Emigration
For hundreds of years, Scots left their homeland to live and work abroad. Some people left in search of a better life, others were forced to leave. The main destinations for most Scots were Canada, America and Australia.
After the loss of the chief in 1682 and the start of the industrial revolution many families left the Highlands to find work in mills often as far south as the Tweed river valley, or coal mines in Lanarkshire, or factories and shipyards in Glasgow. Many others left Scotland for the Plantations of Ulster in Northern Ireland, which is why many of our clan folk believe themselves to be Irish.
Free Settlers
Many Scots emigrated to Canada after the Seven Years’ War (1756 - 1763); as Soldiers who had fought were given generous freehold land grants by the government which allowed them to settle in Canada.
Soldier were also enticed by participation in the American War of Independence (1775 - 1783) with freehold land grants.
The Jacobite Risings
The Jacobite Risings (1688 – 1746) was also as a catalyst for many Scots to move to the Americas in greater numbers.
After King James II (a Stuart and a Catholic) was deposed in the Glorious Revolution, his daughter Mary & her husband William of Orange (Protestants) were brought in to co-rule, from 1689-1706. They were called Jacobites; wanting the return of the Stuart Monarchy.
During the Jacobite War (1745) Bonnie Prince Charlie (the Grandson of James II) returns in attempt to restore Stuart Monarchy to the Throne. Buchanans’ are known to have fought on both sides of the uprising. Read more about Buchanan involvement here…
The Act of Proscription (1746): the first of the “King’s laws” sought to crush the Clan system: stating the “Forty-Five Clan Chieftains” can not raise armies, bagpipes are banned, celtic tattoos are banned, kilts are banned and other outward signs of Scottish Highland heritage are banned under law, with the penalty sometimes being death.
The Battle of Culloden
the Jacobite rebellions resulted in the Battle of Culloden; in which the Scottish Highlanders were convincingly defeated; and the leadership made the decision to disperse and end the uprising. After Culloden, Brittish forces spent several weeks searching for rebels, killing all who they thought were Jacobites - men, women and children, confiscating cattle and burning church meeting houses: The Jacobite leaders were beheaded.
The Act of Proscription was a Brittish law that sought to crush Clan culture. It outlawed highland clothing, culture and education.
Scottish Poverty
1690-1707 The Darien scheme was an unsuccessful attempt by the Kingdom of Scotland to establish a colony called “New Caledonia” on the Isthmus of Panama.
Devastating epidemics, tropical diseases and increasing shortages of food caused it to be abandoned after a siege by Spanish forces in April of 1700.
As the Darien Company was backed by nearly half the money circulating in Scotland, it’s failure left the country completely ruined.
May 1, 1707, an Act of Union creates Great Britain.
The Scottish Parliament is dissolved.
What England had been unable to accomplish through wars, arranged marriages and a Union of the Crowns, they finally did by paying off the debts of Scotland’s political elite, for their failed investments with the Darrien Company.
The Scottish saying goes “We were bought and sold for English Gold.”
Industrial Revolution
The rise of automation and industry, saw a great deal of hardship and poverty
Scottish Potato Famine
1846 - 1857 with Scottish Highland culture almost destroyed a famine begins.
An estimated 1.7 million people leave Scotland during the potato famine.
The removal of the Stone of Scone
Following his victory at the Battle of Dunbar in 1296, England’s King Edward I (Longshanks) seized the Stone of Scone and had it fitted into the base of a specially crafted wooden Coronation Chair on which English—and later British—monarchs have been crowned inside London’s Westminster Abbey ever since.
At the time, the Stone was viewed as a symbol of Scottish nationhood, so by removing the Stone to London, Edward I was declaring himself 'King of the Scots', and subsequently used in the coronation of the monarchs of England.
Forced emigration
From the late 16th century to the 19th century, many Scots were forced to leave their homes.
Convicts
Convicts were often sent to penal colonies which were being established in Australia.
These convicts acted as labor to build the colonies
Religious persecution
Many people emigrated as a form of religious salvation, moving to places where they would be free to practice their own religion without persecution. As settlements began to be established in America and Canada distinct religious groups were visible.
The Highland Clearances
Following the Jacobite uprising and the battle of Culloden, one of the main forms of forced emigration was due to the Highland Clearances that took place in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Although the Clearances were orchestrated by King James VI (Scottish born, and then becoming King James the 1st of England too) they were enacted or endorsed by many in Scotland:
Neighbouring land owners that desired the fertile highlands from Sheep and agricultural purposes
Other lords or Chiefs promised funds following debts resulting from the Darien disaster (amongst other circumstances)
Other lords of Chiefs seeking favour with the gentrified English court
During this period :
The Highlander Celtic population were presented as less hardworking than those of Anglo-Saxon stock
thousands of crofters were forcibly evicted from their land by the landowners to make way for the more profitable intensive sheep-farming or deer hunting. These crofters often had little alternative to move as they were faced with high rents and little legal protection.
Many of those evicted chose to move to large industrial towns such as Glasgow where they experienced cramped tenement living and poor working conditions in factories. To avoid this, many people chose to emigrate to Canada where they could continue farming.
Whether the Highland Clearances destroyed a way of life or this way of life was coming to an end anyway, they were depicted in paintings and song for generations to come.
This directly led to the “The Act of Proscription” (or the Disarming of the Highlands act 1745)
An Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, as an effort to assimilate the Scottish Highlands, ending their ability to revolt, and the first of the "King's laws" that sought to crush the clan system system.
This act was perticulatrly focused on the District of Stirling: Buchanan lands!
the Dress Act, banned wearing of "the Highland Dress".
Those that opposed the Jacobite uprising were exempt
Measures to prevent children from being "educated in disaffected or rebellious principles" included a requirement for school prayers for the King and royal family.
Heritable Jurisdictions Act removed the authority the clan chieftains. Sheriffdoms reverted to the Crown, and Scottish regalities came under the power of the courts.
Banning of carrying or posessing Scottish weapons or warlike weapons, including bagpipes
Those enlisted in the Kings armies were exempt
Penalties included incarceration and transportation to a penal colony
From the National Records of Scotland
Dispersed Clans
All Highland Scottish clans faced the fate of seeing their people forced to leave Scotland.
IE: Clan Buchanan is not the only clan that has been spread across the globe!