The outbreak of war between Italy and Britain in June 1940 had devastating consequences for Italian immigrant families living in Britain, including the internment and relocation of thousands of Italian nationals. Over 400 Italian internees died when the ship deporting them to Canada, the Arandora Star, was torpedoed. This thesis explores the construction of powerful myths and stories about the war amongst the Italian population in Scotland and looks at how the dominance of a singular elite narrative has silenced or denied the memories of different groups within the community. Over time, the central internment/^randora Star narrative has been utilised to create the 'story' of the war and has come to represent what it meant to be a 'good Italian.' This one-dimensional focus on the male experience of internment means that major aspects of Italian Scottish experience - service in the British Forces and the relocation of women and children, essentially the memories of non-internees - have been largely concealed. Commemorative and memorial activity within the community reinforces this tendency to exclude non-internees from wartime representations. Through the oral testimonies of second generation Italians in Edinburgh and access to previously unpublished documents, this thesis challenges existing accounts of the war and examines the tensions between communal myths and individual memory. It considers the ways in which the war is recalled and remembered within the narratives of Italian Scots and explores the impact of the war on the present-day construction of their personal identity. In particular, this thesis shows that, contrary to assertions made within historiography, enlistment in the British Forces does not indicate higher levels of assimilation; rather because of their confusing and contradictory experiences, Italian Scottish veterans often emerged from their military service with a heightened sense of 'Italianness.' By exploring the narratives of women who experienced the anti-Italian riots or were relocated from their homes, this thesis also highlights the long-term emotional and psychological impact of the war which is traditionally overlooked. Overall, this thesis concludes that, contrary to the assertions of leading commentators, the war heightened a sense of 'difference' amongst second generation Italians which pre-dated the outbreak of war. It also highlights the need to address wartime antagonism towards the Italians within the broader context of domestic traditions of anti-alienism and sectarianism.

This thesis examines the contributions made to Gaelic culture by the Highland Society of London from 1778 and the Gaelic Society of London from 1830. Their members were scathingly called ‘Cockney Gaels’ and their roles have been essentially ignored by both other Highland societies in urban Scotland and by the academic world. Yet these expatriate London Gaels provided leadership for addressing deficiencies and key issues in the homeland. They turned recognition of problems into concerted action, with varying degrees of success. Individual members of both societies were Members of Parliament, and also enjoyed close support from their societies. By harnessing the power of central Government, they were able to bolster and encourage initiatives to improve the life of the Gaels in the homeland. London was an energy centre where much was happening, and the London Gaels used ‘networking’ to their own advantage when they could. In so doing they kept the Gaelic flag flying high in the metropolis of London. Through systematic evaluation mainly from primary sources, this thesis demonstrates how both societies responded to important current concerns. Those identified by the societies were primarily education, highland development and philanthropy. The need for Gaelic worship for Highland migrants in London also had a prominent place. The desire to preserve all aspects of Gaelic culture, including dress, language, literature, music and dance, underpinned their existence. These contributions to Gaelic culture made by the HSL and the GSL paved the way for other Highland societies in Scotland to take up these challenges and to begin new initiatives.

This study is an analysis of the structure of power, predominantly political, in southeast Scotland between the closing years of David II’s reign and 1420. In addition to the chronological treatment and a consideration of the interface between the landed nobility and the urban elite, several family histories of second rank nobility, specifically Haliburton, Preston, Forrester, Sinclair earls of Orkney, Sinclairs of Herdmanston, Edmonston and Grierson, are used to illuminate the method of attaining influence. The thesis’ argument is that the region lacked a dominant power and that this permitted a competitive-cooperative system, which created opportunities of advancement for the second rank nobility. Five main points of power existed: the Crown, the earls of Angus, Douglas and March, and a fluid group of second rank nobility. All were capable of acting independently, in concert with one or more of the others, or with subsets within one of the others. Success in this system demanded multiple contacts, an ability to use or ignore contacts as the situation demanded, an ability to extend power either directly or indirectly through subordinates and, ideally, access to the economic and administrative levers held by Crown officers or burghal contacts. Direct involvement of Robert II and III was marginal and indirect power through the magnates or lieutenants was typical. In the 1370s the demand for cooperation in the face of the external, English threat tempered internal competition. This changed during the 1380s and internal competition became predominant. By 1406, the collapse of the majority of alternate centres of power, including an attempt to form a royal affinity, permitted Douglas a near-monopoly of power during the Albany government. However, alternate channels of power remained; the continued contact with James I, negotiated settlements with the earl of March and the Duke of Albany, the resurgence of the earl of Angus and the usage of administrative structures by men whose alliance with Douglas was fundamentally pragmatic demonstrate the temporary nature of Douglas ascendancy in this era.

