Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Condition of Crofters and Cottars in the Highlands and Islands 1883 Part B

Lybster 4 Oct 1883

Lybster in Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland, 

Edited by Francis H. Groome (1892-6) 

Present – Commissioners

Lord Napier and Ettrick, K.T., Chairman

Sir Kenneth S. Mackenzie, Bart.

C. Fraser-Mackintosh, Esq. M. P.

Sheriff Nicolson, LL. D.

Examined:

Rev. James McCulloch, Minister of the Free Church, Latheron.

Census 1881: Age 44. Lived with his wife Anne and six young children and several servants in the Free Church manse in Lybster. Spoke Gaelic. James McCulloch’s comprehensive report and examination was 12 pages long on behalf of the tenants of the estate of Latheronwheel. Mrs Gunn was proprietor. It must have taken many hours of discussion and research to prepare his statement. Among many other issues he spoke about the ‘ravages of game and rabbits’.

The Latheron Free Church was built in 1843 and seated 800 people.
It is now restored to a private dwelling. It is on the A9.

George Sinclair, Crofter, Latheron (age 55).

Lived in Latheron but was representing crofters from the nearby Forse estate, where he was born.

Forse standing stone with Forse House and farm in the background

James Millar, Achow, Swiney (age 44).

Census 1881: Was unmarried and living on a 30 acre property with his elderly father and unmarried sister. They all spoke Gaelic. 

Achow

James Innes Stewart, Fish-Curer, Lybster (age 59).

Census 1881: Lived in the main street of Lybster with his wife and three daughters, two of whom had been born in Canada 20 years back. James spoke about Poor Law Act whereby rich landowners were exempt from paying tax on their shooting grounds while small crofters were heavily taxed on public matters, and the harbour developments that the Duke of Portland was doing.

Lybster Harbour and bridge

Lybster harbour at its fishing peak

John Mowat, Bank Agent and Factor, Lybster (age 40).

Census 1881: Lived in Lybster with his wife and four young children plus servants. Was the factor for Latheronwheel. He was very defensive about McCulloch’s presentation and claimed that tenants didn’t have leases because they never asked for them - but McCulloch had said the standard reply to tenants who asked for anything was “if you are not satisfied then go”. Mowat claimed on one hand there were problems with rabbits then said there were no rabbits on Latheronwheel. 

The wide main street of Lybster

John McDonald Nimmo, Law Agent in Wick, and Factor for Mr Sutherland of Forse (age 59).

Was very evasive about the reasons for evictions at Stempster.

Bridge into Wick

Donald McKay. Crofter, Bulldoo, Caithness (age 46).

Representing 27 crofters in Achremie and Bulldoo on the estate of Sir R. C. Sinclair. He spoke about issues where crofters made improvements but were not reimbursed for them and the rents were raised. There were also statements read about Reay issues prepared by crofters there.

James Waters, Farmer, Bower, Caithness (age 65).

Census 1881: James Waters was unmarried. He was a farmer of 60 acres arable employing 1 man and 2 women servants. He was representing the crofters of Dunnet, Bower and Olrig. He was speaking as his family had suffered great hardship from ‘factorial cruelty.’ He spoke strongly about the clearing out of good tenants who were reduced to poor crofters and paupers while the arable farms became very large. 

George Cormack, Crofter and Fisherman, Bruan (age 39).

Census 1881: George lived in Bruan with his wife Margaret and their four young children and one general servant. He had about 15 acres of land and also had a boat. He tried to pay his rent from fishing if possible. He spoke strongly against what he called rack-renting or the confiscation of improvements and the struggle to survive.

The Haven, Bruan

Alexander Sutherland, Crofter and Mason, Roster of Clyth (age 37).

Census 1881: Lived with his wife Annie, young son and elderly mother. He was a mason employing 11 men. He spoke representing Roster on the Clyth estate. He gave a comprehensive history of the way rents had been increased and the hardship that had resulted. He spoke about the attitude from factors (mentioning Mr Horne of old) that the crofters were a ‘lazy ne’er-do-weel lot’.

Roster

Statement by Magnus Sinclair, Lingland.

Census 1881: Was unmarried (age 29) living with his elderly mother, brother and sisters. “I think Mr Sharp has used the screw to greater effect in rack-renting the Newlands district than any other part of the estate.” He gave examples of increased rents and severe cruelty from Mr Sharp and Ground officers.  

Adam Sharp, Proprietor of Clyth (age 66).

