The theme of this thesis is popular direct action in the form of crowd activity in late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century Scotland. The disturbances considered are those in which at least one of those involved was charged with 'mobbing and rioting'. A wide variety of disturbances are considered. The 'meal mob' was the most common type of disturbance in our period and different forms of action used in the course of food riots are discussed including the seizure of meal, price fixing and attacks on meal sellers and grain dealers. In the autumn of 1797 there were widespread disturbances in opposition to the Scottish Militia Act of that year. The Act, and the government's reasons for introducing it, the popular reaction and the reasons for that reaction are considered. Some disturbances and less violent demonstrations were connected with politics, particularly with the new democratic ideas of the late eighteenth century. Two major attempts at resistance to the Highland Clearances, in 1792 and 1813, are recounted as are three examples of popular resistance to the settlement of unpopular parish ministers. Popular disturbances in an industrial context are considered as are attempts to rescue military prisoners and direct action against military recruitment. Disturbances against the erection of toll-bars and several other types of disturbance are also considered. The overall composition of all the crowds, the role of women in disturbances, the significance of handbills in inciting riots, the leadership and organisation of popular direct action and the modes of collective action are all discussed in a concluding chapter.

No description available.

No description available.

This study considers the changes which occurred in the agrarian economy of Lowland Scotland during the seventeenth century. It tests the two hypotheses which have formed the basis of all previous work on Scottish agriculture. The first of these, which has been generally accepted until recently, was that prior to the Agricultural Revolution in the eighteenth century, Scottish agriculture was in a backward state. Farming was considered to have'been at a subsistence level and to have been stagnant, if not actually in decline, during the seventeenth century. The second hypothesis, which has only been formulated in recent years and which was not backed by a large body of evidence, stated, that there had been a significant degree of development in Scottish agriculture during this period. The limitations of previous work are first examined and the most likely source material for a study of seventeenth century agriculture in Scotland is identified. The delimitation of the study area and the time period are then discussed. Using the sources which have proved to be most informative, a series of themes is then developed. Each chapter considers a different aspect of the agrarian economy in which development can be demonstrated. In each chapter, the significance of the theme is discussed and previous ideas considered. Changes through time are then studied and, as far as possible, regional differences are brought out and explained. The themes are closely interrelated and, when taken together, build up a picture of dynamic change in the rural economy of Lowland Scotland during this period. The second hypothesis is thus confirmed and the first one refuted. The principal contribution of this study is towards the further understanding of the seventeenth century as a major formative period in the economic development of Scotland and secondly, to the study of the processes involved in the change from subsistence to commercial agriculture.

This study centres on the inhabitants of the Hebridean island of Iona from the mid-eighteenth century until the First World War. It examines the events and influences which, over this period, affected the people's economy, society and way of life. The first Chapter sets Iona in its geographical and historical context and outlines the reasons for undertaking the research. It then assesses the wide range of sources used, both documentary and oral, and describes the methodology by which these have been gathered together and integrated. Chapters 2 to 17 trace the history of the islanders chronologically, starting with the profound shift in landlord/tenant relationships in the Highlands, already underway on the Argyll Estates from the 1730s and which accelerated everywhere after 1745. The specific attempts by the fifth Duke of Argyll to broaden the economic base of his Estate are detailed, as are the agrarian reforms he initiated in the late eighteenth century. By 1802 Iona's land was divided into individual lots, or crofts, marking an end to the former communal system of agriculture. The study goes on to look at how rents were met for the holdings, at the growing impact of visitors and at the steady rise in population to a peak by the late 1830s. The effects of the 1846 potato failure are considered at length as the ensuing decade proved to be a turning-point, both demographically and economically. Emigration reduced Iona's population dramatically and the amalgamation of crofts into larger units began. A combination of higher rents, lower self-sufficiency and decline in sources of cash income produced a financial strain, and a tension between tenants and the Estate, that did not ease until the Napier Commission of 1883 and the subsequent adjustment of rents by the Crofters' Commission of 1890. The educational and religious life of the island over the period is also documented, along with the role played within the community by schoolmaster and minister. The former first appears when a school was set up in 1774. A resident minister dates from the building of a Parish Church and Manse in 1828. A zeal for self-education, an active interest in current affairs and a lively recreational life are also commented upon as central aspects of parish life. A core of family names is identified early in the study, providing one of its basic unifying threads. Family history has been used throughout, as a tool for elucidating information, e.g. on emigration, and to illustrate the close-knit nature of the society. Attention is paid at several points to other factors which underlined the cohesion and mutual support of the community, such as traditional beliefs, communal working practices and occasions for song, dance and storytelling. The concluding Chapter highlights those points where, during this period of radical transformation throughout the highlands, the experience of Iona's population parallels that of other areas and where it differs. The most critical times for the island are noted and the lines of continuity, as reflected in kinship links, custom and culture, are summarised and their significance reinforced.

