Sir Thomas Martin Devine (born 30 July 1945) is a
Scottish academic and author, who specializes in the
history of Scotland
The recorded begins with the arrival of the Roman Empire in the 1st century, when the province of Britannia reached as far north as the Antonine Wall. North of this was Caledonia, inhabited by the ''Picti'', whose uprisings forced Rom ...
.
He is known for his overviews of modern Scottish history.
He is an advocate of the
total history
The term ''new history'', from the French term ''nouvelle histoire'', was coined by Jacques Le Goff and Pierre Nora, leaders of the third generation of the ''Annales'' school, in the 1970s. The movement can be associated with cultural history, hi ...
approach to the history of Scotland.
Before his retirement, he was a professor at the
University of Strathclyde
The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...
, the
University of Aberdeen
The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...
and the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
.
Life
Early and personal life
Thomas Martin Devine was born on 30 July 1945 in
Motherwell, Scotland
Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lana ...
.
His family is Scots-Irish from
Irish Catholic
Irish Catholics are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland whose members are both Catholic and Irish. They have a large diaspora, which includes over 36 million American citizens and over 14 million British citizens (a quarter of the British ...
roots.
His four grandparents had migrated from
British-ruled Ireland in 1890.
His father benefited from what savings they accrued from working in the steel and coal industries, and went to university, going on to become a life-long schoolteacher.
Tom Devine himself has five children.
He attended Our Lady's High school in Motherwell, where, he has recounted, he gave up history in his second year because the way that history was taught at the time was "endlessly boring", choosing geography instead.
Before his academic career commenced, Devine has also recounted, he had several vacation jobs as variously a grave-digger, a
Butlins
Butlin's is a chain of large seaside resorts in the United Kingdom. Butlin's was founded by Billy Butlin to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families.
Between 1936 and 1966, ten camps were built, including one in Ireland and o ...
Bluecoat (a clerical role, as opposed to a
Butlins Redcoat
''Redcoat'' is the name given to frontline staff at Butlins holiday camps in the UK. A Redcoat has duties ranging from adult entertainer or children's entertainer to stewarding.
History
The first Redcoat was Norman Bradford. When Sir Billy B ...
) in the Holiday Camp at
Filey
Filey () is a seaside town and civil parish in the Borough of Scarborough in North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the East Riding of Yorkshire, it is located between Scarborough and Bridlington on Filey Bay. Although it was a fishing ...
, and an uncertified
French language
French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...
teacher in schools in Lanarkshire.
Academic career
Devine graduated from the
University of Strathclyde
The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...
in 1968 with
First Class Honours
The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...
in economic and social history.
In 1969, a few months after commencing doctoral research, Devine was hired at the
University of Strathclyde
The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...
, where he was appointed assistant lecturer in history and eventually rose to head of the history department.
In 1981 he and
T. C. Smout were the founding editors of the periodical ''Scottish Economic and Social History'', which was later to become the ''
Journal of Scottish Historical Studies'', Devine editing it until 1984.
He was appointed professor of Scottish history in 1988, and later became dean of the faculty of arts and social sciences, and then deputy principal of the university from 1994 to 1998.
In 1991, Devine was awarded higher degree of
DLitt
Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Doctor ...
(Doctor of Letters) by the university in recognition of the quality of his published research to that date.
In 1998, he moved to the
University of Aberdeen
The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...
and became the founding director of the Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies (RIISS), later the UK Arts and Humanities Research Centre (AHRC) in I&SS.
He was also appointed to the externally-funded Glucksman Professorship of Irish and Scottish Studies.
From 2006 to 2011 Devine was the
Sir William Fraser
Sir William Augustus Fraser, 4th Baronet (10 February 182617 August 1898), of Pilton House, near Barnstaple, Devon, was an English politician, author and collector. He was elected member of parliament for Barnstaple (Devon) in 1852, and again in ...
Professor of Scottish History and Palaeography at the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
, retaining the title as
Emeritus
''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
Professor afterwards.
From 2008 he was also the first director there of the Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies
Devine was listed #16 in 2014 in "Scotland's Power 100: The 100 most powerful people in Scotland" by ''
The Herald'', which described him as "the country's pre-eminent historian.
He was ranked seventh most influential Catholic in Britain by ''
The Tablet
''The Tablet'' is a Catholic international weekly review published in London. Brendan Walsh, previously literary editor and then acting editor, was appointed editor in July 2017.
