Elizabeth Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland (née Sutherland; 24 May 176529 January 1839), also suo jure 19th Countess of Sutherland, was a Scottish noblewoman who married into the Leveson-Gower family, best remembered for her involvement in the Highland Clearances.
In 1803, her husband inherited the income from the highly profitable Bridgewater Canal. This greatly increased his wealth, being described by Charles Greville as "the leviathan of wealth", with the belief that he was "the richest man who ever died" (his exact wealth at the time of his death was unknown, though undeniably very large). It is this wealth that allowed Lady Sutherland to embark on the substantial changes to the Sutherland estate that were part of the Highland Clearances.
Biography Elizabeth was born at Leven Lodge near Edinburgh,. to William Sutherland, 18th Earl of Sutherland and his wife Mary (c. 1740–1766), the daughter and co-heir of William Maxwell, who owned slave plantations in the colony of Jamaica. Her parents died of "putrid fever" (typhus) in Bath in 1766, a few weeks after her first birthday. As the only surviving child, she succeeded to her father's estates and titles. Her title of Countess of Sutherland was contested by George Sutherland of Forse, a direct descendant of the 1st Earl of Sutherland, and by Sir Robert Gordon, Bt, also a descendant of the 1st Earl of Sutherland, but was confirmed by the House of Lords in 1771.; ;
Childhood and marriage Lady Elizabeth Sutherland spent most of her childhood living in Edinburgh and London, where she was educated between 1779 and 1782. On 4 September 1785, at the age of 20, she married George Granville Leveson-Gower, Viscount Trentham, at St Marylebone Parish Church, London. He was known as Earl Gower from 1786 until, in 1803, he succeeded to his father's title of Marquess of Stafford. In 1832, just six months before he died, he was created Duke of Sutherland and she became known as Duchess-Countess of Sutherland.
Sutherland estate
Under the terms of the marriage contract, control but not ownership of the Sutherland estate passed from Elizabeth to her husband for life."The marriage settlement instituted a fresh enfeoffment in terms of the entail on the Sutherland estates, which were arranged on life rent to her husband" . The couple also purchased additional land in Sutherland between 1812 and 1816, bringing the proportion of the County of Sutherland owned by them to around 63% (as measured by rental value). At the time of Lady Sutherland's inheritance of the estate, there were a large number of wadsets (a type of mortgage) on much of the land, and further wadsets were taken out to finance, among other things, the time (1790-1792) that Lady Sutherland and her husband spent in France when he was ambassador there.
Highland Clearances The Highland Clearances were part of the Scottish Agricultural Revolution. The old run-rig arable areas were replaced with more modern farming methods, new crops and land drainage systems were introduced and, controversially, the mixed farming tenants in the inland straths and glens were evicted and their former tenancies were used for, most commonly, extensive sheep farms. Evicted tenants were often resettled in newly created crofting communities which, in many cases, were in coastal regions. These changes occurred over virtually all the Highlands and Islands region, mostly over the period 1790 to 1855. This provided higher rental income and lower running costs for the individual estates concerned.
The Sutherland estate made a slow start in this process, though some removals were made in 1772 whilst Lady Sutherland was still a child and the estate was managed by her tutors. Attempts were made to dislodge many of the tacksmen on the estate at this time. Notable emigrations of tenants had taken place and plans were considered for new fishing villages to provide employment for tenants moved from the interior. However, the estate was handicapped by a serious shortage of the needed capital, and these large plans were deferred until money became available.
In 1803, when George Leveson-Gower inherited the huge fortune of the last Duke of Bridgewater, funds were available for the Sutherland estate to proceed with a programme of improvement. Many of the estate's leases did not end until 1807, but planning was started to restructure the estate. Despite the conventions of the day and the provisions of the entailment, Leveson-Gower delegated overall control of the estate to Lady Sutherland; she took an active interest in its management.
As the major part of the Sutherland Clearances began, Lady Sutherland and her advisors were influenced by several things. Firstly, a substantial population increase was occurring. Secondly, the area was prone to famine - and in these years it fell to the landlord to organise relief by buying meal on the open market and importing it into the area. The degree of severity of famine is a matter of debate among historians now and also within the Sutherland estate management in their near-contemporaneous analysis of the clearances in 1845.
The third driving force was the whole range of new thinking on agricultural improvement. This took in economic ideas expressed by Adam Smith as well as those of many agriculturalists. For the Highlands, the main thrust of these theories was the much greater rental return to be obtained from sheep. Wool prices had increased faster than other commodities since the 1780s. This enabled sheep farmers to pay substantially higher rents than the current tenants.
Now that capital funding was available, the first big sheep farm was let at Lairg in 1807, involving the removal of about 300 people. Many of these did not accept their new homes and emigrated, to the dissatisfaction of the estate management and Lady Sutherland. In 1809, William Young and Patrick Sellar arrived in Sutherland and made contact with the Sutherland family, becoming key advisors to the owners of the estate. They offered ambitious plans which matched the desire for rapid results.
