Adventurers And Exiles_The Great Scottish Exodus

by Marjory Harper

  The decline of many of the symbols of ethnicity in the early twentieth century suggests that the preservation of Scottish identity was also generational, at least in the United States, where by the 1920s the once thriving Scottish immigrant press had disappeared and only two Highland Games remained. In this the Scots overseas differed markedly from their Irish counterparts, whose defensive ethnic solidarity, forged in the nineteenth century, remained strong throughout the twentieth century. The largely skilled, Protestant Scots — 82 per cent of whom came from urban areas by the 1880s — were welcomed by host societies for their occupational ability and adaptability, while the emigrants themselves did not harness their diaspora to political grievances or folk memories of English oppression. Their national, regional and clan societies were often élite clubs rather than — as in the Irish case — political and cultural pressure groups which have continued to cultivate a self-conscious ethnic alienation and sharp diasporic profile, with significant commercial, as well as social, implications in the global business world of the twenty-first century.

  NOTES

  Abbreviations

  AUA Aberdeen University Archives

  NAC National Archives of Canada

  NAS National Archives of Scotland

  NLS National Library of Scotland

  NRA(S) National Register of Archives (Scotland)

  NSA New Statistical Account of Scotland, by the Ministers of the Respective Parishes, under the Superintendence of a Committee of the Society for the Benefit of the Sons and Daughters of the Clergy (Edinburgh, 45) 1834.

  NLNZ National Library of New Zealand

  OSA Sir John Sinclair (ed.), Statistical Account of Scotland, 1791.1799, edited by D. J. Withrington and I. R. Grant (East Ardsley, 1981, originally published 1791.9, arranged by county and republished 81) 1972.

  PP Parliamentary Papers

  PRO Public Record Office

  SCA Scottish Catholic Archives

  Chapter 1: Traditions of Emigration

  1. Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, vol. CXXXVI (October 1884), p. 468.

  2. Ivan Doig, Dancing at the Rascal Fair (New York, 1987), p. 94.

  3. G. T. Bisset-Smith, Vital Registration: A Manual of the Law and Practice Concerning the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Registration Acts for Scotland (1907), p. 168.

  4. OSA, vol. XVII (Inverness-shire, Ross and Cromarty), pp. 63, 517—18.

  5. Ibid., vol. XVI (Banffshire, Moray and Nairnshire), p. 327. See also ibid., vol. XVII (Inverness-shire, Ross and Cromarty), pp. 117, 342.

  6. Ibid., vol. XVI (Banffshire, Moray and Nairnshire), pp. 492—93.

  7. Ibid., vol. VII (Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire), p. 466; ibid., vol. XX (The Western Isles), pp. 140—41.

  8. NSA, vol. XII (Aberdeenshire), p. 117.

  9. J. A. Galloway and I. Murray, ‘Scottish Migration to England, 1400—1550’, Scottish Geographical Magazine, vol. 112 (1996), pp. 29—38; J. Donaldson, Money Increased and Credit Raised (Edinburgh, 1705), p. 19.

  10. OSA, vol. XX (The Western Isles), p. 307; ibid., vol. V (Stewartry of Kirkcudbright and Wigtownshire), p. 148.

  11. E. M. Riley (ed.), The Journal of John Harrower (Williamsburgh, Va, 1965).

  12. J. H. McCulloch, The Scot in England (London, 1935), pp. 74—5; Arthur Redford, Labour Migration in England, 1800—50 (Manchester, 1926), p. 119.

  13. T. W. H. Crosland, The Unspeakable Scot (London, 1902), pp. 190, 193, 194.

  14. Charles Knight (ed.), London, vol. III (London, 1842), pp. 325, 335.

  15. McCulloch, The Scot in England, p. 125.

  16. Marjory Harper and Peter Payne, Aberdeen University Students, 1860—1920 (6621 records, Economic and Social Science Research Council Data Archive, 1994).

  17. Crosland, The Unspeakable Scot, p. 62.

  18. Redford, Labour Migration in England, p. 118.

  19. AUA, MS 2884/1/3/1—2, Samuel Chalmers to Alexander Wallace Chalmers, 12, 14 March 1854, letters 24 and 27.

  20. Knight (ed.), London, p. 32.

  21. S. Murdoch and A. Grosjean, Scotland, Scandinavia and Northern Europe, 1580—1707, http://www.abdn.ac.uk/history/datasets/ssne (Aberdeen, 1998).

  22. David Dobson, Scottish Emigration to Colonial America, 1607—1785 (Athens, Ga), p. 13; Nicholas Canny, Europeans on the Move: Studies on European Migration, 1500—1800 (Oxford, 1994), pp. 80—82.

