The Vatersay Raiders

by Ben Buxton

All they wanted was land: land for crofting and land on which to build a house.

In 1908, ten desperate men from the islands of Barra and Mingulay in the Western Isles were imprisoned for refusing to leave the island of Vatersay which they had raided, built huts and planted potatoes without permission. The case caused an outcry across Scotland, and the government eventually bought Vatersay for crofting. This book, the first about Vatersay, draws on detailed records to tell the remarkable story of the raiders: their struggle to escape from the poverty which, they claimed, the policies of the absentee landowner forced them to endure, the raiding and settlement of the island and the fraught process of dividing it up into crofts.

An outline of subsequent developments in Vatersay, including the causeway, brings the account up to date. The book also documents the fascinating earlier history of Vatersay and its now-deserted neighbour, Sandray. The story ranges from the intriguing monuments of prehistory to the shipwrecks and the 19th century evictions to make way for sheep-farming.

Genres: History

228 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2008

Reviews

[Julian Worker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cracking social history of the population shifts on the most southerly of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland in the late 19th and early 20th Century. The locals on Barra, Mingulay, Sandray, Pabbay, and Vatersay could never be sure of their status given the whims of their absentee landlord who tended to regard animals as more important than humans.

In 1908 ten desperate men were sentenced to imprisonment in Edinburgh for refusing to leave Vatersay after planting potatoes and building huts on the island, against the expressed wishes of their landlord. Their case caused an outcry and forced the government to buy Vatersay and give it over to crofting, allowing the people to stay and to get on with making their lives more secure than they'd previously been.

[Anzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought the book on Uist, one of the islands where crofters mentioned in the book were living. An interesting read about people trying to survive on the southern islands of the Outer Hebrides, a fight against landowners and the Government full of other landowners who were reluctant to change. Thanks to the families doing what they had to do to make a living change did come.

Walking around these beautiful islands evidence of people living there is everywhere, from fallen down brochs to ruins of houses without roofs. I'm glad I got a piece of some of the history that has taken place there.