| Reference Number | 219 |
| Title | Da-aobhar-dhiag air son Sir Coinneach Ghearrloch a chur do n’ Pharlamaid |
| Author | Anon. |
| Editor | N/A |
| Date Of Edition | 1880? |
| Date Of Language | late 19c |
| Date Of Language Ed | 19th c. |
| DateMacro | Late 19th c. |
| Date Of Language Notes | |
| Publisher | NP |
| Place Published | No PP |
| Volume | N/A |
| Location | National and academic libraries |
| Geographical Origins | Unknown, Highlands and Islands |
| Geographical Origins Ed | Highlands and Islands |
| GeoMacro | Unknown |
| GeoX | |
| GeoY | |
| Geographical Origins Notes | |
| Register | Prose, election poster |
| Register Ed | Literature, Prose |
| Genre | Information |
| Medium | Prose |
| Rating | TBC Sir Kenneth Smith Mackenzie of Gairloch; General Election of 1880; John Murdoch; Gaelic language and culture; crofters’ rights; language use — Gaelic identity; language use — crofting and tenancy; language use — politics and voting; idiomatic expressions; late 19th century period orthography. |
| Alternative Author Name | N/A |
| Manuscript Or Edition | Ed. |
| Size And Condition | 38cm x 26cm |
| Short Title | Da-aobhar-dhiag |
| Reference Details | NLS: Cam.3.a(15) |
| Number Of Pages | 1 sheet |
| Gaelic Text By | N/A |
| Illustrator | N/A |
| Social Context | This electoral notice was produced on behalf of the campaign of Liberal candidate, Sir Kenneth Smith Mackenzie of Gairloch (1832-1900), in the Inverness-shire county constituency during the General Election of 1880. He opposed the sitting Conservative Member of Parliament, Donald Cameron of Lochiel (1835-1905). Mackenzie of Gairloch was unsuccessful, being beaten by Cameron of Lochiel by a mere 29 votes — 808 votes against 779 (Craig 1977, p. 588). From 1868 to 1885, Donald Cameron of Lochiel represented Inverness-shire county constituency. On three separate occasions he was unopposed; only in 1880 did he face a challenge to his appointment as MP (ibid.). We know that the notice concerns this electoral contest, rather than a later one, because it appeared in The Highlander newspaper in three issues during the 1880 campaign — 19 March; 2 April; and 9 April. The paper’s editor, John Murdoch (1818-1903) (see Text 211), threw his weight behind Mackenzie of Gairloch as a way to remove Toryism from Inverness-shire. When that proved not to happen his editorial lamented that the county had ‘thus more moored itself to the fast decaying principle that “Whatever is is right”’ (The Highlander (16 April 1880), p. 4). There are a number of reasons to believe, in fact, that Murdoch himself wrote ‘DA-AOBHAR-DHIAG’. On each occasion, it was published in The Highlander beside an English-language electoral notice with an entirely different content. The latter was a summary of Mackenzie of Gairloch’s own address to voters, speaking of Foreign Policy among other matters. The Gaelic notice, however, stresses the candidate’s qualities as a ‘[sar] Ghaidheal’ with good Gaelic. He was also described as the best landlord in the Highlands who had always helped crofters and their families and never carried out evictions. Advancing Gaelic language and culture, and crofters’ rights was a core part of Murdoch’s paper. Finally, Murdoch expressed his support in English for Mackenzie in The Highlander (27 February 1880) in remarkably similar terms to what later appeared in the electoral notice: He has the largest crofter population in the Highlands, and he has never evicted one of them. He has granted them,when he came into possession, leases of twelve years. When these expired he had the crofts re-valued, and then granted them new leases which are now current. He has taken a most active and intelligent interest in getting Gaelic recognised in Highland schools [...] (quoted in Cameron 2000, p. 81). Sir Kenneth Mackenzie of Gairloch stood again as a Liberal in the same constituency in the 1885 General Election. On this occasion he faced a new Conservative candidate, Reginald MacLeod (1847-1935), but it was Charles Fraser-Mackintosh (1828-1901) who surprisingly won the seat as an Independent Liberal, and member of the new Crofters