  23. James Gammack, ‘An Aberdeen Graduate in Virginia’, Aberdeen University Review, vol. IX (1921—2), pp. 146—7; Gammack, ‘Aberdeen University Men in Virginia’, ibid., vol. X (1922—3), pp. 147—8.

  24. NAS, RH15/1/95/30, Roderick Gordon of Carnoustie to Hon. William Duff of Braco, MP for the Shire of Banff, 28 June 1734.

  25. OSA, vol. II (The Lothians), p. 541.

  26. Ibid., vol. XVII (Inverness-shire, Ross and Cromarty — Glenelg), p. 76; ibid., vol. XX (The Western Isles — North Uist), pp. 117—18; (Jura and Colonsay), p. 375.

  27. Ibid., vol. IV (Dumfries-shire), pp. 507, 69; ibid., vol. V (Kirkcudbright and Wigtownshire), pp. 202, 547; ibid., vol. XIV (Kincardineshire and South and West Aberdeenshire), p. 480; ibid., vol. XVI (Banffshire, Moray and Nairnshire), p. 493.

  28. Ibid., vol. XII (North and West Perthshire), pp. 156—57.

  29. Samuel Johnson, A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (London, 1875), edited by R. W. Chapman (Oxford, 1924), pp. 87, 120.

  30. The South Australian Handbook, advertised in the Aberdeen Journal, 30 January 1839.

  31. Counsel for Emigrants — Sequel (Aberdeen, 1834), p. 35, letter dated 9 March 1834; Chambers’ Edinburgh Journal, vol. 8, no. 406 (9 November 1839), p. 333.

  32. Patrick Shirreff, A tour through North America; together with a comprehensive view of the Canadas and United States. As adapted for agricultural emigration (Edinburgh, 1835), p. 410.

  33. Chambers’ Edinburgh Journal, vol. III, no. 112 (22 March 1834), p. 63.

  34. Ibid., vol. I (9 June 1832), p. 149.

  35. Aberdeen Herald, 20 September 1845.

  36. Tait’s Edinburgh Magazine, vol. V (1838), p. 780; Aberdeen Journal, 16 September 1840; Chambers’ Edinburgh Journal, vol. IX, no. 233 (17 June 1848), p. 395.

  37. Aberdeen Journal, 25 June 1873 and 17 June 1874; Shetland Times, 18 May and 8 June 1874.

  38. University of Cape Town Library, Department of Manuscripts and Archives, BC 1038, Laburn Collection, A4.4, McNaughton to John Walker, 13 December 1881. See also pp. 140.1.

  39. National Library of South Africa, South African Letters (Miscellaneous) Collection (2), 6040 MSB 744.2 (8), Andrew Murray senior to his sons, 20 January 1842.

  40. Aberdeen Journal, 17 November 1852.

  41. See, for instance, Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. CI (February 1831), p. 109; Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, vol. 31 (June 1832), pp. 907—27; Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, vol. III (1832), p. 548; Tait’s Edinburgh Magazine, vol. IX (January 1842), pp. 2—5.

  42. Counsel for Emigrants — Sequel, p. 49; Counsel for Emigrants (Aberdeen, 1834), p. ix; ibid., p. 40, letter dated 4 December 1833.

  43. Counsel for Emigrants, p. 138, letter dated 16 February 1834; Toronto Leader, quoted in Aberdeen Journal, 30 October 1857; Aberdeen Herald, 23 June 1855; Aberdeen Journal, 24 August 1864.

  44. AUA, MS 2138, pp. 199—200, Patrick Bell’s Journal.

  45. Shetland Times, 1 May 1875.

  Chapter 2: Expelling the Unwanted

  1. PP 1826—27 (550), V, 23, Third Report from the Select Committee appointed to inquire into the expediency of encouraging emigration from the United Kingdom, petition by the President of the Kirkfieldbank Emigration Society, Lanarkshire.

  2. David Dobson, Scottish Emigration to Colonial America, 1607—1785 (Athens, Ga, 1994), p. 93.

  3. Dumfries and Galloway Archives, jail books, GF4.

  4. William Kennedy, Annals of Aberdeen, vol. I (London, 1818), p. 294.

  5. Peter Williamson, The Life and Curious Adventures of Peter Williamson, who was carried off from Aberdeen
and sold for a slave (Aberdeen, 1801). See also pp. 113, 161.

  6. PRO, CO386/154, Register of Applications for Passages to the Colonies for Convicts’ Families, 1848—1871. For discussion of Scots and transportation, see Ian Donnachie, ‘Scottish Criminals and Transportation to Australia, 1786—1852’, Scottish Economic and Social History, vol. 4 (1984), pp. 21—38; ‘The Convicts of 1830: Scottish Criminals Transported to New South Wales’, Scottish Historical Review, vol. 65 (1986), pp. 34—47. 7. AUA, MS 3004/7/5, Fraser of Philorth Papers, 24 May 1832, Lord Saltoun’s factor to William Stuart, advocate in Aberdeen.

