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Highland Clearances

When James Loch was appointed Chief Agent of the Leveson-Gower family's estates his aim was to oversee the improvement of the estates in England and Scotland. The Sutherland estates in Highland Scotland were vast in extent but not rich or productive. The family’s tenants in Sutherland were subsistence farmers who in bad agricultural years could face shortage and hardship. The region had not only little trade or commerce, but communications themselves were poor with few roads. Loch believed that using the land for sheep and providing coastal villages where fishing could provide subsistence and industry would transform Sutherland from an economic liability into an economic asset.

A policy of resettling the Sutherland tenants was introduced. This involved eviction of tenants from houses and communities where they and their ancestors had been settled for generations. Some evictions were violent and the resentment against the family and its policy was high. The Leveson-Gowers faced criticism in both the press and in Parliament. But while the clearance of the interior was within Loch’s power, the creation of successful industries and fisheries able to support all the displaced population was not. Evicted from the way of life they knew and unable to live or work in the new coastal settlements, many thousands of people were forced to emigrate.

A number of letters and newspaper cuttings relating to the Highland Clearances, and James Loch’s annotated copy of his defence of the policy survive amongst the Sutherland Papers owned by Staffordshire Record Office. However, it is important to note that the records of the Sutherland Estate relating to the Clearances in the Scottish Highlands are deposited in the National Library of Scotland. Anybody interested in researching this subject in more detail would be advised to examine the archive held at the National Library of Scotland which provides a fuller context to the documents featured here.

Click here to see documents relating to the Highland Clearances in the Sutherland Papers