History
''The Tablet'' was launched in 1840 by a Quaker convert ...
'' in 2015 which described him as "widely seen as the intellectual heavyweight behind Scottish nationalism".
Politics
Devine tried to avoid politics in his writing, stating in a 2010 interview with the ''
Scottish Review of Books
The ''Scottish Review of Books'' is a quarterly literary magazine published in Scotland. It was established in October 2004 with the support of the Scottish Arts Council. In 2009 it became a limited company with a board of directors, Scottish Rev ...
'' that he hoped that people could not tell his politics from his writings, in support of which he observed that the
blogosphere
The blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community (or as a collection of connected communities) or as a social networking service in which everyday authors can pu ...
had had him down as a Scottish Nationalist in the 1990s and yet as an obvious Unionist a decade later.
He noted that he had often told people that "the future is not my period" when asked about current events, a statement that he had initially also made when asked about the
2014 Scottish independence referendum
A referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom was held in Scotland on 18 September 2014. The referendum question was, "Should Scotland be an independent country?", which voters answered with "Yes" or "No". The "No" side w ...
.
He was, however, later to take a public stance on the referendum, voting "Yes" for independence.
He presented a public statement explaining his reasoning for this to reporters in a Glasgow restaurant on 2014-08-15, stating that he had himself never been a member of any political party, although members of his family, grandparents and parents, had supported the Labour Party.
After giving his views on the Scottish Parliament, Scottish history and arts, the economy and education system of Scotland, and Irish Catholic Scots, he explained why he rejected "
devolution max
Full fiscal autonomy (FFA) – also known as devolution max,[McLeish reiterate ...](_blank)
" as "just a sticking plaster" and came to the conclusion that he would be voting "Yes". He is now among Scots who have changed their mind on Independence, and wants a united front to evict the Conservatives from Downing Steet.
He has also spoken out on other political issues, such as objecting to the campaign to remove the statue of
Henry Dundas
Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, PC, FRSE (28 April 1742 – 28 May 1811), styled as Lord Melville from 1802, was the trusted lieutenant of British Prime Minister William Pitt and the most powerful politician in Scotland in the late 18t ...
(the
Melville Monument
The Melville Monument is a large column in St Andrew Square, Edinburgh, Scotland, constructed between 1821 and 1827 as a memorial to Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville.
Dundas was a dominant figure in Scottish and British politics during much ...
) from
St Andrew Square, Edinburgh
St Andrew Square is a garden square in Edinburgh, Scotland located at the east end of George Street. The gardens, part of the collection of New Town Gardens, are owned by a number of private owners, managed by Essential Edinburgh and opened t ...
, stating that it was based upon bad history, a simplistic view that gave Dundas sole responsibility for something where larger forces were in fact at play, an argument that brought him into conflict with
Geoff Palmer.
Another issue on which he has publicly commented was the removal of
David Hume
David Hume (; born David Home; 7 May 1711 NS (26 April 1711 OS) – 25 August 1776) Cranston, Maurice, and Thomas Edmund Jessop. 2020 999br>David Hume" ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 18 May 2020. was a Scottish Enlightenment philo ...
's name from a tower in
George Square, Edinburgh
George Square ( gd, Ceàrnag Sheòrais) is a city square in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is in the south of the city centre, adjacent to the Meadows. It was laid out in 1766 outside the overcrowded Old Town, and was a popular residential area for E ...
.
He has expressed the opinion that "
rgetting statues is a largely meaningless gesture" that "does little to address the very real and ongoing issue of racial prejudice".
Addressing a petition in 2020 to remove the names of the
Tobacco Lords
The Tobacco Lords were a group of Scottish merchants and slave traders who in the 18th century made enormous fortunes by trading in tobacco. Many became so wealthy that they adopted the lifestyle of aristocrats, lavishing vast sums on great hous ...
from streets in Glasgow, he stated that they should be retained "as a reminder of
urpast, warts and all" and that "Scotland and slavery should be embedded firmly in the school curriculum".
Works
Devine is a leading proponent of Scottish-Irish historical studies, and has authored five monographs and edited over a dozen collections.
He is a proponent of "total" history, which seeks to incorporate all aspects of history, from economic through social to cultural.
He has written on a wide range of subjects in 18th and 19th century Scottish history, from the colonial trade through agriculture to migration, with works dealing with both Highland and Lowland Scotland.
