Patrick
Sellar
Zoom in
|
Clearances
- Sellar's Trial |
|
|
Patrick Sellar and his men carried out some of the most violent evictions.
Often they destroyed possessions and set fire to croft houses. Those
who were evicted felt that he used unnecessary force. They reported
his actions and eventually Patrick Sellar was arrested and put on trial
for: willful fire-raising...most aggravated circumstances of cruelty,
if not murder.
Sellar had
a personal interest in clearing as many farmers as he could for he owned
one of the largest sheep farms on the Sutherland estate and wished to
expand even further. Lock, Sellar and the Duke of Sutherland cleared
15,000 people to make way for 200,000 sheep.
|
|
Sellar
did not believe that he was guilty of anything but was simply following
the orders of his employers. He wrote a letter to the Duke of Sutherland
telling him of the crimes he had been accused of and stating his innocence.
| 'I see
that I am accused of two serious crimes. Firstly, that I caused
the death of a woman whose house was burned down, and secondly,
that my sheep have eaten the people's corn'.
'I am sure
these things did not happen because I was cruel. If my sheep ate
the people's corn because my shepherds were careless, the people
should have complained to me and I would have done something about
it'. |
Famous witnesses,
William Chisholm and Henrietta Mackay, whose mother was forcibly evicted,
spoke in Gaelic at the trial. Their evidence was translated into English
for the judge and jury. Patrick Sellar was found not guilty The crofters
thought that this was because many members of the jury were local landowners.
After the trial, Patrick Sellar stopped working as a factor but he continued
making money from sheep farming in Sutherland for many years, on his Sutherland
estate, given to him by Lord and Lady Stafford in acknowledgment of his
work.
You can read a transcript from Dornoch Jail records here  . |
