‘The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there’
The Go-Between
L.P. Hartley

Baineann an volume seo le meascan mor oibre — meascan a faisceadh cheana fein as foilseachain acadula, geneologists oilte agus staraithe an teaghlach. Is cuis dochais e go bfhagfadh an leabhar  rian forleathan ar na milte go bhfuil suim acu i stair an teaghlaigh, go h-airithe iad siud thall i Meiricea, i gCeanada, san Astrail,  agus ag a’ baile chomh maith. Fairis sin, to suil ann go gcudeodh se le muintereas Eireannach agus Iar-Albanach ag an am cheana, ce gur naisiuin neamhspleach iad na laetheanta seo. Leis an leabhar seo cuirfear in iul sa chomhtheacs forleathan cheanna, an dulra pearsanta agus soisialta, inar mair na daoine aba dhobair doibh dul ar an imirce maraon leis na daoine a fagadh ag a’ baile.

This e-book is a forerunner of a published volume due to be published later this year which will be a blend and cross-fertilisation of work from already published academics, well-grounded genealogists and family historians. The hope is that the book will have a broad appeal to thousands of family researchers in US, Canada, Australia and at home. It may also give readers a better informed sense of their own Irish or West Highland identity, albeit they may happen to have a different nationality, and will present the broad sweep of social and personal circumstances that prevailed upon those ‘forced’ to emigrate and those who ‘chose’ to stay.

Anyone interested in a copy when the book is available for purchase can send their email address to donmac@doctors.org.uk

Editor
Dr Donald MacFarlane

External Evaluators
Prof Brian Graham (NUU)*
Prof Jim Hunter (UHI)**
Dr Eric Kaufmann (University of London)

 *  New University of Ulster
** University of the Highlands and Islands

Line up of contributors

Compromised Identity 1798-1848
Not One of Ours  Dr. Don MacFarlane PhD Belfast
The Big House Dr. Annie Tindley PhD  Glasgow
Kelp and Barilla Angus MacMillan Oxford
Rise and Fall Prof. John Sheets  PhD  Missouri
Highland Diaspora Prof. Eric Richards PhD Adelaide

 Conflicted Identity 1798-1848
Church and State Dr. William Roulston PhD  Belfast
An Cogadh Frangach Seamus Breathnach Dublin
A Price on His Head Peter Gallagher Sydney
Three Hundred Lashes Merle O’Donnell Brisbane
Young Ireland Prof. Christine Kinnealy PhD New Jersey

Displaced Identity 1798-1848
The Adam Lodge Brian Boggs Canberra
A Hole in the Fence Angus MacMillan Oxford
The Highland Soldier Prof. Edward Spiers PhD Leeds
Rogues and Fools Dr. Christine Wright PhD  Canberra
The Middle Ground  Prof. Willeen Keough PhD Vancouver
Base and Clever Prof. Malcolm Prentis  PhD Canberra

Reconstructed Identity 1798-1848
Reaching Back Victor Barnett Ohio, U.S.A 
Ancestral Narratives Dr. Chad Habel PhD Adelaide
Lost Places Dr. Carol Glover  PhD  Melbourne
Denouement Dr. Donald MacFarlane PhD Belfast

Theme One (Brown)

Any society can be shaken to its roots when it is confronted with serious challenge to its way of life and to its place within the larger scheme of natural justice and world order. It is ironic that Ulster and the Scottish Hebrides were shaken in this way not long after the time of the Scottish Enlightenment which became the first true movement to champion Human Rights. Francis Hutcheson from County Down, an unsung father of that movement, and the first professor of Moral Philosophy at Glasgow University, declared that the general welfare of mankind could best be served by the search for “the greatest happiness for the greatest number”.

Theme Two (Various)

One of the five main northern Celtic tribes, Native Irish, Scots Gael, Anglo-Irish, Scots-Irish and Anglo-Scots, was described in the popular press in Britain of the early nineteenth century as ‘ignorant, lazy, dirty, superstitious, content to be poor, uncivilised, violent, irrational, ungrateful, impractical, childlike, easily aroused and self serving’. Another of these main tribes was described as being ‘practical, individualistic, business-like, efficient, responsible, mature, frugal, adaptable, self-controlled, reasonable and law-abiding’.