Census 1871: He was aged 54 living in Green Street, Rothes, Morayshire in a large house with12 rooms. He was married to Isabella and had a young daughter and 2 servants. He was a bank agent and land proprietor of 12,000 acres. On examination Adam Sharp was very evasive. He had owned the Clyth estate for 20 years but said he didn’t know answers because he didn’t live in Caithness, had no factor and anyway he wasn’t a rich man! 

Rothes Morayshire above, and a large house in Green Street, Rothes

James Purves, Tenant farmer, Barrogill Mains, Caithness (age 56).

Census 1881: He was married to Isabella and was living with 7 children and 3 servants in a cottage. James was a farmer of 300 acres. James was not examined as the meeting was Adjourned.

Near Barrogill Mains

Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Condition of Crofters and Cottars in the Highlands and Islands 1883 Part A

Braes Protest

In 1881 crofters from Braes on the Island of Skye banded together and protested angrily against forced rent increases, loss of pasture rights, lack of security of tenure on land and the forced eviction of crofters, some of whom had been on the same land for generations, to make way for large scale sheep or deer farms. Troops and a gunboat were called in to curb the angry demonstrations.  They landed at Glendale’s Meanish Pier and assisted police to make arrests.

Meanish Pier and Slipway by Gordon Hatton

Napier Commission

The agitation continued and as a response to the demonstrations, in 1883 William Gladstone’s Liberal Government appointed the Napier Commission, with Francis Napier, 10^th Lord Napier, as its chairman, and five other members. Known officially as the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Condition of Crofters and Cottars in the Highlands and Islands, this was a royal commission and public inquiry into the condition of crofters and cottars in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.  

Francis Napier 10th Lord Napier

• Note: The terms crofter and cottar were not well defined but in general a crofter was a person who occupied a smallholding. A cottar was a tenant who worked on the croft/farm and lived in the farm cottage.

Braes Hall

The Braes village hall at Upper Ollach where the Napier Commission sat to begin their investigation into crofters' grievances following the "Battle of Braes" in 1882.

The Commission began its work in Braes on the Island of Skye and travelled the length and breadth of the Highlands and Islands (including Orkney and Shetland). 

Crofters, landlords, factors, church ministers and others who were familiar with the plight of the indigenous population gave evidence. The factors and landlords often tried to discredit the evidence of the crofters and ministers.

Caithness

Napier was reluctant to include Caithness which he regarded as not inhabited by the Celtic race and not having a history of Gaelic-speaking landlords or clan chieftans. But in the 1880s many Caithness croft tenants were still Gaelic speaking. In the end Caithness was included and the Commission sat in Lybster on 4 October 1883. In Lybster there was also some discussion of the local fishermen’s rights. 

The Report

The Report of Her Majesty’s Commissioners of Inquiry Into the Condition of the Crofters and Cottars in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, was hastily published in 1884. Most groups who had been involved were not happy with the report. 

The Crofters' Holding Act 1886

But in1886 the Crofters’ Holding Act was passed. This established the Crofters’ Commission to guarantee fair rents, security of tenure and some compensation for land improvements. The legislation did not solve all the problems over land rights, with disputes continuing for decades, but the report did have an important influence on how the land reform movement in the Highlands developed.

The Napier report is now a valuable piece of documentary evidence from the Highlands and Islands in1883, presenting facts and information on the population, and the political, historical and social climate of the time. 

West Highland College Research

Research on the Napier Commission was carried out in 2001 by Lochaber College, now West Highland College UHI. Records of the examination of witnesses and the final report are available in PDF form on their website. They make extraordinary reading. 

https://www.whc.uhi.ac.uk/research/napier-commission 

http://www.whc.uhi.ac.uk/napier-commission/highlands-and-islands-commission-volume-3 

Volume III has the Caithness transcripts.

Mr Alex. Gunn

Alexander Gunn aka A Native of Badbea who was such a prolific writer on Clearance issues, prepared a statement for the Commission. I can imagine him waiting with a group of other men for his turn to be examined. Unfortunately the Commission had only allowed one day at Lybster and they ran out of time and adjourned the examination and went on to Helmsdale. What a huge disappointment for those who had spent much time preparing their evidence. 

I would have relished reading an examination of Alexander Gunn who was so knowledgeable and had been publicly writing for years about the terrible treatment of Badbea crofters. 

A few weeks later the Northern Ensign published a number of statements intended to be read before the Crofting Commission but which there had been no time to hear. I have a copy of Alex Gunn’s statement and will blog it over the next few weeks.

But first I will give a brief review of the Lybster witnesses. Part B to follow.