Early: ''The Tobacco Lords''
Devine's 1975 book ''The Tobacco Lords'' about the
Tobacco Lords
The Tobacco Lords were a group of Scottish merchants and slave traders who in the 18th century made enormous fortunes by trading in tobacco. Many became so wealthy that they adopted the lifestyle of aristocrats, lavishing vast sums on great hous ...
originated in work that he had done for his doctoral thesis on the period after 1775.
It followed in the footsteps of
Jacob Myron Price and dealt with the "golden age" of the tobacco merchants of Glasgow, dealing with who the merchants were, their trading methods, what they did with their profits, and how the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
affected them.
Divided into four parts, the book addresses the investment of profits in part 1, trading methods in part 2, the period after the American Revolution in part 3, and the period after 1783 in part 4; and is structured as a set of questions and answers around specific points.
In it, Devine propounded the traditional view about how a consumer goods industry in Glasgow arose in part in order to exchange for tobacco from Virginia and Maryland, and has detailed accounts of merchants like
William Cunninghame
William Cunninghame of Lainshaw (1731–1799) was a leading Tobacco Lord who headed one of the major Glasgow syndicates that came to dominate the transatlantic tobacco trade. and Company.
James H. Soltow of
Michigan State University
Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...
observed that Devine's account contained "few surprises".
Professor of history
Joseph Clarke Robert of the
University of Richmond
The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: the School ...
called it "an excellent book", providing just the one quibble that the map facing page 12 had
Jamestown on south of the
James River rather than in its correct position to the north.
Jacob M. Price of the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
(and author of ''France and the Chesapeake'') observed "a fair number of petty errors" in American geography (
Fredericksburg and
Falmouth being incorrectly located on the
Potomac River
The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augus ...
and a non-existent "Berkshire County" in
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
).
Devine had only addressed America incidentally, focussing upon Scotland.
Price also observed some confusion resulting from the same words meaning different things in English and Scottish business terminology.
T. C. Smout called it "a useful and thought-provoking volume" that "does not entirely satisfy" because it left unanswered questions about what happened to the tobacco trade and did not go into enough detail on an (in Smout's words) "important conclusion" that the American Revolution in fact did not fundamentally alter the tobacco trade, and that merchants in Glasgow largely picked up where they had left off after the war had finished.
Devine had pointed out that the diversification into sugar processing, leather tanning, boot and shoe manufacturing, and the iron, glass and coal industries, extension to Caribbean and European markets, and involvement in banking and land investments all preceded the American Revolution, rather than followed it.
William J. Hausman of the
University of North Carolina
The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...
agreed with Smout that in a "generally of high quality" book it was "disappointing and annoying" that although Devine had documented the pre-war investment pattern well, explanation of exactly how the Glasgow merchants reestablished their businesses remained "vague", Price concurring on the last point.
Devine was, in later life, to acknowledge the omission of the context of its entanglement with overseas slave-based economies as a blind spot in his early work on the Tobacco Lords.
1980s: ''The Great Highland Famine''
His 1988 ''The Great Highland Famine'' is an analysis of the impact of the late 1840s failure of the potato upon the Western Highlands of Scotland.
It covers a longer period than its title might suggest, dealing with the 1840s and 1850s.
Based upon in-depth research using a wide range of historical records from the government, charitable institutions, censuses, local parishes, and the great estates of the period, it both in places reinforced earlier conclusions that had been made upon less evidence and elsewhere refuted some (at the time) accepted ideas.
Devine divided the Highlands into east and west, and his conclusion about the western Highlands exemplified this.
His conclusion that the western Highlands were at risk was not a novel one, but his further conclusion that there was no real famine mortality was characterized by L. M. Cullen of
Trinity College Dublin
, name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin
, motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin)
, motto_lang = la
, motto_English = It will last i ...
as "quite surprising".
One of its revisions to (then) accepted ideas was to ascribe the population fall after the famine not to altered sex ratios, simply the fact that young men emigrated, but rather to a deliberate inhibition by Scottish estates on family formation without adequate land, in (in T. C. Smout's words) "an openly
Malthusian way".
Another point discussed in the book was the hidden involvement of
Charles Trevelyan in various nominally private sector charitable famine relief projects.
David Dickson of Trinity College Dublin observed that this "remarkably comprehensive account" was possible because of the small size of the
Scottish famine in comparison to the
Irish one, with under 290,000 people in the Highlands of Scotland in 1841, which Ireland equalled with just the population of
County Clare
County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,817 ...
alone.