Lady Sutherland had already dismissed the estate's factor, David Campbell, in 1807 for lack of progress. His replacement, Cosmo Falconer, found his position being undermined by the advice offered by Young and Sellar. In August 1810 Falconer agreed to leave, with effect from 2 June 1811, and Young and Sellar took over in his place.
Young had a proven track record of agricultural improvement in Moray and Sellar was a lawyer educated at Edinburgh University; both were fully versed in the modern ideas of Adam Smith. They provided an extra level of ambition for the estate. New industries were added to the plans, to employ the resettled population. A coal mine was sunk at Brora, and fishing villages were built to exploit the herring shoals off the coast. Other ideas were tanning, flax, salt and brick manufacturing.
The first clearances under the factorship of Young and Sellar were conducted in Assynt in 1812, under the direction of Sellar, establishing large sheep farms and resettling the old tenants on the coast. Sellar had the assistance of the local tacksmen in this and the process was conducted without unrest - despite the unpopularity of events. However, in 1813, planned clearances in the Strath of Kildonan were accompanied by riots; an angry mob drove prospective sheep farmers out of the valley when they came to view the land, and a situation of confrontation existed for more than six weeks, Sellar failing to successfully negotiate with the protesters.
Ultimately, the army was called out and the estate made concessions such as paying very favourable prices for the cattle of those being cleared. This was assisted by landlords in surrounding districts taking in some of those displaced and an organised party emigrating to Canada. The whole process was a severe shock to Lady Sutherland and her advisers, who were, in the words of historian Eric Richards, "genuinely astonished at this response to plans which they regarded as wise and benevolent".
Further clearances were scheduled in Strathnaver starting at Whitsun, 1814. These were complicated by Sellar having successfully bid for the lease of one of the new sheep farms on land that it was now his responsibility, as factor, to clear. (Overall, this clearance was part of the removal of 430 families from Strathnaver and Brora in 1814an estimated 2,000 people.) Sellar had also made an enemy of the local law officer, Robert Mackid, by catching him poaching on the Sutherlands' land.
There was some confusion among the tenants as Sellar made concessions to some of them, allowing them to stay in their properties a little longer. Some tenants moved in advance of the date in their eviction notice; others stayed until the eviction parties arrived.
As was normal practice, the roof timbers of cleared houses were destroyed to prevent re-occupation after the eviction party had left. On 13 June 1814, this was done by burning in the case of Badinloskin, the house occupied by William Chisholm. Accounts vary, but it is possible that his elderly and bedridden mother-in-law was still in the house when it was set on fire. In James Hunter's understanding of events, Sellar ordered her to be immediately carried out as soon as he realised what was happening. She died six days later. Eric Richards suggests that the old woman was carried to an outbuilding before the house was destroyed.
Whatever the facts of the matter, Sellar was charged with culpable homicide and arson, in respect of this incident and others during this clearance. The charges were brought by Robert Mackid, driven by the enmity he held for Sellar for catching him poaching. As the trial approached, the Sutherland estate was reluctant to assist Sellar in his defence, distancing themselves from their employee. He was acquitted of all charges at his trial in 1816. The estate managers were hugely relieved, taking this as a justification of their clearance activity. Robert Mackid became a ruined man and had to leave the county, providing Sellar with a grovelling letter of apology and confession.)
Despite the acquittal, this event, and Sellar's role in it, were fixed in the popular view of the Sutherland Clearances. James Loch, the Stafford estate commissioner was now taking a greater interest in the Northern part of his employer's holdings; he thought Young's financial management was incompetent, and Sellar's actions among the people deeply concerning. Both Sellar and William Young soon left their management posts with the Sutherland estate (though Sellar remained as a major tenant). Loch, nevertheless, also subscribed to the theory that clearance was beneficial for the tenants as much as for the estate.
Lady Sutherland's displeasure with events was increased by critical reports in a minor London newspaper, the Military Register, from April 1815. These were soon carried in larger newspapers. They originated from Alexander Sutherland who, with his brother John Sutherland of Sciberscross, were opponents of clearance. Alexander, after serving as a captain in the army, had been thwarted in his hopes of taking up leases on the Sutherland estate and now worked as a journalist in London. He was therefore well placed to cause trouble for the estate.
The (effective) dismissal of Sellar placed him in the role of scapegoat, thereby preventing a proper critical analysis of the estate's policies. Clearances continued under the factorship of Frances Suther and the overall control of James Loch. Through 1816 and 1817, famine conditions affected most of the inland areas and the estate had to provide relief to those who were destitute. This altered policy on emigration: if tenants wanted to emigrate, the estate would not object, but there was still no active encouragement.