23-24 July 2024 Collingwood College Durham
In July 2024, the History of Parliament Trust supported the two-day conference Histories of Scottish Politics in the Age of Union, c., 1700-1945, held at Durham University and organised by Naomi Lloyd-Jones. In this blog, Brendan Tam, one of the speakers, reflects on the event and on the state of Scottish and British political history.
Ewen Cameron’s keynote address at the Histories of Scottish Politics in the Age of Union conference, held in July at the University of Durham, while focused on the question of ‘where did the nineteenth century go’ in relation to Scottish political history, was emblematic of the broader themes, developments and approaches that define the current landscape of the field. Equally, the five sections by which Cameron structured his keynote – historiography and sources, structures of the union, local government and localism, slavery, and empire – captured many of the topics and methodological approaches that were addressed throughout this two-day conference.
Papers approaching the two topics of slavery and empire utilised a range of methodological approaches and sources, highlighting the ground that remains to be covered in exploring the interaction between Scotland, empire and slavery across the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries at both a regional and global level. Matthew Lee tracked the coverage of five Scottish newspapers to explore the effect competing narratives of the Haitian Revolution had on the public debate over abolition in Scotland between 1791 and 1792. Glasgow, whose economy was tied to the Caribbean, exhibited a greater interest in the revolution. Drawing on the appointment diaries of Colin Dunlop Donald (1777-1859), Secretary of the West India Association and a Tory election agent, Stephen Mullen located the electoral interest and control of the West India Interest in early nineteenth century Scotland as being primarily regionally bounded, largely to Glasgow and its surrounds. Thomas Archambaud traced connections between the West Indian and East Indian interests through exploring the globe-spanning political and commercial careers of James and John Macpherson. James Wylie provided a material culture perspective on the intersection of Scottish culture and slavery, exploring the dual role of tartan as both a commodity and a symbol which reinforced hierarchies within the system of slavery.
A significant theme that emerged from the conference was the role of women in Scottish political life. As has been well established in modern historiography, women were not passive observers of political events but active participants, using both formal and informal avenues to influence public life. Natalee Garrett examined the Duchess of Gordon’s use of what Elaine Chalus has termed ‘social politics’ in playing an active role in late eighteenth century politics. By hosting social events like tartan balls, and dinners, Gordon was able to forge relationships across the political divide and wield political influence during moments of political crisis. Lisa Berry-Waite, focusing on a 1938 portrait of Scotland’s first female MP, Katharine, Duchess of Atholl, currently held by the UK Parliament Heritage Collection, emphasised the importance of embracing a broad range of sources to reconceptualise the past. Beyond aristocratic circles, women also played crucial roles in regional political movements. Frankie Aird highlighted the importance of the Perth Female Anti-Slavery Society, which was founded before its male counterpart, and played an active role in the global dialogue relating to the abolition of slavery. Hannah Speed assessed the life writing of three Scottish suffragists, charting how their respective involvements in the WSPU are key to understanding their later political careers, noting the importance of the friendships and networks forged in the WSPU.
The structure of politics throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was often mediated through networks of patronage, friendship and personal alliances. This theme was evident across papers discussing political figures and their relationships, both elite and non-elite. My own paper analysed the patronage networks of Henry Dundas, first Viscount Melville. I argued that his friendship with the 4th Duke of Buccleuch reflected how life-long friendships shaped political careers and allowed for the creation and maintenance of political networks that traded on both electoral influence and preferment. Michael Fraser explored how John Campbell, second Duke of Argyll, crafted a public persona of patriotic heroism through speeches and ballads, positioning himself as a defender of Whig Presbyterianism and the Scottish nation.
As Scotland’s political landscape evolved after Union, new forms of popular and radical politics began to emerge. Karin Bowie traced the culture of Scottish loyal addresses and political petitions before and after the 1707 Act of Union, arguing that by tracking loyal addresses and the way they were used as displays of strength by rival factions, a more nuanced image of the Scottish political landscape can be recovered. Richard Huzzey and Henry Miller contended that petitions played a distinctive political role in Scottish politics between 1780 and 1918. That Scotland was over-represented proportionately to the rest of Britain in the number of petitions lodged suggests that petitions were viewed as an avenue for political involvement in the context of the restricted electoral system in Scotland. Dave Steele’s analysis of the 1838 Radical Demonstration on Glasgow Green emphasised the co-operation and connections between English and Scottish radical groups in understanding the radical movement immediately prior to the emergence of the Chartists.
In considering the past, present and future of Scottish political history, the roundtable discussion that closed the conference, featuring Colin Kidd, Emma Macleod,conference organiser Naomi Lloyd-Jones, Malcolm Petrie and Valerie Wallace summarised the trends exhibited by all the contributions made at the conference. Macleod’s reflections of the broad base which political history can cover as typified by the varied papers delivered at the conference, observing that politics can refer to ‘rout parties, balls, portraits, railways and fashion’, brilliantly encapsulated the diversity of approaches that were on show and the many discussions that were had across the two days. Furthermore, the convening of a Scottish history conference in England is noteworthy. It reflects that there is a need to consider all the constituent parts of Britain when exploring and contextualising Scottish political history, taking a ‘four nations’ approach that also includes empire. At the same time, electoral cultures and local level politics at both a macro and micro level cannot be ignored. To understand the dynamics and rhythms of not only Scottish political history but British political history, we must consider the local, national and global dimensions at work.
B.T.
Brendan Tam is a PhD candidate at the University of Warwick. Brendan previously completed degrees at the Universities of Melbourne and Edinburgh and is an elected member of the Society for the History of Emotions Council. His dissertation is focused on exploring the role played by and the dynamics of political friendship in British politics during the late Hanoverian period (1760-1837).
