Duncan Forbes of Culloden by Jeremiah Davison

The malt tax riots were a wave of protest against the extension of the English

malt tax A malt tax is a tax upon the making or sale of Malted grain, which has been prepared using a process of steeping and drying to encourage germination and the conversion of its starch into sugars. Used in the production of beer and whisky for centuri ...

to Scotland. The riots began in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

on 23 June 1725 and soon spread throughout the country. The fiercest protests, the Shawfield riots, were in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, but significant disturbances occurred in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

Ayr Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire council area and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With a population ...

, Elgin and Paisley. The

Lord Advocate , body = , insignia = Crest of the Kingdom of Scotland.svg , insigniasize = 110px , image = File:Official Portrait of Dorothy Bain QC.png , incumbent = Dorothy Bain KC , incumbentsince = 22 June 2021 , appointer = Monarch on the advice ...

, Robert Dundas, an opponent of the imposition of the malt tax on Scotland, published an anti-malt tax pamphlet and was sacked.

General Wade Field Marshal George Wade (1673 – 14 March 1748) was a British Army officer who served in the Nine Years' War, War of the Spanish Succession, Jacobite rising of 1715 and War of the Quadruple Alliance before leading the construction of barra ...

was appointed to quell the protests and several rioters were killed or

transported ''Transported'' is an Australian convict melodrama film directed by W. J. Lincoln. It is considered a lost film. Plot In England, Jessie Grey is about to marry Leonard Lincoln but the evil Harold Hawk tries to force her to marry him and she w ...

. However, the British government was forced to make concessions, and the riots led to the establishment of the

Board of Trustees for Manufacturers and Fisheries During the Scottish Enlightenment, Enlightenment and the industrial revolution, Scottish industrial policy was made by the Board of Trustees for Fisheries, Manufactures and Improvements in Scotland, which sought to build an economy complementary, ...

in 1727.

Background

A duty on

malt Malt is germinated cereal grain that has been dried in a process known as " malting". The grain is made to germinate by soaking in water and is then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air. Malted grain is used to make beer, wh ...

had been imposed in England to pay for a war against France. At the

union with Scotland The Acts of Union ( gd, Achd an Aonaidh) were two Acts of Parliament: the Union with Scotland Act 1706 passed by the Parliament of England, and the Union with England Act 1707 passed by the Parliament of Scotland. They put into effect the te ...

in 1707, most taxes were made uniform, but under the

Treaty of Union The Treaty of Union is the name usually now given to the treaty which led to the creation of the new state of Great Britain, stating that the Kingdom of England (which already included Wales) and the Kingdom of Scotland were to be "United i ...

Scotland was given a temporary exemption from the malt tax, until the end of the war. An extension of the Malt Tax to Scotland was proposed in 1713 but abandoned in the face of opposition. By the 1720s the British Government was attempting to reform the

Scottish taxation system Taxation in Scotland today involves payments that are required to be made to three different levels of government: to the UK government, to the Scottish Government and to local government. Currently 32.4% of taxation collected in Scotland is in th ...

. This climate of political turmoil promoted

George Drummond George Drummond (1688–1766) was accountant-general of excise in Scotland and a local politician, elected Lord Provost of Edinburgh a number of times between 1725 and 1764. Life Drummond was born at Newton Castle in Blairgowrie, Perthshire ...

by 1723. In 1725, the House of Commons applied a new malt tax which applied throughout Great Britain, but charged at only half the rate in Scotland. Scots were unused to this tax, which increased the price of beer. Enraged citizens in Glasgow drove out the military and destroyed the home of Daniel Campbell, their representative in parliament, who had voted for the tax. In Edinburgh, brewers went on strike, illegally.

Andrew Millar Andrew Millar (17058 June 1768) was a British publisher in the eighteenth century. Biography In 1725, as a twenty-year-old bookseller apprentice, he evaded Edinburgh city printing restrictions by going to Leith to print, which was considered be ...

, then a book trade apprentice, helped overthrow attempts by Edinburgh magistrates to control dissemination of opinion during the unrest by printing opposition material in

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by '' Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

, outside the council of Edinburgh's jurisdiction. The pamphlet to which Millar refers in the letter to

Robert Wodrow Robert Wodrow (167921 March 1734) was a Scottish minister and historian, known as a chronicler and defender of the Covenanters. Robert Wodrow was born at Glasgow, where his father, James Wodrow, was a professor of divinity. Robert was educate ...

dated 10 August 1725, and his actions detailed in the letter dated 15 July, emphasized contemporary doubts and challenges to the strike's "illegality".

References

{{Eighteenth-century Scotland Riots and civil disorder in Scotland 1725 in Scotland 1725 in politics 1725 crimes History of Glasgow History of Edinburgh History of Dundee Stirling (city) Ayr Hamilton, South Lanarkshire England–Scotland relations Taxation in Scotland

Background

See also

References