‘M’ aghan cri, coir, gradhach’ – ‘My heifer beloved, kind and loving’: human-cattle relationships and the Highland Clearances in the nineteenth-century Scottish Gàidhealtachd

Ingham, Niall (2026) ‘M’ aghan cri, coir, gradhach’ – ‘My heifer beloved, kind and loving’: human-cattle relationships and the Highland Clearances in the nineteenth-century Scottish Gàidhealtachd. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This thesis examines the impact of the Highland Clearances on human-cattle relationships in the Scottish Gàidhealtachd in the nineteenth century. Primarily through a mixture of nineteenth-century Gaelic song poetry, the evidence given to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Condition of the Crofters and Cottars in the Highlands of Scotland (Napier Commission, 1884) and archival documents, it traces how human-cattle relationships shifted as a result of the disruption to small-scale subsistence practices wrought by the Highland Clearances (c. 1760-c. 1860).

The approach and focus of the thesis are shaped by engagement with the interdisciplinary field of human-animal studies, from which it draws theoretical insights. In doing so, it reveals how an animal-centred approach to the Clearances can illuminate new paths by which to understand the lived experience of nineteenth-century Gaels and their animals during this critical period. The first chapter explores cattle-raising imagery in nineteenth-century Clearances poetry, demonstrating the centrality of such depictions in Gaelic socio-cultural responses to the Clearances. The second and third chapters bring these findings to bear on the underexplored yet vast Napier Commission testimonies, examining human-cattle relationships in the context of memories of the Clearances earlier in the nineteenth century, and in the context of the Highland Land Wars in the 1880s. The final chapter explores the role of cattle in land agitation in 1880s Skye through two case studies, foregrounding the extent to which contemporary understandings of human-cattle relationships and of animal agency shaped acts of trespass.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Additional Information: Supported by funding from the Scottish Graduate School for the Arts and Humanities (SGSAH), Centre for Scottish and Celtic Studies (CSCS), the Edna Stark Postgraduate Scholarship in Scottish History, and the Alexander Ogilvie Postgraduate Scholarship in Scottish History.
• Subjects: D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D204 Modern History; D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain; P Language and Literature > PB Modern European Languages > PB1501 Scottish Gaelic Language
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities > History
• Funder's Name: Scottish Graduate School for the Arts and Humanities (SGSAH), Centre for Scottish and Celtic Studies (CSCS), Edna Stark Postgraduate Scholarship in Scottish History, Alexander Ogilvie Postgraduate Scholarship in Scottish History
• Supervisor's Name: MacGregor, Dr. Martin and Fudge, Professor Erica
• Date of Award: 2026
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2026-85900
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 30 Apr 2026 14:46
• Last Modified: 30 Apr 2026 14:46
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.85900
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/85900