  8. Aberdeen Journal, 26 February and 2 April 1834, and Aberdeen Herald, 24 May 1834.

  9. NSA, vol. IV (Dumfries-shire, Kirkcudbright and Wigtown), p. 552.

  10. NAS, CH2/492/1, Minutes of Greyfriars Kirk Session, Aberdeen, vol. 1, 4 August 1845; Aberdeen Industry School, Admission Minute Book, 1867—74, entry nos. 2532, 2676, 2687, 2775, 2794, 2816, 3099, 3184, 3391; ibid., 1874—7, entry nos. 3301, 3353, 3425, 3429.

  11. PRO, T47/12, quoted in Viola R. Cameron, Emigrants from Scotland to America, 1774—1775 (Baltimore, 1965), pp. 1—5, 28—9, 35—6, 37—40, 57—60, 61—2.

  12. Scots Magazine, vol. 78 (July 1816), p. 549.

  13. PRO, CO 384/1, John Campbell to Lord Bathurst, 11 March 1817; McDermid to Lord Bathurst, 18 March 1817; CO 384/3, enclosure in Navy Office to Henry Goulburn, 10 July 1819. All quoted in Helen Cowan, British Emigration to British North America: The First Hundred Years (Toronto, 1961), p. 45.

  14. Hansard’s Parliamentary Debates, second series, vol. 1, cols 40—43, 28 April 1820, speech by Lord Archibald Hamilton.

  15. NRA(S) Survey no. 2177, Duke of Hamilton Papers. James Muir, Clerk of the Society, to Robert Brown, 24 January 1820; Charles Baillie to Lord Archibald Hamilton, 22 April 1820. Both quoted in Michael E. Vance, ‘The Politics of Emigration: Scotland and Assisted Emigration to Upper Canada, 1815—26’, in T. M. Devine (ed.), Scottish Emigration and Scottish Society (Edinburgh, 1992), p. 50.

  16. NRA(S) Survey no. 2177, Duke of Hamilton Papers. William Granger to Lord Archibald Hamilton, 4 May 1820.

  17. PRO, CO384/7 fo.425, Robert Beath to Lord Bathurst, 30 January 1821.

  18. PRO, CO384/4, 16 March 1819, petition of Robert Brown, John Couper, John Reid and Gabriel Wilson.

  19. Ibid., 8 and 16 July 1819.

  20. Robert Lamond, A Narrative of the Rise and Progress of Emigration from the Counties of Lanark and Renfrew to the New Settlements in Upper Canada (Glasgow, 1821), pp.12, 13—14.

  21. Scots Magazine, vol. LXXXVIII (July 1821), p. 81. See also Carol Bennett, The Lanark Society Settlers, 1820—1821 (Renfrew, Ont., 1991).

  22. Lamond, A Narrative of the Rise and Progress…, p. 64.

  23. PP 1826—7 (237), V, First, Second and Third Reports from the Select Committee on Emigration from the United Kingdom with minutes of evidence, appendix and index, QQ. 150, 724, 221—6, 247—55.

  24. PP 1826 (404), IV, 112—14, First Report from the Select Committee appointed to inquire into the expediency of encouraging emigration from the United Kingdom.

  25. Paisley Advertiser, 19 April and 23 August 1828; James Cameron, ‘A Study of the Factors that Assisted and Directed Scottish Emigration to Upper Canada, 1815—1855,’ (unpublished PhD thesis, 1970), p. 97.

  26. PP 1841 Sess. 1 [296], X, 273, Report of the Commission for Inquiring into the Condition of the Unemployed Handloom Weavers in the United Kingdom, evidence of Mr Symons and Dr Harding, 119—20.

  27. PP 1843 (115), VII, 1, Select Committee to Inquire into the Treatment of Unemployed and Destitute Inhabitants of Paisley since 1841, QQ. 422—3.

  28. PP 1844 (557), XX, 1, Report from HM Commissioners for Inquiring into the Administration and Practical Operation of the Poor Laws in Scotland, Report and Appendix, Part 1, Q. 8476.

  29. J. Hector St John de Crevecoeur, Letters from an American Farmer (London, 1782, 1904 edition), p.102.

  30. Cameron, Emigrants from Scotland to America, pp. 25—7, 54—5, 30—4, 41—3, 77—9, 88—92.

  31. PRO, CO384/3, 20 November 1818, Donald Sinclair to Lord Bathurst.

  32. Ibid., 4 November 1818, Donald Logan to Lord Bathurst.

  33. PP 1826—27 (550), V, 223, Third Report from the Select Committee on Emigration from the United Kingdom, Appendix 14, Abstracts of All Petitions Transmitted to the Colonial Department, since 1st January 1825, from persons desirous of emigrating from the United Kingdom, Scotch Petitions and Memorials.

