George Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland

==Development of Sutherland and Highland clearances==

==Development of Sutherland and Highland clearances==

{{Main|Highland Clearances#The Sutherland Clearances}}

{{Main|Highland Clearances#The Sutherland Clearances}}

Sutherland and his wife. [[Elizabeth Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland|the Countess of Sutherland]], remain controversial figures for their role in carrying out the [[Highland Clearances]], where thousands of tenants were evicted and rehoused in coastal crofts as part of a programme of improvement.{{cite web|url=http://www.scottish-places.info/people/famousfirst621.html |title=George Granville Leveson-Gower (1st Duke of Sutherland)|work=Gazetteer for Scotland|access-date=1 February 2008}} The larger clearances in Sutherland were undertaken between 1811 and 1820. In 1811 Parliament passed an Act granting half the expenses of building roads in northern Scotland, on the provision that landowners paid for the other half. The following year Sutherland commenced building roads and bridges in the county, which up to that point had been virtually non-existent. Appalled by the poor living conditions of his tenants and influenced by social and economic theories of the day as well as consulting widely on the subject, he and his [[Elizabeth Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland|wife]] (to whom much of the proprietorial oversight of the estate had been delegated) became convinced that subsistence farming in the interior of [[Sutherland]] could not be sustained in the long term. Much higher rents could be obtained from letting land for extensive sheep farms—so providing a much better income from the estate.{{cite web|url=http://www.scottish-places.info/people/famousfirst621.html |title=George Granville Leveson-Gower (1st Duke of Sutherland)|work=Gazetteer for Scotland|access-date=30 March 2009}}

Sutherland and his wife, [[Elizabeth Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland|the Countess of Sutherland]], remain controversial figures for their role in carrying out the [[Highland Clearances]], where thousands of tenants were evicted and rehoused in coastal crofts as part of a programme of improvement.{{cite web|url=http://www.scottish-places.info/people/famousfirst621.html |title=George Granville Leveson-Gower (1st Duke of Sutherland)|work=Gazetteer for Scotland|access-date=1 February 2008}} The larger clearances in Sutherland were undertaken between 1811 and 1820. In 1811 Parliament passed an Act granting half the expenses of building roads in northern Scotland, on the provision that landowners paid for the other half. The following year Sutherland commenced building roads and bridges in the county, which up to that point had been virtually non-existent. Appalled by the poor living conditions of his tenants and influenced by social and economic theories of the day as well as consulting widely on the subject, he and his [[Elizabeth Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland|wife]] (to whom much of the proprietorial oversight of the estate had been delegated) became convinced that subsistence farming in the interior of [[Sutherland]] could not be sustained in the long term. Much higher rents could be obtained from letting land for extensive sheep farms—so providing a much better income from the estate.{{cite web|url=http://www.scottish-places.info/people/famousfirst621.html |title=George Granville Leveson-Gower (1st Duke of Sutherland)|work=Gazetteer for Scotland|access-date=30 March 2009}}

The Sutherland estate management had had plans for clearance for some years, with some clearance activity in 1772 when Lady Sutherland was still a child. However, a shortage of money stopped these plans from progressing to any greater degree—a situation that continued after her marriage to Leveson-Gower. However, when he inherited the vast wealth of the Duke of Bridgewater, plans could proceed—and Leveson-Gower was happy for large amounts of his wealth to be spent on the changes to the Sutherland estate.{{rp|page=38–39}} Though unusual for the time, much of the oversight of the estate management was delegated to Lady Sutherland, who took a keen interest in the estate, travelling to [[Dunrobin Castle]] most summers and engaging in a continuous exchange of correspondence with the [[Factor (Scotland)|factor]] and [[James Loch]], the Stafford estate commissioner.

