Scots Domesday Book goes online - BBC News item

[emanday]

It's called "The Napier Report".

http://www.highland-elibrary.com/7.html

Added 3/5/07: The demand on the website seems to have resulted in some work being done, so I've edited the above link to take you straight to the correct page.

BBC news link - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/hig ... 607863.stm

[paddyscar]

Wow, Mary!!!

What a treasure of information for families and historians!
Although I know my family history won't lead me in that direction, I'll be back often just to read. Can you imagine how the crofters and cottars would have felt going before a commission?

To be able to read what an ancestor actually said?! Gives me goose bumps, just to think of it

Frances

[emanday]

It's absolutely fascinating!

I've downloaded the pdf's and am very tempted to indulge myself and buy in a big box of paper and extra printer inks to print it all off. However, they are mostly over 800 pages so it could take days to do that.

Needs careful thought (and some serious consideration for the rain forest )

[Rab]

It doesn't concern my research but I couldn't help having a nosey. It really is interesting. Although I just had a quick browse I found myself having to pull away. If I found a resource similar to this which involved my own ancestors I'd be over the moon. It really does bring these people to life who are normally just names on documents.

[Pandabean]

I had a quick glance at it earlier and it mentions the Napier Commission. Apparent one of my McDonald's gave evidence at the Napier Commission in the late 1800s. So I may have to have a look through it and see if he is there. Alot of reading.

[Jamboesque]

Mary,

You're going to use up a fair bit of forest to print that lot out.

4000+ pages

Save it to your hard drive and put it on a CD / DVD.

Save the planet..........

Looks really interesting and probably a bit addictive.......its a bit like the Stastitical Accounts 1790's & 1830's but with personal acccounts.

Jack

[emanday]

The rain forest is safe

I've burned it onto a DVD so that I can sit in bed and read it properly. Maybe I will print out the odd page of particular interest, but not the whole thing.

[wini]

Mary,
thank you for that, I have just has a quick look but will do as you have done and burn it to CD.
My mothers Maternal side are all from Skye, so will be very interesting.

Wini

[Pandabean]

Looks like I may have found my relation in Volume 1, pg242. He talks about people of Suisnish being placed upon nearby land. I am double checking this is indeed him.

It is interesting reading. I am guessing it is only for the highlands and islands?

[DavidWW]

Aye weel, - not quite the Scottish equivalent of the English Domesday Book

This is the 1884 report of "The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Condition of Crofters and Cottars in the Highlands and Islands" of Scotland, appointed in 1883, and resulting in the 1886 Crofters’ Holding Act.

So, yes, a major investigation in the situation of crofters in the Highlands and Islands, but hardly a "Domesday Book"; but absolutely fascinating both in general, and especially when an ancestor testified.

See after my signature for a summary...........

David


The commission was set up as a response to crofter and cottar demonstrations against excessively high rents, lack of security of tenure on land that had been in families for generations and the forced evictions of crofters.

The demonstrations had started in Wester Ross and Lewis in the 1870s, and by the early 1880s had moved to Skye. Local police forces were called upon by the landlords to enforce what they believed to be their rights. However, with limited resources, the police found it difficult to cope with the increasing demands put upon them. Therefore, it became an issue needing the attention of Gladstone’s government and he ordered the appointment of the commission.

Under the orders of William Gladstone, and backed by Royal approval, the commission was appointed in 1883, by the Home Secretary, Sir William Harcourt. Francis Napier, 10th Lord Napier, was selected as chairman, with five other members - Sir Donald Cameron of Locheil; Sir Kenneth MacKenzie of Gairloch; Charles Fraser – MacIntosh MP; Sheriff Alexander Nicolson of Kicudbright and Professor Donald MacKinnon of Edinburgh university – making up the panel.

The commission began its work in Braes on the Island of Skye and travelled the length and breadth of the Highlands and Islands gathering evidence from crofters, landlords and others who were familiar with the plight of the indigenous population.

The final report was hastily published in 1884 and led obliquely to the 1886 Crofters’ Holding Act.

The Napier’s Report is a valuable piece of documentary evidence from the Highlands and Island in 1883, presenting facts and information on the population, as well as the political, historical and social climate of the time.