A REPORT commissioned by Historic Environment Scotland has explored the relationship between the properties in their care (PiCs) and the British Empire—including one of the highest-profile recognitions by a public body in Scotland of the disproportionate role Scots played in the displacement of Irish communities and people (above).
The welcome inclusion of Ireland and the Irish in the report is a rare public recognition of Scotland’s role in the history of Ireland, from the Plantation of Ulster to the military presence of many Scottish soldiers and regiments throughout the centuries.
Though much of the report focuses on other aspects of British Imperialism, such as the Empire in India or the links properties in the care of HES have with the slave trade, the inclusion of Ireland and the Irish in the report marks an important change in the conversation around such issues.
“This report is a valuable contribution to our understanding of the complex relationship between Scotland’s heritage and the British Empire,” Ranald MacInnes, Head of Outreach and Learning at HES, said. “It is important that we are honest about the effects, both positive and negative, that Empire connections had on our properties, and that we use this information to inform our approach to the care and interpretation of our historic properties.
“Our understanding of the past is ever-changing and by undertaking this research we have been able to pull together stories and viewpoints in order to broaden our knowledge of the history of the sites in our care. Although this report pre-dates Scottish Government’s support for the Empire, Slavery and Scotland’s Museums (ESSM) Steering Group recommendations, we are pleased to note that these discussions are taking place across the heritage sector, and we hope this research contributes to the national conversation.”
Empire in focus
The report—authored by Dr Stephen Mullen, Professor Stephen Driscoll, and Dr Andrew Mackillop from the University of Glasgow—not only examines the links between HES properties and the British Empire, but also shines a light on the conventional understanding of the British Empire and its timeline.
“Providing a single start and end date for such a complex and protracted phenomenon is an exercise fraught with challenges,” the report says. “In accordance with the current standard in academic literature, this report dates the British Empire from the formation of the English East India Company in 1600 to Britain’s withdrawal from Hong Kong in 1997. A case could be made for an earlier beginning, either through maritime expansion or Tudor plantation in Ireland.
“Although interpretations remain contested, the extent to which the plantation of Ulster is now characterised in colonial terms by academic historians justifies the inclusion of Ireland as a part of the British Empire and as seminal to the early history of Scotland’s involvement in that empire. It is a historic fact that Scots played a disproportionate role in the displacement of native Irish people and communities. Indeed, the extent of cooperation between Scots, English and Welsh colonists was such that historians now argue that the origins of a truly British, as opposed to English, empire owes much to the Ulster experiment in settler colonialism.
“The timescale and geographies used here to define the British Empire create several sensitivities, both in terms of certain memorials (such as those at Glasgow Cathedral dedicated to members of Scottish regiments serving in Northern Ireland in Ulster) and individual PiCs.”
Glasgow Cathedral
Among the elements of the HES estate which were identified as requiring greater awareness was Glasgow Cathedral, with the report highlighting the need to contextualise some of the memorials it features.
“The cathedral survey also stresses the need for an awareness of the wider contexts in which memorials were created,” the report states. “It connects events in the Empire (or in the case of Ireland and Northern Ireland, places seen by many as shaped by post-imperial conflict) with acts of remembrance inside the building. The aim is not to offer any one interpretation of specific memorials, but rather to enable holistic understandings of the cultural politics shaping the timing, content and character of specific monuments. The emphasis is not on establishing that specific monuments link to a particular empire related event; instead, the intention is to note the wider contemporary contexts in which monuments or memorials were created.”
Conflict
The most recent conflict in Ireland, and links to it which remain in some buildings of the HES estate, was also recognised in the report, which acknowledged that although it falls outside the common range of imperial conflicts, nevertheless can be subject to similar evaluations.
“For many people, the events in the Falkland Islands (1982) and in the North of Ireland (1969–1998) involved the defence of populations from foreign invasion or political terrorism,” the report noted. “Yet these conflicts are also interpreted as ‘post-imperial’ events – that is, as phenomena that owe much of their origin and character to the enduring influence of Britain’s imperial and colonial history. That such relatively recent conflicts can be viewed through these differing perspectives underline how the Empire’s dissolution is a protracted process much closer to us in time than might seem to be the case given the largely 1850s to 1950s date range.”
Such recognition of Scotland’s past involvement in Ireland and in the displacement of Irish people will now help place the history of the Irish community in Scotland into a discussion which it has generally been absent from, and can help drive interest in the role of Scots and Scotland in Ireland’s history.
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