Description:This document illustrates the Sutherland family and estate’s involvement in the wider land reform debate in the 1880s. The 3rd Duke of Sutherland and his first wife, Anne Hay Mackenzie, in her capacity as the proprietrix of the Cromartie Estate, were both signatories to this Memorial sent to the Scottish Secretary desiring the government to halt its land reform programme and concentrate on encouraging emigration and economic regeneration in the Highlands instead. Highland landlords, including the Duke of Sutherland, were against land reform generally, but open to government investment in the Highlands, such as road, railway and harbour building – which as well as helping the small tenant population, also boosted the capital value of their landed estates.
These pages have been researched and written by Dr. Annie Tindley, Lecturer in History at Glasgow Caledonian University.