Scots made emigration a success story

Aprevious article on the opinion page described the abiding impact of 18th and 19th century emigration on the Scottish collective memory.

Certainly thousands of people left Scotland. For example a descendant of Alex Mctavish from Glenquaich states 66,000 went to Canada in 1832 and James Mclagan writing from Pitgirr near Pilochry mentions 51,000 in Quebec for the same year.

However the latter, writing in 1834, clearly explains the reason. Barley was 8/- per bushel while two years before it was £ 1, oatmeal was 11/- whereas two years before it was 16/-. In 1832 prices were already depressed, there was no demand for cattle, which were selling for half the rate of two years before but there was no alteration in the rent.

He is clear what was happening. “I suppose in the course of a few years it [ rent] must be lower as there is a great body of people leaving the country every year”. The small size of holdings in many parts of Scotland made it impossible to increase saleable production to make up for a fall in price but la” canadand was available elsewhere.

The process of leaving was not always the traumatic one that is sometimes presumed. James’s letter from Pitgirr in 1831 describes the process. “There is advertisements through this country just now encouraging people to Lower and Upper Canada with direction to ship captains, who will land them in any place they choose upon lakes and rivers after crossing the main ocean for £ 3”.