Theme Three (Murray)

The individual or aggregate parameters in character development, which can now be accurately measured, include – Independence, Reflectivity, Resilience, Combativeness, Affiliation, Conservatism, Industry, Deference, Dominance, Need for Recognition, Nurturance, Sensitivity, Harm Avoidance, Sensuality, Need for Order, Empathy, Arousal, Trust, Transparency, Reliability, Confidence and Persistence. It may be that a fresh attempt at classification using these traits might bring a better understanding of the collective identity of each Celtic nation than scurrilous stereotypes of two hundred years ago. 

Theme Four (Marcia)

In the context of an ethnic identity that is owned and accepted, rather than one that is attributed to a group by others, central to that sense of identity are that it is consistent with non-judgmental self-statements such as  “how apparent is it from my (our) traits that I am of a Hebridean (Ulidian) origin”; “how important is it for me (us) to know I am of Hebridean (Ulidian) origin, even if at times at some emotional cost?”; and “ how much do I (we) need to hold true to my (our) ideal of being Hebridean (Ulidian)?”. This rootedness in being Hebridean or Ulidian can be identified and measured from shared value systems and folkways that underpin those identities.

Theme Five (Geertz, Hechter)

Some authorities believe a primordial or a situationalist disposition is instrumental in determining to what extent members of a race or ethnic group rely on these value systems and folkways to form and maintain their sense of identity. Primordialists are thought to have a strong emotional tie to the soil of a specific place and a strong sense of handing on an identity through tradition, custom and language. Situationalists are less fixed in their beliefs as to what makes for a strong sense of ethnic identity and can allow a new culture to modify it while still preserving its essence. Nothing is ever static and acculturation or lack of it will lead to some positive or negative outcome for the individual or his immediate community.

Theme Six (Breakwell)

Three main categories of outcome, which are not mutually exclusive, can be envisaged. Enforcement of a new culture or of an alien set of social circumstances can result in acceptance of this new order as the norm; or in geographical or psychological retreat and isolation while still remaining in a place of origin; or in displacement and geographical escape to somewhere far removed where a new beginning can be made. Conflict can arise when introduction or enforcement of a new order is resisted. This can result in insurrection when sufficient even if unequal manpower can be raised to perpetrate resistance or violence against the greater force; or in sabotage when covert means are employed rather than outright violence; or in conciliation when both sides agree that some compromise has to be reached.  Moratorium is a quieter and more considered response in which options to change are still open to the individual or community. This can result in assimilation where change occurs in a gradual manner with passage of time and exposure to new modes and values; or in acculturation when change is embraced in response to a situation; or in regression when not only is need for change not accepted but entrenchment in older ways becomes even more pronounced. 

Theme Seven (Various)
Much systematic infringement on human rights was approved by the British government of the day which was willing to listen to what is since seen as misguided advice from gurus such as Pareto, Malthus and Trevelyan. These systematic abuses of human rights were not necessarily sectarian and all people not belonging to the Established Church and of whatever religious persuasion were just as likely to suffer discrimination. Likewise, affiliation to the British Empire was not split along sectarian lines and Irish and Scottish recruits of various religious hues served with distinction in the Napoleonic and Crimean wars. Despite the obvious allegiance of many Irishmen and Scotsmen to the British Empire, many of their countrymen were compelled to leave for the far reaches of that same empire. 

Theme Eight (Zajonc)
An émigré is different to an emigrant because he is someone who has been forced to leave his country for political reasons, and 1798-1848 was such a highly politicised period. Those émigrés could have been Enforced, Oppressed or Displaced and the only difference between them might have been the amount of overt hardship they suffered. An Enforced Identity is one who had his free choice taken away, an Oppressed Identity is one who was subjected to disproportionate punishment for alleged misdemeanour and a Displaced Identity was one who was ‘merely’ obliged to spend his life elsewhere than the land of his birth. In recent years, although not always so, Australians have come to understand this reality best. They now take at least as much pride in a convict ancestor as one who came to that foreign shore by assisted or indentured passage. 