Dickinson observed that to an Irish reader Devine, whilst not setting out to explicitly compare the two famines but having "made notable efforts to have an Irish angle", had provided "a fascinating combination of the familiar and the alien" showing both parallels and differences, although that Devine had not explored such differentiating factors as
population density
Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...
; and that Devine had indicated several ways in which future differential analyses of the Irish famine could be made, to note whether factors present in Devine's analysis of the Scottish famine could explain unevenness in the Irish one, that led to milder impacts in some counties such as
County Donegal
County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...
(an observation with which Cullen concurred).
1990s: Edited collections at Strathclyde and ''Clanship to Crofters' War''
The 1989 ''Improvement and Enlightenment'', the 1990 ''Conflict and Stability in Scottish Society'', the 1992 ''Scottish Emigration and Scottish Society'', and the 1994 ''Scottish Elites'' are the proceedings of 1987, 1988, 1990, and 1991 seminars (respectively) at the University of Strathclyde, all edited by Devine.
The first has a paper by Devine discussing changing landholdings in the 19th century in Higland Scotland, with an appendix of data.
The second has a paper by Devine presenting Lowland Scotland as a society regulated by the landowning class with emigration as a release valve for the discontented, preventing civil unrest and violence.
The third includes an introduction by Devine, discussing the paradoxical nature of Scottish emigration, why skilled urban residents emigrated despite the growing domestic demand for skilled labour during Scotland's industrialization, and a paper by Devine highlighting the roles of landlords in the Highland emigrations since 1760 and of the 1840s and 1850s in particular.
The fourth has a paper by Devine challenging the (then) accepted history of "lowland clearances".
The 1995 ''Glasgow, Volume I: Beginnings to 1830'' is the first volume in what was a projected 3-volume work on the city, by primarily the staff of the University of Strathclyde and co-edited by Devine, who contributed the chapter on the tobacco trade and provided introduction and conclusion.
His 1995 ''Clanship to Crofters' War'' is a digest of his work to date on the Highlands updated by drawing on (then) recent work by Allan Macinness of the University of Aberdeen, Ewen Cameron, and others.
Alaistair J. Durie of the
University of Glasgow
, image = UofG Coat of Arms.png
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of arms
Flag
, latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis
, motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita
, ...
called it a "deeply informed and authoritative" survey of the history of the Highlands.
Comprising 16 chapters in total, chronicling the economic and social history of the Highlands until the beginnings of the
Crofters' War, it is a historical synthesis rather than a research-based text and is not footnoted as academic monographs are, containing just a few notes and a selection of further reading per chapter, and containing maps, contemporary photographs, and drawings.
Historian Andrew MacKillop characterized this style as "consciously user-friendly" and called the work overall "an effective and cogent synthesis".
The book's key themes are the character, conduct, and changing composition of the landowning elite of the Highlands, including such things as the forced sale of clan lands held for centuries as a result of economic collapse following the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
, which Durie noted to be "particularly strong" when it comes to analysis of who came to buy the land and why.
MacKillop observed that Devine's synthesis of work to date served to highlight a deficiency in historical research into the economic transformation of the region, well studied in the North-West but understudied in the South-East.
The pivotal chapter, for Durie, was the one where Devine explained the late 18th century to early 19th century transformation of the Highlands from (in Durie's words) a "barren wilderness inhabited only by savages to a romantic landscape", in a process that Devine named "The Making of Highlandism".
MacKillop considered that while it dealt with Highlandism as a reaction of Lowland Scotland to cultural pressures from England, it could have dealt more with the role of the elite of the Highlands, and their deliberate adoption of distinctive Highland symbols in order to compete for patronage in the military against the gentry of other parts of the Kingdom.
Other chapters deal with the impacts of immigration, emigration, and Protestant evangelicalism, the decline of the
Gaelic language
The Goidelic or Gaelic languages ( ga, teangacha Gaelacha; gd, cànanan Goidhealach; gv, çhengaghyn Gaelgagh) form one of the two groups of Insular Celtic languages, the other being the Brittonic languages.
Goidelic languages historically ...
, and with the experiences of urbanised Gaels.
''Scottish Nation''
In the view of
Richard J. Finlay
Professor Richard J. Finlay FRHistS is the current Head of the School of Humanities at the University of Strathclyde
The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. ...
