The Arrival of the Scots

The Arrival of the Scots

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Although Scots had been settling in Ireland and more particularly Ulster for hundreds of years, it was not until 1606 that a major plantation occurred. The plantation was masterminded by two men, James Hamilton and Hugh Montgomery. Both were native Scots but each saw major benefits in a settlement which would undoubtedly leave them as powerful landowners in Ulster. James Hamilton persuaded King James I that O'Neill's lands should be split three ways and thus the bedrock was laid.

The settlers were mainly Lowland Scots from Ayrshire, Lanark, Wigton and of course the Borders. They were mainly farmers involved in both arable farming and rearing cattle. However the Border families who came with them had a much more colourful background. These borderers were the notorious Reivers; warlike clans who had existed in a society where survival came through strength in combat and bounty obtained in murderous raids on other Reivers.

Although these Reivers were not the mainstay of the settlement their influence was enormous and there is little doubt that those organising and funding the settlement felt the risks of their inclusion were outweighed by the benefits

The arrival of Cromwell in 1649 would see the delivery of a terrible and crushing blow against the native Irish and at least allow the settlers to begin to expand once again. However it would see the emergence of a new era and a new adversary in the form of the throne of England and an attack on their right.

The prominent religion amongst the Scots-Irish in the 17th Century was Prebyterianism. Its teachings were radical by the standards of the day and this placed it firmly outside the teachings of the established (Anglican) church.

Cromwell had barely tolerated them but when Charles II restored the monarchy in 1660 full-scale persecution began.

The Presbyterian faith was outlawed and the practice of their services was reduced to open-air meetings at secret locations.

The situation of the Scots-Irish was further eroded with the accession of James II in 1685 and the gradual restoration to power of Roman-Catholics in Ireland. Protestants were replaced by Roman-Catholics in the judiciary and army as well as many other positions of public office. However help appeared to be at hand as James was deposed by William of Orange (William III) in 1688 and before long war raged in Ireland.

A number of major battles followed between the opposing armies, the most significant of which was fought on the banks of the river Boyne and immortalised ever since in the Orange parades of July.

Within 2 years James's armies would finally be defeated at Limerick. Many had seen the war as a religious one as is still the case today. However the mainly Presbyterian Scots-Irish would soon discover that William IIIs success would be a double edged sword

Persecution and Betrayal

The rallying of Protestants together to defeat the Roman Catholic King James was only to be a temporary union. The Scots-Irish were mainly Presbyterian and few held positions of power and influence whereas power and influence lay in abundance with the minority English, Church of Ireland (Anglican) settlers. With this imbalance the Scots-Irish continued to be the subject of attack by the established (Anglican) church.

A parliamentary act of 1704 effectively made it impossible for Presbyterians to hold public office as this required them to take communion in the Church of Ireland. This was added to the fact that from 1661 meetings of Presbyterians as well as Roman Catholics had been forbidden by the Lord Justices of Ireland.

Despite the persecution the stubbornness and determination of the Scots-Irish was implacable. When meetings were outlawed they resorted to secret open-air services like their Irish Roman Catholic neighbours. This then led to the building of 'meeting houses' as places of worship; a development that would become enshrined within the beliefs of their faith.

The Presbyterian Scots-Irish continued to have their lives and marriages regarded as unholy by the authorities. Of particular note was the fact that where a Presbyterian marriage was fornication a Roman Catholic one was not, even though both were illegal.

This persecution was to lay deep scars in the Scots-Irish. Some would seek a new life in America whereas within others the seeds of a new thinking would begin to grow, one which would call for a separation of the settlement from a Crown and Parliament that had betrayed them.

For an increasing number of Scots-Irish the harshness of life in Ireland in the early 18th century had become too much. The persecution of their faith and then ruthless increases in their rents had brought many of them to breaking point.

In this atmosphere came the hope of a new life in a land of plenty. A land so big that it seemed it could accommodate the beliefs, hopes and aspirations of everyone who went there. Like there forefathers had done before them they began a new exodus, this time, to America.

In the early 18th century the Scots-Irish would increasingly board ships for America from all over Ulster. But before the dream of a new life could be realised many would endure unspeakable hardship in the voyages they undertook and many again would perish.

Long before the huge emigration of Irish peasants in the 1840s and 50s, Scots-Irish crossed the Atlantic in ships totally unsuitable for carrying passengers. Many would die of starvation, cholera, typhoid and even thirst. The voyages would sometimes see entire families wiped out and with them dreams of what might have been. But like some act of nature it was survival of the fittest and those who survived did so with a determination that would form the bed-rock of a new nation.

The Scots-Irish who settled in modern New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts had not left behind their memories of Ulster. They called their new settlements names like Antrim and Belfast. They brought with them their Presbyterian faith and the democratic principles which it practised and soon meeting houses began to spring up throughout their settlements.

These early Scots-Irish settlers were a rugged lot, often fearless and above all determined that they would never again bow down to persecution and oppression. America was to be their promised land and they would form the advance of the pioneers westwards, ever searching for land that was pure and untouched. By the 1750s the Scots-Irish formed a significant part of the white American population and before long they would provide a significant input to its formation as a new nation

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