Description:Although the Sutherland Estate was relatively quiet in terms of violent agitation during the Crofters War, unlike areas such as Skye, Lewis and Tiree, there was some violent resistance and protest, principally in the township of Clashmore in Assynt, within McIver’s Scourie management. The source of the protest at Clashmore was a small farm established there in the 1870s that had necessitated the removal of several of the existing small tenants; by the 1880s, the Clashmore tenants were up in arms and demanded the farm through petitions, rent strikes, dyke breaking and by attacking officials. A gunboat of marines was sent to the township in 1888, to little avail. The farm was eventually divided among the small tenants by agreement with the estate in 1909. This letter demonstrates McIver’s concern about maintaining discipline and shock at the crofters’ new found assertiveness since the start of the Crofters War.
These pages have been researched and written by Dr. Annie Tindley, Lecturer in History at Glasgow Caledonian University.