Party (Craig 1974, p. 543). Ewen A. Cameron has argued that the two electoral contests of 1880 and 1885 are representative of broader changes in Highland electoral politics. Mackenzie of Gairloch came close to winning in 1880 and subsequently increased his number of votes in the 1885 General Election. But the Highland Land War and the Representation of the People Act 1884 allowed crofting communities to seek a different and more radical political option at the ballot box: [I]n 1885 he [i.e. Mackenzie of Gairloch] received 1897 votes, but with the enlarged electorate this was only enough to put him in third place with a share of the vote of 25.4 per cent. Traditional Highland Liberalism, as expressed by Mackenzie, was a strong enough force with the smaller electorate in 1880. By 1885 the ideas it propounded seemed to have been rapidly overtaken: they would make a comeback, however, once the febrile political conditions of the mid-1880s had passed (Cameron 2000, p. 79). Although he would never win a parliamentary seat, Mackenzie was a member of the highly important 1883 Napier Commission into the condition of crofters and cottars (ibid., p. 120). He also served as Lord Lieutenant of Ross-shire from 1881, and acted as chairman of Ross-shire county council from 1889 (Anon. 1900). A number of Gaelic songs were composed in praise of Sir Kenneth Mackenzie of Gairloch: ‘Oran da Shir Coinneach an Oidhche a Phòs E’ by Duncan MacKenzie, ‘The Kinlochewe Bard’ (see Text 98), commemorating his marriage to Eila Frederica Campbell, daughter of W.F. Campbell of Islay*, in 1860; a song beginning ‘M’aoibhneas éibhinn, inntinneach’, by Fearchar Mac-dhomhnuill, commemorating Mackenzie’s coming of age (Mac-dhomhnuill & Siosal 18--?); a song beginning ‘Gu’m bu slan do dheadh Shir Coinneach’, by Cailean Siosal, marking an Inverness Highland gathering in 1879 at which Mackenzie served as chair (ibid.); and ‘Oran do ’n Ridire Coinneach Mac-Coinnich, Triath Ghearrloch’, by Mary Mackellar, read at the Thirteenth Annual Assembly of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, where Mackenzie presided (Mackellar 1884). A picture of Kenneth Mackenzie of Gairloch is available online at Am Baile http://www.ambaile.org.uk/detail/gd/11322/1/EN11322-sir-kenneth-mackenzie-of.htm. * This copy of ‘DA-AOBHAR-DHIAG’ was in the possession of John Francis Campbell of Islay (1821-1885) (see Text 101, Text 206), Kenneth Mackenzie’s brother-in-law. John F. Campbell and John Murdoch were also friends from childhood. |
| Contents | This is a short page-long notice or poster for an electoral campaign. It begins with a title in large, bold font and capital letters: ‘DA-AOBHAR-DHIAG AIR SON SIR COINNEACH GHEARRLOCH A CHUR DO N’ PHARLAMAID’. This is followed by a numerical list of the twelve reasons encouraging voters to elect the candidate. Each of the twelve points is a sentence in length, some longer than others, and in smaller font with both lower and upper case. After this, there are two slogans in the upper case with large, bold font. At the end, there is a paragraph in large upper case letters reassuring voters that their votes will be confidential. |
| Sources | |
| Language | This is an interesting and rare example of Gaelic language used for electioneering in the 19th century. The linguistic style is popular, not overly formal, persuasive and concise. It aims to communicate the candidate’s supposed strengths of character — strengths which were expected to appeal to a Gaelic-speaking Highland electorate who might be sympathetic to the crofters, even if they were not crofters themselves. There are some examples in the electoral notice relating to Gaelic identity, e.g. ‘Tha e na shar Ghaidheal, agus tha Gaidhlig mhath aige’, ‘Bha e riamh air taobh nan Gaidheal, ’s air taobh na Gaidhlig’, ‘Dheanadh e feum mor agus sonas do’n Ghaidhealtachd gu leir, air a h-uile doigh, leithid Shir Coinneach Ghearrloch a bhi air an taobh, agus a’ seasamh suas air an son fein, air son an Ainm, an Eachdraidh, an Litreachas, am Bardachd, agus an Cliu ann am Parlamaid na Rioghachd’. We find several terms concerned with crofting