Caithness to Edinburgh c1870's

[djcrtoye]

Hi I wonder if any one can answer this. During my research over the last few years I've noticed that my rellies living in the Caithness area moved to Edinburgh circa 1870. Also I've noticed that it seems my rellies weren't the only ones to make that move. So why did this migration happen at roughly the same time ?

Thanks

Dominic

[bleckie]

Hi All

the paragraphs below were taken from the link below, this could explain why so many were leaving.

http://www.helmsdale.org/highland-clearances.html

1872 -- A Parliamentary Select Committee is established to investigate claims that tenant farmers are being evicted in the Highlands to make room for deer. As the people had been cleared for sheep and not deer, the Committee finds no evidence.

1874 (spring) -- Starving tenants of Black Isle, Caithness and Ross areas attempt to commandeer grain shipments going from Lairds' estate farms to export ships. Military forces are called in to guarantee safe shipment of the grain.
Yours Aye
BruceL

[joette]

Yes much is made of the Irish potato famine but there is little general awareness off the Highland Clearances.
Looks like the Lairds,the military & the Government had learnt little from the Irish famine & were still using the establishment to force people into poverty,famine & eventually to emigration.Although I have heard of a hardy breed of sheep who evolved from being forced from their grass to the sandy shores of their Island(can't remember which breed or which Island) I guess that goes for people to & they learnt new ways & new skills.
If things had been sweet at home though would Scots have fled to all corners of the Globe where they contributed much to the fabric of so many nations?
So many of mine made the move South & to all points of the Globe during these times.

[djcrtoye]

Thanks' for your answers. Did this make the newspapers of the time or did the government as usaul cover it. So that it was just a 'little' local difficulty and everything was in hand.

Thanks.

[Currie]

Hello Djcrtoye,

I couldn’t find anything in the newspapers for the 1874 black Isle event mentioned earlier.

There’s a fair bit said about such matters on this page including about the lack of information in Encyclopaedias and the like. (Is the page yellow on white for you? If so, click on Edit, Select All to make it readable.)
http://technovate.org/web/earthclan/clanweb.html

The full text of “The History of the Highland Clearances” in various formats is available at the Internet Archive.
http://www.archive.org/details/historyo ... 00mackuoft

All the best,
Alan