The study of the Reformation as a religious and political movement within a particular diocese offers several attractions. A limited study in terms of ecclesiastical jurisdiction and organisation, it is able in greater detail to take into account the influence of the old church diocesan structure. Religious institutions within the diocese can as well be examined in terms of their local influence. Although the new church superintendent, John Wynram, supervised Fife and the other parts of Perthshire as well as Dunblane diocese, the diocesan structure of the old church, and the all important benefice revenues associated with that structure, remained intact long after 1560. To the extent that the new church clergy attempted to continue the cure of souls within the basic parochial structure they inherited from their predecessor, the diocese is a reasonable ecclesiastical unit within which to observe the functions of both churches. The political and religious activities of local lay families can be examined within this setting as well. Their acceptance or rejection of the Reformation would be particularly significant in a rural area such as Dunblane diocese, in the main removed from the powerful and persuasive pulpits of Edinburgh and the east coast. Several lairds and minor nobles within the diocese were heads of families whose adherence to the new church was essential for its local development. The attendance of many Protestant lairds at the Reformation parliament of 1560 has long been recognised as a significant indicator of support for the Reformation by the rural gentry, but the influence of these men within their local surroundings has been less studied.

No description available.

In this thesis the relationship between the British state and Scottish civil society is analysed for the mid-nineteenth century. Focussing on the 1830-1860 period, this thesis will attempt to re-conceptualise the state/civil society axis, around which the formation of national identity hangs. It will argue that the unitary British state gave powers to the local state and the urban bourgeoisie to an extent that Westminster was not the prime focus of 'governing' Scottish civil society. This notion of a bourgeoisie 'governing' the day-to-day institutions of Scottish civil society is central to understanding Scottish national identity in the nineteenth century. By demonstrating the range and the extent of bourgeoisie control over the city of Edinburgh, this thesis will explain the rationality behind this class's failure to move for parliamentary independence. By sustaining the argument that the bourgeoisie had the power to 'govern' without seeking a Scottish parliament, this thesis will challenge the dominant interpretation of nineteenth century Scottish national identity as being weak, romantic and characterised by tartanry and kailyard. By showing the irrelevance of Westminster to the state/civil society axis, this thesis will present a new reading of the rhetoric and symbols of Scottish national identity. The result, a Scottish nationalism which celebrated the parliamentary Union of 1707, will be shown to stem from the peculiar relationship between an empowered Scottish civil society and its shared British state in the mid-nineteenth century.

The name of David Hume first emerges in the 1580s and receives sporadic mention thereafter, giving the impression that he played only a minor role in the politics of the period in which he lived. That was certainly not the case. On the contrary, his significance was considerable. Sadly, there is a great dearth of documentary evidence. The exact dates of his birth and death, for example, are unknown. This thesis is an attempt to piece together as much as possible of his life and to show how significant he was in influencing events in the troubled period of James's minority. Rejoicing in the Union of the Crowns and its potential for a united Britain, Hume describes himself as 'Scoto Britannus'. That designation fully represents his awareness, not only of the political realities of a united Britain but his strong sense of a Scottish and British heritage and beyond that of the great classical tradition of which he was both inheritor and expositor. First and foremost, however, he was a Scot. Hume's importance was to become clearer with the role he took in the continuing debate on bishops and their place in James's religious scheme of things. From that he emerged as a most articulate spokesman of the presbyterian cause, though it is significant that he was not a churchman, and his influence on that cause continued after his death.

St Kilda is a small archipelago, 40 miles west of North Uist, off the west coast of Scotland. The four islands with attendant stacks support abundant sea bird colonies, particularly petrels, gannets and auks. Only Hirt, the largest, has been permanently inhabited, with evidence of occupation from early in the first millennium AD. Charts from as early as the sixteenth century, and maps of the archipelago, demonstrate a variety of perceptions of shape, and provide over 200 placenames, mainly Gaelic in origin, though some are considered to be Norse and some to be Gaelic/Norse hybrids. From the sixteenth century onwards an increasing number of articles, books and manuscripts provides an increasingly comprehensive account of St Kilda, its history, its people, and their way of life. As proprietors, different branches of the MacLeods of Harris and Skye left the collection of rent in kind, and the provision of imported goods in the hands of a Steward or Factor. The maximum recorded population was 180 (1697); after a drop in 1727 due to smallpox the thirty survivors were augmented by families from the Hebrides but the numbers never rose again above 120, and had dropped to 36 by 1930 when the islanders were evacuated by the Government at their own request. In the late 1830s the site of the village and the arable land tenure system were changed, the new pattern of a linear street across parallel strips of land obliterating most traces of the earlier nuclear settlement.