and tenancy: siamarlan, i.e. ‘factor or land agent’, in Cha ’n eil e ’cumail Siamarlan a’ deanamh droch-bheairt is buaireadh, SIAMARLAN NO TIGHEARNA, i.e. ‘factor or landlord’, oighreachd, i.e. ‘estate’, gabhaltas, i.e. ‘tenancy or tenure’ in, for example: Cha ’n eil tuathanach no croitear air an oighreachd aige [...] gun ghabhaltas, and air gabhaltas chuig-bliadhna-diag, An deighe’mal [sic] a shuidheachadh leis an luchd-mheasa, i.e. ‘after the assessors fixed the rent’, Mhaith e ’mal do iomadh duine bochd [...], in context meaning that he forgave rent arreas to many poor persons. Eviction is spoken about in the following terms: Cha do chuir e fhein, ’athair, no ’sheanair, duine riamh dheth an oighreachd. In terms of politics and voting the following examples may be noted: A CHUR DO N’ [sic] PHARLAMAID, DOIGH UR NAN CROISEAGAN — a reference to the recent introduction of the secret ballot, following the Ballot Act 1872, CIAMAR A BHOTAIGEAS SIBH. Some interesting idiomatic expressions include: gus an tig na gillean gu cuid fir, i.e. ‘until the boys come of age’, gu’n [...] air chor sam bith am fearann a chur daor orra, i.e. ‘without on any account making the land (or the rent) dear for them’. A few examples of dialect-specific language are evident, e.g. A CHUR DO N’, THUGAIBH FAINEAR, CO THEIR A CHAOCHLA RIBH, AG INNSE’. |
| Orthography | The orthography of Da-aobhar-dhiag is characteristic of the late 19th century period. No accents are used in the text. This is likely due to the printing process used. For example: a’ paigheadh sgillinn mhail, na shar Ghaidheal, is fhearr, e fhein, An deighe’mal [sic], etc. Apostrophes are found in prepositions and conjunctions: do’n Ghaidhealtachd — but also DO N’ [sic], which is likely a typographic error — bho’n fhuair, GU’M BHEIL; however, gu’n in the following phrase is a typographic error: gu’n chus mail. They are also present: in the negative form of the verb ‘to be’ — Cha ’n eil; in the abbreviated form of the conjunction agus — ’sa, ’s; to replace the masculine possessive adjective when it follows or precedes another vowel — ’athair, no ’sheanair. We find a loss of a’/ag in verbal nouns following vowels — Cha ’n eil e ’cumail Siamarlan. The article is contracted where it follows a vowel — tha ’n diugh, thug e ’n dara gabhaltas, An deighe’mal [sic] a shuidheachadh (i.e. An dèidh am màl...), Mhaith e ’mal, thug e ’m fearann, nuair fhuair e’n [sic] oighreachd. Verbs are also contracted preceding a vowel — TH’AIR. Some examples of older spelling forms include: DA-AOBHAR-DHIAG, AIR SON, as a phunnd shassunach, Siamarlan. Dialect may be represented in the following examples: ag aithne, chuig-bliadhna-diag, and dhoibh. One feature which becomes more common from the late 19th century period is the spelling Gaidhlig, which we find in this text, rather than the forms Gailig or even Gaelic in earlier periods. |
| Edition | First edition. This electoral notice appeared in The Highlander newspaper, edited by John Murdoch, on 19 March, 2 April, and 9 April 1880. |
| Other Sources | |
| Further Reading | Anon., ‘Obituary’, Times [London, England] (12 February 1900), 9. Cameron, Ewen A., The life and times of Fraser Mackintosh, crofter MP (Aberdeen, 2000: Centre for Scottish Studies, University of Aberdeen). Craig, Fred W. S., ed., British parliamentary election results 1885-1918 (London, 1974: Macmillan), 543. Craig, Fred W. S., ed., British parliamentary election results 1832-1885 (London, 1977: Macmillan), 588. G.E.C., ed., Complete Baronetage, Volume IV. (Exeter, 1904: William Pollard & Co. Ltd.), 412. Highlander, (Inverness, 1873-81). Mackellar, Mary, ‘Oran do ’n Ridire Coinneach Mac-Coinnich, Triath Ghearrloch’, Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, XI (1884-85), 95-97. Mac-dhomhnuill, Fearchar, and Siosal, Cailean, Dà Oran do Shir Coinneach Mac Coinnich Triath Ghearrloch (Scotland, 18--?: [n. pub.]). |
| Credits | |
| Link Label | Digital version created by National Library of Scotland |
| Link | http://digital.nls.uk/early-gaelic-book-collections/pageturner.cfm?id=78765033 |
| Download File | 219.pdf |
| NumWords | 367 |