, Devine's (1999) ''Scottish Nation 1700–2000'', whose publication coincided with the opening of the
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyro ...
, is "the most comprehensive account of modern Scottish history".
Brian Bonnyman, Honorary Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, called it "unsurpassed as a history of modern Scotland".
William Walker Knox, history professor at the
University of St Andrews
(Aien aristeuein)
, motto_lang = grc
, mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best
, established =
, type = Public research university
Ancient university
, endowment ...
, observed that a generalist approach in such a book "lays Devine open to attacks from specialists, who will no doubt find fault with his treatment of a particular event, period, or personality", and described the book as "surpass
ngin knowledge and scope" M. Lynch's 1991 ''Scotland: A New History'' and T.C. Smout's 1986 ''A Century of the Scottish People, 1830–1950'' and would be "the standard work on modern Scotland for the general reader and the undergraduate for some time ahead".
The book launch, held in the
New Museum of Scotland included a telegram of congratulations from
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...
, an introduction by
Donald Dewar
Donald Campbell Dewar (21 August 1937 – 11 October 2000) was a Scottish politician who served as the inaugural First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland from 1999 until his death in 2000. He previously served as ...
, and the attendance of most of Scotland's senior politicians.
Finlay described the book as "the first major work that is unselfconsciously Scottish" about its subject, and also observed that it had the fortunate timing of being able to view the past from a post-
Scottish Devolution
Devolution is the process in which the central British parliament grants administrative powers (excluding principally reserved matters) to the devolved Scottish Parliament. Prior to the advent of devolution, some had argued for a Scottish ...
viewpoint, a view not available to earlier historians such as
Michael Lynch.
He attributed the book's success to a "new mood of
cottishcultural confidence" and serendipitous timing.
Roger L. Emerson of the
University of Western Ontario
The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...
observed that Devine had "succeeded remarkably well" in his announced (in the book) purpose of "present
nga coherent account of the last 300 years of Scotland's past with the hope of developing a better understanding of the present" and incorporating the work of the most recent generation of Scottish historians.
Being built on the work of Devine himself and others such as Smout and Michael Flynn, in conference papers and in articles in the aforementioned ''Scottish Economic and Social History'', Emerson observed that the book "could not possibly have been written thirty years ago or even ten years ago".
Like ''The Great Highland Famine'', the book is not footnoted in academic style, cites only books and not journal articles in its bibliography, and in Emerson's view was "clearly not designed as a textbook", since students will be unable to easily connect its various theses and data to their sources.
It has five maps, which Emerson criticized for being "rather inadequate since the topography is only roughly indicated".
Finlay observed that as Scotland is a small nation, the "total" history approach is feasible for a work like ''Scottish Nation''.
The book furthermore approaches the problem of entanglement of Scottish history with British history by simply ignoring Britain, England, and the British Empire except where they are relevant to Scotland, which Finlay characterized as the same "standard historical technique of British history" when written from "an English metropolitan perspective".
Emerson commented that in order to find political history of
Acts of the United Kingdom Parliament concerning Scotland one would still benefit from consulting
William Ferguson William Ferguson may refer to:
Arts
* William Ferguson (tenor), operatic tenor, see '' The Tempest''
* William Gouw Ferguson, Scottish painter of still life
* Will Ferguson (born 1964), Canadian writer
Sportspeople
* Bill Ferguson (American foo ...
's ''Scotland 1689 to the Present'' in addition to Devine's book.
Drawing upon his own extensive research, something that not many other authors of histories for the popular market were able to do, in the book Devine presented Scottish history of the late 18th and 19th centuries as far more revolutionary in nature than the history of England in the same period — in fact faster, in its speed of urbanization, than anywhere else in Europe.
He painted a picture of Scotland as well positioned, from roots in its mercantile and military practices from the 15th century, to take advantage, with the formation of the
Kingdom of Great Britain
The Kingdom of Great Britain (officially Great Britain) was a Sovereign state, sovereign country in Western Europe from 1 May 1707 to the end of 31 December 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of ...
, of what was then the largest free trade zone in all of Europe, and the
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
that was to follow.
The book also incorporated areas of Scottish historiography that had theretofore been under-represented or neglected; including a chapter on "Scottish Women: Family, Work, and Politics", discussion of the "silent revolution" of the rural Lowlands, a chapter on the "New Scots" who immigrated from Ireland, Lithuania, Italy, and other countries including ethnic Jewish and Asian groups, and a chapter on "Emigrants" dealing with Scotland's high emigration rates during the period.
