Movement within Scotland
Introduction
• Migration is the movement of people within a country.
• In Scotland between 1830 and 1930 this internal migration saw a shift
from the poorer rural areas to a life with more possibilities in the
increasingly industrialised urban areas.
• It is believed that this movement arose as these rural areas saw a great
deal of deprivation and urban areas appeared to offer opportunities for
employment in factories and industry.
Life in the Lowlands of Scotland
• Rapid population growth in the Lowlands was a cause for concern as a
result of the Industrial Revolution.
• Concern existed at the time that, if the population continued to rise in vast
numbers in areas with fewer farms, a severe famine would occur.
• Farming methods were altered and additional labour was hired, thus
moving some of the agricultural workers.
• Consequently, agricultural land underwent a change. Land was divided
into medium- and large-sized estates and then carved up into individual
farms, employing up to six men – a shift away from tenant farmers.
• (During harvest time additional labourers were employed – chiefly Irish
immigrants.)
• In conclusion, fewer labourers were required so people sought work in
nearby towns, thus adding to the declining rural population.
Lowlands (continued)
• After 1840, the population in the rural areas continued to decline at a
rapid rate as a consequence of greater efficiency.
• Farming saw a rise in labour-saving equipment such as the self-binding
reaper and the potato digger.
• Furthermore, wage levels in the industrial sector were far higher than in
agriculture, often as high as 50 per cent more.
• The allure of living in towns was also a feature of this increased
urbanisation.
• Between 1861 and 1891, rural employment in the Lowlands fell by around
a third.
• This pattern continued into the 20th century and by 1914 only 14 per cent
of males were employed in agriculture.
A shift from the Highlands
• Many historians have claimed that the movement away from the
Highlands came as a result of industrialisation and the desire to gain one
of the many opportunities and improve their standards of living.
• Up-to-date research has revealed this is not a true reflection of events.
This theory is applicable to the south-east Highlands. There was a great
variety of shift patterns at this time. There was little movement from the
islands and the north-west.
South and east Highlands
• Decline in farm labour saw a shift towards fishing villages and towns.
• This was insufficient to absorb the excess labour, and thus some were
drawn to the urban areas in the Central Belt.
• Some remained behind, almost destitute as a consequence of being
poorly educated.
The north and the Islands
• The north and the Islands depended on the land, namely the potato, as a
means of survival.
• A shift came in the 1850s when there was a temporary migration.
• Statistics:
– It was estimated that in the 1850s a half to two-thirds of the income of the inhabitants
of Skye came from agricultural work in the Lowlands.
– In the 1870s, the herring industry drew in migrants with as many as 5000 men and
women arriving in the fishing ports of Caithness and Aberdeenshire during the catching
season.
• By 1891 three out of four of the population depended directly or indirectly
on fishing alone or on a combination of fishing and crofting.
• This area managed to survive as a consequence of temporary migration
bringing back money and provisions to the family and wider community.
• After the First World War a irreversible trend began. These areas lost a
quarter of their overall population. This could be to do with their role in
the First World War, the lack of temporary labour required as well as a
severe depression in the 1920s and 1930s.
• These groups tended to settle in and around the major cities of Glasgow .