Parish registers do not exist for most of Scotland prior to the 1690s, therefore to obtain an indication as what social levels may have been like in our c.1630-1790 study period, this work sets out to show how a patchwork of obscure sources can still be utilised to formulate some conclusions, in at least three geographically contrasting study areas. With a north western area on the highland line and a planned mill village in the southeast, Auchtergaven in Perthshire may reflect Scotland in miniature. Listings of inhabitants for c.1650 and 1790 located in the Murthly Castle Muniments provide useful information. Auchtergaven adopted the new farming methods, but seventeenth to eighteenth comparisons with the Argyll Estate records show only parts of Argyll saw similar changes. In Tiree and the north and west one finds totally different country and culture, where agricultural improvements were either resisted or simply ignored. The persistence of subsisting shared tenancies there were a significant contrast from events in Auchtergaven. The data for Edinburgh and its subparishes shows that, as in Auchtergaven, by the end of the study period there was increase in the tenant or owner-occupying class and a decrease in sub tenantry numbers. But exact figures for the latter are clouded by the awareness in our Scottish comparisons of an issue equally pressing in England. This being those excluded from sources utilised hitherto for population studies, primarily because they did not possess the right to reside in the location surveyed. Also in Europe, the right to inclusion and welfare depended upon the right to settle. There was resistance to accepting migrants, whether competent journeymen or objects of piety; they were often labelled as transients or vagrants. These folk could not have been quantified by back-projecting from nineteenth century census figures.

The Sutherland estate in the north of Scotland was one of the most famous, or infamous, of all Highland estates. Despite its high profile, only limited use has been made of the principal source for its study: the huge collection of estate records deposited in the National Library of Scotland and Staffordshire County Record Office. Historians of late nineteenth century Highland history have instead tended to rely on newspaper and other published accounts. The present study tries to set the Sutherland estate into its Highland context, politically, financially and organisationally. Of course, the ducal family’s vast fortune, independent from the Sutherland estate, sets them apart from most other Highland landowners and allowed for a more experimental approach in addressing the ‘Highland Problem.’ One of these capital-intensive projects, the great land reclamations of the 1870s, is examined in the present study. By looking at the papers of the Cromartie, Macdonald and Sinclair of Ulbster estate papers, the present study can demonstrate that this capital expenditure was highly unusual in a Highland context and tries to address its consequences. This thesis looks at the ranked series of relationships that made the estate function; that between the crofters and the estate, and that between the members of the estate management itself. It has been found that in many cases over the whole period under study, these relationships were fraught with difficulty and disagreement, exacerbated by the turmoil of the Crofters War of the 1880s and continuing land reform in the following decades. The commonly held contemporary view that the Sutherland estate was powerful and monolithic is an essentially false one. The central narrative charted in this thesis is one of decline, like that of many other Highland estates; financially, politically, territorially and as a result, in the estate’s once iron grip over the Sutherland crofters.

No description available.