Author: Prof. Christine Kinealy

In July 1848 a nationalist uprising took place in Ireland.  Unlike the revolutions that were sweeping through Europe in that year, the Irish rebellion was located not in a capital city or major town, but in a private house near to the small village of Ballingarry in County Tipperary. It was over within a few hours, the insurgents being defeated by a small local police force. Moreover, there were few casualties; initially, two deaths were reported but one of the men later turned out to be very much alive and, only a few years later, founded the Fenian movement. The leaders of the 1848 rising, though unsuccessful in achieving their aims, provided an important link between the insurgents of 1798 and those of 1916. Through their idealism and non-sectarianism they presented a vision of a united, non-sectarian, Ireland that has remained elusive up this day. The 1848 rising may have lasted only a few hours, but its legacy has resonated into the early twenty-first century.

Author: Prof. Eric Richards

Exodus is one of the great themes in modern Highland history – dispersal of the Highlanders from their ancestral homelands across the globe. By the mid 19^th century Highlanders were to be found in every part of the ‘Anglosphere’- not only in the south of Scotland and England, but also in India, North America and the Antipodes.  There were well-known concentrations of Highlanders in eastern Canada (in Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island, and Prince Edward Island); there were other groups in the Carolinas, in New York state, and  in Upper Canada, in Red River and beyond. There were fascinating pockets of Highlanders in the Falkland Islands and even in continental Europe, sometimes employed as navvies. There were special and large concentrations in the British armies. In Australasia – the particular focus of this paper -  there were also identifiable groups of Highlanders – in New England, in the south-east of South Australia, in Gippsland and the Western District of Victoria, a few in Western Australia and some in tropical Queensland. And, of course, in New Zealand they flourished in several places but most famously at Waipu in the North Island. There was a sense of dispersion as well as of concentration, which complicates the story. Whether Highlanders abroad sustained especially cohesive identities, or whether they punched above or below their weight  in their new destinations, are difficult questions to answer.

Author: Prof. John Sheets

Like many places in the Hebrides, tiny and remote Colonsay, with the southern tidal isle of Oronsay, recorded its largest population toward the middle of the 19^th century: 979 in 1841.  And, like so many places, it seems a simple story of growth after the 18^th century then a precipitous decline into the 20^th century. 

When Martin Martin toured the “Western Isles of Scotland” at the dawn of the 18^th century, he did not count the people in Colonsay but described them: “The inhabitants are generally well proportioned, and of a black complexion; they speak only the Irish [Gaelic] tongue, and use the habit, diet, etc that is used in the Western Isles.”  In 1701, Malcolm McNeill of Crear purchased Colonsay (and Oronsay) from the 10^th Earl (and later 1^st Duke) of Argyll, and commenced two centuries of McNeill lairds over their unrelated McNeill tenants.  Within decades some islanders could not resist the temptation of a New World and trans-Atlantic emigration, often to the “Argyll County” of North Carolina.

Author:  Dr. Christine Wright

Much has been written about the transportation of convicts to New South Wales in general terms, yet there have been few detailed studies of the individual experience of the convict system, and fewer still that combine analysis of different components of the system. This chapter provides a case study of John Coghill’s experiences of the convict system for over 20 years. His experiences fall into district categories: as a master mariner and transporter of convicts to New South Wales and then a landowner with assigned convicts in his care in two localities, as well as magistrate in the judicial system. The life of a convict under assignment to a private master depended very much on the attitude of the master, and Coghill was a tough, brutal master, yet dependent on cheap convict labour for his sheep enterprises. Perhaps the Irish convicts assigned to him could have expected more of a Scot who, like themselves, came from the edge of the British world, but not with this master.

Author: Dr. Carol Glover

In 1860 George and Ellen Glover left Ireland forever with their three young children, and transplanted their lives in Gippsland, Australia. Having lived as tenant farmers and weavers for several generations at Maze in the district of Lisburn, this Church of Ireland planter family was again involved in a British colonization project. The milieu they entered was not totally unfamiliar as family members awaited them; also, like at home, the Scots were well represented among the new settlers in Gippsland, who had wrested control from the indigenous people, the Gunai Kurnai, just twenty years before. Nevertheless, the migration experience, in both contexts, did of course involve sense of place adjustments. Identification with Australia was complete by the second generation and most of the descendents of George and Ellen Glover, including myself, continue to live in the same area, which shares many commonalities with the place of origin. This chapter explores the sociological relevance of place by considering the impact of the colonized places – Ulster and Gippsland – on the lives of the Glovers, the family’s involvement in place-making and its impact on the indigenous peoples.