  34. Ibid., petition dated 24 May 1827.

  35. J. L. Campbell, ‘Eviction at First Hand. The Clearing of Clanranald’s Lands’, Scots Magazine, (January 1945), pp. 297—302.

  36. PP 1826—27 (550), V, 223. Third Report from the Select Committee on Emigration from the United Kingdom, question 2952. See also Eric Richards, A History of the Highland Clearances, vol. 2, Emigration, Protest, Reasons (London, 1985), p. 230, and James Hunter, A Dance Called America: The Scottish Highlands, the United States and Canada (Edinburgh, 1994), p. 114.

  37. PP 1841 (182) (333), VI, First and Second Reports from the Select Committee on Emigration, Scotland, together with minutes of evidence, appendices and index [hereafter PP 1841, Select Committee on Emigration], Appendix I, Robert Graham, Return of an Address to the House of Commons, June 1837.

  38. Ibid., Second Report.

  39. PP 1844 (557), XX, 1, Report from H.M. Commissioners for Inquiring into the Administration and Practical Operation of the Poor Laws in Scotland [hereafter Royal Commission on the Poor Laws], Appendix, Part I, QQ. 11656 (McLeod), 12758 (Bowie).

  40. T. M. Devine, ‘Landlordism and Highland Emigration’, in Devine (ed.), Scottish Emigration and Scottish Society, p. 94.

  41. PP 1851 [1397], XXVI, Report to the Board of Supervision, by Sir John McNeill, GCB, on the Western Highlands and Islands [hereafter McNeill Report], Appendix, pp. 4, 35—6, 61, 74, 82.

  42. Inverness Courier, 30 May 1838.

  43. T. M. Devine, The Great Highland Famine: Hunger, Emigration and the Scottish Highlands in the Nineteenth Century (Edinburgh, 1988), p. 252.

  44. Ibid., pp. 201, 212-13, 235; Richards, A History of the Highland Clearances, pp. 253—5, 275.

  45. PP 1841, Select Committee on Emigration, QQ. 188 (John Bowie), 445 (Robert Graham), 1505 (Thomas Rolph).

  46. PP 1844, Royal Commission on the Poor Laws, QQ. 11656, 12760.

  47. PP 1851 [1397] XXVI, McNeill Report, pp. xxiv, xxvi, 73.

  48. Richards, A History of the Highland Clearances, p. 240.

  49. PP 1841, Select Committee on Emigration, Q. 2647, Duncan Shaw. The estate management won the battle in 1841—2, when a total of 631 people agreed to emigrate. (Richards, A History of the Highland Clearances, p. 245).

  50. PP 1844, Royal Commission on the Poor Laws, QQ. 13211, 13258, 13834.

  51. PP 1851, McNeill Report, pp. 2, 75, 79, xxi, xxiii, xxxv, 67; PRO, CO384/5, 22 February 1819.

  52. Scotsman, 25 August 1849.

  53. Inverness Advertiser, quoted in Stirling Journal and Advertiser, 14 September 1849 and in Richards, A History of the Highland Clearances, p. 264.

  54. PP 1849 [1025], XXXVIII, Papers Relative to Emigration to the North American Colonies, extracts from notes appended to the periodical reports of arrivals of passenger ships at the ports of Quebec and Montreal in the season of 1848, no. 9, 31 August to 15 September.

  55. PP 1851 (173) XL, Papers Relative to Emigration to the North American Colonies, extracts from notes appended to the periodical reports of arrivals of passenger ships at the ports of Quebec and Montreal in the season of 1849, no. 5, 1 to 31 August.

  56. Ibid., 1 October to 2 November.

  57. PP 1851 (348), XL, Papers Relative to Emigration to the North American Colonies, extracts from notes appended to the periodical reports of arrivals of passenger ships at the ports of Quebec and Montreal in the season of 1850, no. 6, 1 to 31 August.

  58. PP 1852 [1474] XXXII, Papers Relative to Emigration to the North Americ
an Colonies, extracts from notes appended to the periodical reports of arrivals of passenger ships at the ports of Quebec and Montreal in the season of 1851, Alexander Buchanan to J. Leslie, 2 September 1851; Alexander Buchanan to J. Fleming, 26 November 1851.

  59. Quebec Times, n.d., quoted in Alexander MacKenzie, The History of the Highland Clearances (Inverness, 1883), pp. 257—8.