The Sutherland estate management had had plans for clearance for some years, with some clearance activity in 1772 when Lady Sutherland was still a child. However, a shortage of money stopped these plans from progressing to any greater degree—a situation that continued after her marriage to Leveson-Gower. However, when he inherited the vast wealth of the Duke of Bridgewater, plans could proceed—and Leveson-Gower was happy for large amounts of his wealth to be spent on the changes to the Sutherland estate.{{rp|page=38–39}} Though unusual for the time, much of the oversight of the estate management was delegated to Lady Sutherland, who took a keen interest in the estate, travelling to [[Dunrobin Castle]] most summers and engaging in a continuous exchange of correspondence with the [[Factor (Scotland)|factor]] and [[James Loch]], the Stafford estate commissioner.

The first of the new wave of clearances involved relocations from [[Assynt]] to coastal villages with the plan that farmers could take up fishing. The next eviction, in the Strath of Kildonan in 1813, was met with opposition and a six week long confrontation that was resolved by calling out the army and the estate making some concessions to those who were evicted.{{cite book|last1=Richards|first1=Eric|title=The Highland Clearances People, Landlords and Rural Turmoil|date=2000|publisher=Birlinn Limited|location=Edinburgh|isbn=978-1-78027-165-1|edition=2013}}{{rp|168–172}} In 1814, one of the estate's factors, [[Patrick Sellar]], was supervising clearances in Strathnaver when the roof timbers of a house were set on fire (to prevent the house being reoccupied after the eviction) with, allegedly, an elderly and bedridden woman still inside. The woman was rescued, but died six days later.{{cite book|last1=Hunter|first1=James|title=Set Adrift Upon the World: the Sutherland Clearances|date=2015|publisher=Birlinn Limited|location=Edinburgh|isbn=978-1-78027-268-9}}{{rp|197}}{{r|Richards 2013|p=183}} The local law officer, Robert Mackid, was an enemy of Sellar and started taking witness statements so that Sellar could be prosecuted. The case went to trial in 1816 and Sellar was acquitted.{{r|Hunter 2015|p=181-182}}{{r|Richards 1999|p=195}} The publicity arising from the trial was not welcome to the Sutherlands.{{r|Hunter 2015|p=183-187,203}} Sellar was replaced as factor and further, larger clearances continued in 1818 to 1820. Despite efforts to avoid press comment, in 1819 ''[[The Observer]]'' newspaper ran the headline: "the Devastation of Sutherland", reporting the burning of roof timbers of large numbers of houses cleared at the same time.{{r|Hunter 2015|pp=200-280}}

The first of the new wave of clearances involved relocations from [[Assynt]] to coastal villages, with the plan that farmers could take up fishing. The next eviction, in the Strath of Kildonan in 1813, was met with opposition and a six-week-long confrontation that was resolved by calling out the army, and the estate making some concessions to those who were evicted.{{cite book|last1=Richards|first1=Eric|title=The Highland Clearances People, Landlords and Rural Turmoil|date=2000|publisher=Birlinn Limited|location=Edinburgh|isbn=978-1-78027-165-1|edition=2013}}{{rp|168–172}} In 1814, one of the estate's factors, [[Patrick Sellar]], was supervising clearances in Strathnaver when the roof timbers of a house were set on fire (to prevent the house being reoccupied after the eviction) with, allegedly, an elderly and bedridden woman still inside. The woman was rescued, but died six days later.{{cite book|last1=Hunter|first1=James|title=Set Adrift Upon the World: the Sutherland Clearances|date=2015|publisher=Birlinn Limited|location=Edinburgh|isbn=978-1-78027-268-9}}{{rp|197}}{{r|Richards 2013|p=183}} The local law officer, Robert Mackid, was an enemy of Sellar and started taking witness statements so that Sellar could be prosecuted. The case went to trial in 1816, and Sellar was acquitted.{{r|Hunter 2015|p=181-182}}{{r|Richards 1999|p=195}} The publicity arising from the trial was not welcome to the Sutherlands.{{r|Hunter 2015|p=183-187,203}} Sellar was replaced as factor and further, larger clearances continued in 1818 to 1820. Despite efforts to avoid press comment, in 1819 ''[[The Observer]]'' newspaper ran the headline: "the Devastation of Sutherland", reporting the burning of roof timbers of large numbers of houses cleared at the same time.{{r|Hunter 2015|pp=200-280}}

==Monuments==

==Monuments==