Author: Dr. Chad Habel

This excerpt marks the arrival to this project of Dr. Chad Habel of Flinders University in Adelaide. He is a world expert on the role of ancestral narratives in keeping identity alive.

Carl Jung alludes to the rhizome as that which remains after the ethereal has passed:

“Life has always seemed to me like a plant that lives on its rhizome. Its true life is invisible, hidden in the rhizome. The part that appears above the ground lasts only a single summer. Then it withers away—an ephemeral apparition. When we think of the unending growth and decay of life and civilizations, we cannot escape the impression of absolute nullity. Yet I have never lost the sense of something that lives and endures beneath the eternal flux. What we see is blossom, which passes. The rhizome remains.” (Prologue from Memories, Dreams, Reflections)

Jung’s allusion to how the rhizome is self-sustaining and remains a fixed structure, even as the ethereal is gone, is highly evocative. Social environment is constantly dynamic and  being replaced by new content. The impermanence of what is on the surface creates for an ever-changing social landscape which is still true to its origins.

Author: Dr. Patrick Devine-Wright

Being Gael has over centuries come to stand for cultural and emotional solidarity but also for an isolated and very localised identity. It has come to represent a lack of the prestige and power associated with overlords in earlier centuries and incomers in more recent times. Many Gaels have come to see themselves as a marginalized community who were relatively powerless in the face of sweeping and imposed change. Many of the aspects of distinctiveness of being Gael have come from the use of Gaelic as a language but also from the kinship system, expressed in patronymics; distinctive religious practices, such as the reading of the scriptures and the singing of psalms in Gaelic; and a shared awareness and attitude towards an encircling and different social world. Islanders and Ulster folk have come to internalise the British mainland view of themselves as a peripheral people with a negatively-valued rural way of life.  Out-migration of islanders and Ulster folk in large numbers has perpetuated the feeling that it was necessary to leave in order to succeed in life or in earlier times to survive. This chapter looks at which factors caused out-migrants to leave but for the remaining Islanders and Ulster folk to stay on during the Clearances and Improvements.

Author: Dr. William Roulston

In 1800 the Act of Union was passed by both the Irish and British parliaments despite much opposition. It was signed by George III but Pitt intended to follow the Act of Union with other, more far reaching reforms, including Catholic Emancipation. He was thwarted by George III who refused to break his Coronation Oath to uphold the Anglican Church. The 1800 Act of Union said that

• Ireland was to be joined to Great Britain into a single kingdom, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
• the Dublin parliament was abolished. Ireland was to be represented at Westminster by 100 MPs, 4 Lords Spiritual and 28 Lords Temporal (all were Anglicans).
• the Anglican Church was to be recognised as the official Church of Ireland.
• there was to be free trade between Ireland and Britain.
• Ireland was to keep a separate Exchequer and was to be responsible for two-seventeenths of the general expense of the United Kingdom.
• Ireland kept its own Courts of Justice and civil service.
• no Catholics were to be allowed to hold public office.
• there was to be no Catholic Emancipation.

Ruling Ireland direct from Westminster solved nothing as the union was a political expedient in wartime, solving none of the grievances in Ireland over land, religion or politics. It had no social dimension at all and Ireland’s economic problems were also ignored. Pitt knew that social and economic reforms were essential as was Catholic Emancipation.  As George III refused to allow full emancipation, Pitt resigned in protest. The Act became a liability rather than an asset. Peers holding Irish estates opposed concessions to Roman Catholics as did the King because of vested interests and religious bigotry.

This chapter looks at the effects upon the Irish psyche of such treatment from the monarch so soon after earlier Catholic Emancipation had for a decade enabled Irish subjects to fight in the American War of Independence. The chapter also takes a fresh look at the assertions at the time of the roguish but charismatic Sir Jonah Barrington, the anti-Union Irish M.P. who described his ’The Rise and fall of the Irish Nation’ as “a full account of the bribery and corruption by which the Union was carried;the family histories of the members who voted away the Irish Parliament with an extraordinary black list of the titles, places and pensions which they received for their corrupt votes.”

This was an extraordinary charge from someone who had to bribe his way out of the country after his own colossal misappropriation of Admiralty funds.