
as his opportunity to get hold of some Irish land.
He would help Big Conn escape in return for half his estate.
So, depending on who you believe, Wee Shug engineered Big Conn O Neill s escape
by arranging to bribe the jailer and seduce the jailer s daughter
Why you d need to seduce the daughter when you ve already bribed the gaoler
I haven t quite worked out, so maybe it was Big Conn s wife who smuggled
rope into his cell inside a piece of meat... and then she seduced the gaoler s daughter
Either way Big Conn escaped and hid in the steeple of Bangor s church for a few days
before Wee Shuggie had him ferried the short distance to the Ayrshire coast
and confirmed the deal. Somehow when Shug was down
at court in London trying to negotiate Conn O Neil s pardon from James VI.. sorry first....
another Scotsman gets wind of it. What can I say about James Hamilton?
St Andrews educated lecturer and Fellow at Trinity College Dublin,
Dublin Agent for James in Elizabeth s later reign?
The man who had awaited Elizabeth s death in London, with fresh horses
strategically placed at points north, so that he could race to Edinburgh and
be the first person to inform James that his kingdom had come
Sleekit. That s what I d say.
Sleekit If you were in a high stakes poker game and
you laid down your cards to show a fox of clubs, a snake of spades and jack, Queen, King of Thistles
He d convince the king of thistles that we might as well split the pot
Sleekit is my point. In August 1604 he wangled
his way into the card game. He managed to convince the king
that Big Conn O Neil s lands should be divided in a three-way split
O Neil would get a third of what was originally his,
Shug Montgomery gets a third and Sleekit Foxy Hamilton gets a third
And the king duly agreed Now if you were a sleekit ambitious
fox on the make, what would you do next? Well, on 6 December 1604 the king issued a
letter in favour of a London merchant, who in a quirk of coincidence was
conveniently named Thomas Ireland. In return for a payment of 1,678. 6s. 8d.,
Thomas Ireland was to be given enough Irish land for an annual income of 100.
How much land is that? The letter said:
so muche of the landes in the twoe Ardes, in the province of Ulster, he or his nominee shall
thinke fitt, to be parcel . That s like a blank cheque.
It was a blank cheque that two months later Thomas Ireland signed over to James Foxy Hamilton.
Noooooooooooo The Fox is going tae stich ye up like a kipper
So Foxy Hamilton became the first Scot to get a legal title to land in County Down
on Ireland s north east coastline two months before the king s letter
authorising the three-way deal with Big Conn, Wee Shug and Foxy himself was signed
on 16 April 1605. Even in that letter, all of O Neill
s estate was to be given to The Fox first and he would split it amongst the three later.
Now part of the deal was that they had to promise to inhabit the said
territory and lands with English or Scotchmen . Foxy Hamilton and Shug Montgomery were knighted
and the previously rebellious Conn O Neil was granted some of
his own lands back from the crown. The Reason this rebellious type was
allowed lands confiscated by the crown, was they weren t deemed confiscated as a
result of Con O Neill s pub brawl rebellion , but because of the attainder of one of his kinsman
based here at Eden duff Carrick, also known as Shane s Castle on the banks of Lough Neagh
Now that I m on the subject of Big Conn, remember that Lord Deputy of Ireland who d had
him imprisoned in Carrickfergus at the start of all this?
Well it seems that he and Foxy Hamilton started co-operating to their mutual benefit
and remember that letter from King James the blank cheque granting however much land was needed
It turns out that sleekit and sleekiter
used it to get their hands on way more property than intended.
Once a property had been acquired by the crown, they just added it to the territory
covered by the letter and Bingo! The Fox was in the hen coop
Between July 1605 and May 1608 Hamilton received more than five separate grants.
Once he had got hold of a title, he would sell it, or pass it on to deserving people.
..a bit like if you clicked the link in the description below and bought me a
coffee as a wee tip for making these videos Now I m only a visitor here, and this may be
old hat to folk who live in Ulster, but the reason this story interested me
was that you tend to read that the plantations of Scots and English
started when James confiscated lands here following what s known
as the flight of the Earls . I ll make a video about that whilst I m here,
but the point is that these events tell us that Scots were flooding over the Irish sea,
on a three-hour boat ride before the flight of the earls even took place.
This was an opportunistic private plantation of Scots before the Crown even realised there
was going to be the prospect for state sponsored colonisation a few years later.
What had been O Neil lands were now being settled by some English,
but predominantly Scots taking the trip over that narrow stretch of Irish sea.
County Down and Antrim were occupied by the gentleman farmers,
retinues and tradesmen who followed, providing a bridgehead for further trade,
transport and lets be honest a bit of suppression of the local people.
Hamilton and Montgomery just wanted to make money , but for the crown
suppression of the locals was always part of the plan.
Grants were given with conditions that the landholders build a castle
or strong house within eight years. The crown knew that trouble would come
and of course it did The English Civil War s bloody clash between
King and parliament was conceived in Edinburgh s St Giles Cathedral on 23rd July 1637,
but the head crowned here in Ulster four years later
It was a long pregnancy The Scots who endured evolved a
unique identity and their own form of the Scots language and Presbyterian faith,
but close enough to pop back and watch The Rangers at the weekend.
Of course, you don t need me to tell you that the division between the indigenous Irish and the
newcomers has continued for hundreds of years. Those watching in the USA don t need me to
tell you that the first huge influx of Scots to America
didn t come from the Highlands during the clearances,
but Lowland Ulster Scots making that leap across a much larger ocean
from here a few generations after arriving. Over the years they provided numerous presidents,
generals and men of eminence but now you know how it began.
If you want to understand more about James VI and his relationship with the Gael
there s another video coming up on screen now. In the meantime
Tha mi an d chas gum bi lath math leibh. Tiorridh an drasda