Tiree and the Dukes of Argyll 1674-1922

Donington: Shaun Tyas, 2019. Book. Fine. Paperback. First Edition. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. A book which examines the relationship between the Dukes of Argyll, of Inveraray Castle, and the people living on the small Scottish island of Tiree. Much of it features the Highland Clearances, but events on an island rather than the hills. In the summer of 1886 hundreds of Tiree's islanders banded together to defy the Eighth Duke of Argyll, whose forbidding portrait with its implacable gaze is the last colour plate in the book. A sizeable police force was sent to the island, and repelled back to the mainland. 'There is war in Tiree' reported The Times. The eyes of the UK were suddenly focused on this remote island. The government then sent in the army and the ring-leaders were arrested and imprisoned. Soon afterwards, a member of the House of Commons used parliamentary privilege to call the Duke 'a thief and a robber by law - a shameless thief and a shameless robber'. The book is a concise history of one island during this, arguably the most dramatic period in Scottish history. It is a story of change and controversy. At its core are subjects of ducal policy, population growth, destitution and emigration, and then government intervention and land settlement. It does not seek to romanticise the islanders' plight or their stand, nor does it cast the dukes as villains. Instead it reflects on the islanders' natural desire to better their lives and the dukes' attempts to modernise this part of their estates. Much of Tiree's history is characterised by the resulting tension. The cover features a large-scale plan of the island made in 1768-9, reproduced in full amongst the colour plates and the book cites many manuscript sources from the Inveraray archives..