Crannogs are widely distributed archaeological sites in Scotland and Ireland and can be described as artificially constructed islands, dated mainly to the Iron Age and Medieval periods. However, little is known about the function and chronology of these sites. This study aims to show how palaeoecological and palaeoenvironmental analyses can support the interpretation of these sites. Two regions were chosen, as national archaeological databases indicated that they had a high concentration of dated crannogs: south west Scotland and Co. Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. Five lakes in total were selected: Cults Loch, Barhapple Loch and Black Loch of Myrton from south west Scotland, and Derryhowlaght Lough and Ross Lough in Co. Fermanagh. By analysing the lake sediments near the crannogs using palaeoecological/environmental techniques, a more detailed concept of the timing and use of these sites can be formalized. The approach employed in this study explores multiple lines of evidence, where the lake cores were analysed for their geochemical proxies (loss-on-ignition, magnetic susceptibility and X-ray fluorescence) as well as their fossil diatom and pollen assemblages. By examining those sediments dating from around the time of the crannog, disturbances in the lake ecology as a result of the crannog can be identified and explored. The geochemical and diatom records show varying responses, indicating that crannogs had a wide range of impact upon the lake ecology. Some sites indicate eutrophication and acidification, while other sites indicate increased erosion rates. The most common crannog related disturbance is a minor deforestation event around the time of the crannog construction, indicating that the large wooden component of the crannog would have impacted nearby woodlands. In some sites a secondary occupation period showed a stronger palaeoecological response than the estimated depth of the crannog construction. By comparing the long term lake records within these regions, it was also possible to identify large scale regional disturbances. The Scottish crannogs appear to have been built between major deforestation phases in the catchment, while the sites in Co. Fermanagh indicate a major deforestation phase taking place after the main construction phase of the crannogs. In Co. Fermanagh this deforestation phase was synchronous with catchment erosion and increases in planktonic and periphytic diatoms. These disturbances all took place around the end of the Early Medieval Period. There are some limitations to the study, as all of the palaeoecological sequences would benefit from an improved age-depth model and an improved understanding of the interactions between diatom taxa in shallow lakes. Overall this thesis identified the potential of applying palaeoecological analyses to lake cores in these highly disturbed sediments and contributed to an understanding of this common occupation type and place in the landscapes of the North-West of the British Isles.

No description available.

This thesis investigates dramatic changes in the construction of Scottish national identity across the period 1999-2015; it identifies a move from hypermasculine Scottish identity at the end of the twentieth century to a queer national identity in 2015. This thesis argues that this is a product of the dramatic disorientation that Scotland encountered when it achieved devolution in 1999, as this moment disrupted the traditional means through which Scottish national identity was constructed. From this moment this thesis argues that the years 1999 to 2015 mark a period in which ideas of Scotland and Scottishness were overturned and made fragile. This thesis considers the implications of this within writing from Scotland produced between 1999 and 2014 in order to explore the consequences of this opened-up sense of Scottishness. As such this thesis explores, not simply how this writing represents Scotland but also how an overturned sense of Scottishness, combined with the varied and outward-looking themes of this writing, allows for an expansive reading practice that incorporates questions of globalisation, cosmopolitanism, and postcolonialism. The chapters track these developments through to the 2014 Scottish independence referendum and the landslide victory of the Scottish National Party in the 2015 UK general election and find ideas of a queer Scottish national identity amplified during these political events. This focus on Scotland evidences this thesis’s broader claim that, if nations are constructed then they can be deconstructed or ‘queered’. This is significant because the nation is typically understood as a source of hegemonic power; it regulates its citizens as a healthy body politic and also demands the protection of the nation against various ‘others’.

This thesis seeks to examine the role of the gild in Dunfermline in the fifteenth century. While some comparative study is essential, emphasis is placed on the use of local contemporary sources, and in particular, the 'Gild Book of Dunfermline', 1433-1597 and the 'Burgh Court Book of Dunfermline' 1488-1584. A common thread may be seen in burghal development throughout western Europe, but each burgh and gild has its own history. Some attempt has been made, therefore, to place the gild within the wider context, but the main aim of this study is to consider the Dunfermline gild and its role in its own local society. The gild as an institution may be seen as a significant facet of the emergence of burghs into self-determining communities. Fifteenth-century sources confirm that in Dunfermline the gild formed an integral part of the municipal organisation. The aim is, therefore, to consider, and at times question, the traditional view of the gild, as an institution; and its relationship to other groups within the burgh, and also to the burgh as a whole. It is clear that the gild was not, however, merely an inanimate municipal department. This study, therefore, looks more intimately at the gild and its members. While accepting that a full comprehension of the thinking and values of a group of medieval men can not now be achieved, an attempt is made to consider the fraternity and its members in their daily routine within the gild, and in their more private lives. By approaching these aspects it is hoped not only to gain a deeper knowledge of fifteenth-century burgesses in Dunfermline, but also to come a little closer to an understanding of the reality of the medieval gild.