Highland Land League facts for kids

The Highland Land League (also known as the Highland Land Law Reform Association or the Crofters' Party) was an important group that started in Scotland in the 1880s. It was based in the Highlands and Islands region. This group was inspired by a similar movement in Ireland called the Irish Land League.

The Highland Land League helped get its own MPs (people elected to represent their area in government) into power in 1885. Their influence in Parliament lessened after the Crofters' Act of 1886 was passed. This was also because the Liberal Party seemed to take on many of the Land League's goals. The Land League also used strong protest methods, like rent strikes (refusing to pay rent) and taking over land. These land takeovers were known as "land raids." These actions were carried out by crofters (small farmers), cottars (people living in cottages without much land), and squatters (people living on land without permission). A famous saying of the Land League was Is treasa tuath na tighearna, which means The people are mightier than a lord.

Why the Land League Started

The emblem of the Highland Land Law Reform Association

By the 1880s, many ordinary people in the Highlands and Islands had been forced off their family lands. This happened during events known as the Highland Clearances, which took place after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. Many people moved to countries like Canada, the US, and Australia. Those who stayed were often crowded into small farming areas called crofting townships. Here, they were easily taken advantage of by their landlords (the people who owned the land). Many didn't even have their own small farms and became cottars or squatters on other people's land.

Landlords often used most of the land for sheep farms or hunting areas called deer forests. In the mid-1800s, the Highlands and Islands also suffered from the Highland Potato Famine, which caused a lot of hardship.

However, the 1880s were also a time when democracy (where people have a say in their government) was growing. The government started listening more to what the public wanted, especially after the electoral reform Act of 1884. This Act allowed many crofters in the Scottish Highlands to vote for the first time. This new power helped them form the Crofters' Party and the Highland Land League.

In the early 1880s, crofters protested effectively. They used rent strikes and land raids to show how unfair it was that they didn't have secure land and had very little access to it. In 1883, the government set up a group called the Napier Commission to look into the issue. Their report in 1884 didn't fully meet the crofters' demands. This led to even more protests.

The Crofters' Party in Parliament

The first protests were mainly in Skye. But by 1884, the protests spread much wider. Thousands of crofters joined the Highland Land League. In the 1885 election, several Crofters' Party MPs were elected. These included representatives for Argyllshire, Inverness-shire, Ross and Cromarty, and Caithness. Another MP for Wick Burghs also supported the Crofters' Party. Just one year later, Parliament passed the Crofters' Act.

The Crofters' Act of 1886

The Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act 1886 applied to crofting areas in the Highlands and Islands. This included places like Argyll, Inverness-shire, Ross and Cromarty, Sutherland, Caithness, Orkney, and Shetland.

This Act gave crofters more secure rights to their existing crofts. It also created the first Crofters Commission. This Commission had the power to set rents. Rents were usually lowered, and much of the old unpaid rent was cancelled.

However, the Act did not solve the problem of crofters having very little access to new land. So, crofters started protesting again. At the same time, the political situation changed. The Liberal government lost power, and the new Conservative government was less helpful to the crofters. They were more willing to use soldiers to stop protests.

The Liberal Party then seemed to support the Land League's goals. Because of this, the Land League as a separate political group slowly broke apart in the 1890s. Not much progress was made on getting more land for crofters until after the First World War.

Some money was spent on improving roads, railways, and harbours in the Highlands and Islands. In the early 1900s, a group called the Congested Districts Board helped create new crofting townships in Skye and Sutherland. This Board was formed in 1897 and was a bit like the modern Highland and Islands Enterprise (HIE).

A new Liberal government came to power in 1906. They closed the Congested Districts Board and created the Board of Agriculture for Scotland. This new board was supposed to focus on land reform (changing how land is owned and used) in the Highlands and Islands. But it wasn't very effective. By 1913, crofters were doing land raids again.

A New Land League in 1909

In 1909, a second Highland Land League was formed in Glasgow as a political party. This group had left-wing ideas. They wanted to return deer forests to public ownership and end large farms. They also wanted the government to own all land. They promised to protect crofters from being forced off their land. They also supported home rule for Scotland, meaning Scotland would have more control over its own affairs.

During the First World War (1914-1918), politicians made big promises about changes that would happen after the war. Many crofters fought and died in the war. After the war, these promises were not kept right away. Crofters returning from the war were not happy with the government's lack of action. Land raids started again.

The Highland Land League was a radical group, but their actions were much less extreme compared to other political movements happening around the world at that time.

In 1918, the new Land League joined forces with the Labour Party. They even had joint candidates in the 1918 election. By the 1920s, they fully merged with Labour. This was based on a promise that Scotland would get more independence if Labour won power. However, this promise was not fully kept, partly because Labour didn't win enough seats to have a majority in Parliament.

What Happened Next

Members of the Land League were important in forming the Scottish National Party in 1934. When new land raids happened, the government finally gave the Board of Agriculture the money and power to make changes. It also helped that sheep farming became less profitable. By the late 1920s, about 50,000 acres of farming land and 750,000 acres of hill pasture were used to create new crofts. Most of these new crofts were in the Hebrides, where the Gaelic language is still spoken today. Crofters also benefited in parts of Caithness, Sutherland, Shetland, and other areas.

Crofting is still a special way of life today. The Scottish Crofting Federation continues to represent crofters and their interests.