After a century of being treated poorly treated, there were many whose desire for reform took them into the realm of direct action. The Highland Land League, closely linked to its Irish counterpart, was involved in actions of land reform agitation which saw police from Glasgow and even the British Army brought in to subdue land raids and other militant actions by the Highlanders.

The action was justified by the setting up of the Napier Commission, which heard evidence from people who had either been cleared themselves or, more usually, from people who were their descendants.

The government finally acknowledged that the victims of the Clearances were still being victimised and needed protective legislation.

The government drew up a Bill which would satisfy the Highland Land Law Reform Association. In 1886 it became the Crofters’ Holdings Act.

This gave the crofters security of tenure, the right to arbitration when faced with rent increases, the right to bequeath their tenancies and the right to compensation when improvements to new locations were required.

The Act became known as the ‘Magna Carta of Gaeldom’.

A satirical cartoon depicting the Crofter Act of 1886. A scottish highlander (left) rolls up his sleeves as John Bull listens to the landlord explain his case.

Even the sheep, which replaced the people, have gone - to a large extent undercut by cheaper, often better quality products from Australia and New Zealand. ( ironically those very lands that were so heavily settled by the very people cleared from the Highland glens).

In recent years a strong Crofters' Union has emerged, inspiring crofters to seize the advantages of new transport systems, new communications networks and new technology, to build a better way of life for themselves. In the last decade crofters involved in community buy-out schemes have not only taken full possession of their own lands, but of whole landed estates like Assynt, or whole Islands like Eigg.