Devine soundly rejected the thesis that there had been a "crisis in Scottish nationhood" in the second half of the 19th century, as the result of assimilation, Anglicization, and cultural collapse.
Instead he argued that the lack of a strong political nationalist movement did not prevent "a strong and coherent sense of identity to exist within the
ion and provide a solid foundation for cultural achievement".
Bonnyman observed that this is, however, a seeming contradiction with his chapter on "Highlandism and Scottish Identity", which posits the very sense of cultural disintegration and loss of identity — Scottish society "searching for an identity amid unprecedented economic and social change and under threat of cultural conquest by a much more powerful neighbour" — that he had dismissed in an earlier chapter.
Devine's treatment of cultural history, as opposed to economic history, tended towards a simpler synopsis of established work on the subject.
Emerson observed that it was somewhat lacking in both political and intellectual history, with little on the
Glasgow Boys
The Glasgow School was a circle of influential artists and designers that began to coalesce in Glasgow, Scotland in the 1870s, and flourished from the 1890s to around 1910. Representative groups included The Four (also known as the Spook School ...
,
Hugh MacDiarmid
Christopher Murray Grieve (11 August 1892 – 9 September 1978), best known by his pen name Hugh MacDiarmid (), was a Scottish poet, journalist, essayist and political figure. He is considered one of the principal forces behind the Scottish Rena ...
and contemporaries, and
Charles Rennie Mackintosh
Charles Rennie Mackintosh (7 June 1868 – 10 December 1928) was a Scottish architect, designer, water colourist and artist. His artistic approach had much in common with European Symbolism. His work, alongside that of his wife Margaret Macdo ...
and associates.
Knox observed that cultural history was weaker in the book, with
youth culture Youth culture refers to the societal norms of children, adolescents, and young adults. Specifically, it comprises the processes and symbolic systems that are shared by the youth and are distinct from those of adults in the community.
An emphasis ...
seemingly ended with
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
, women's political activity becoming (in Knox's words) "no more than a footnote in a political narrative dominated by male concerns and interests" following the
Glasgow Women's Housing Association and the
rent strike
A rent strike is a method of protest commonly employed against large landlords. In a rent strike, a group of tenants come together and agree to refuse to pay their rent ''en masse'' until a specific list of demands is met by the landlord. This ca ...
s of 1915, and Asian immigrants referred to as "coloured".
Knox ascribed this in part to a more general weakness in the book's coverage of the period after
World War Two
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, which he suggested was not necessarily solely because of Devine's focus on the period from the late 18th century to the advent of
World War One
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the core of the book, but also simply because of there being less historical scholarship to work from for that period.
The book's chapter on education passes over such things as debates over the curriculum and privatisation in the 1980s and 1990s, tailing off with things like the introduction of comprehensive schools in the 1960s; and its chapter on religion does not address things like the decline in church attendance from the 1960s onwards.
Furthermore, whilst the cultural topics of education, immigration, religion, and women get their own chapters, other topics such as leisure and work do not.
In Knox's view the chapter on women is incomplete, solely addressing the beginnings of the women's movements as
suffrage
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in representative democracy, public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally i ...
issues and ignoring their origins in
temperance movement
The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emph ...
s and anti-slavery campaigns, not addressing late 20th century campaigns for greater numbers of women politicians, not addressing unionization and the "family wage", and not addressing darker aspects of female cultural history such as
wife beating, for which Knox observed "extensive documentation exists", and the sometimes dark, drunken, and violent cultural landscapes of female life presented by things such William M. Walker's ''Juteopolis''.
Knox also pointed out that Devine's historical narrative of a long term trend in
Scottish nationalism
Scottish nationalism promotes the idea that the Scottish people form a cohesive nation and national identity.
Scottish nationalism began to shape from 1853 with the National Association for the Vindication of Scottish Rights, progressing into t ...
ignored the complexities of the
Scottish Labour Party
Scottish Labour ( gd, Pàrtaidh Làbarach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Labour Pairty; officially the Scottish Labour Party) is a social democratic political party in Scotland. It is an autonomous section of the UK Labour Party. From their peak o ...
with its internal problems after the end of World War Two.
He ameliorated these criticisms by suggesting that a "more analytical, rigorous, and thematic survey of Scottish history that the historical profession" — as opposed to a popular readership — "might prefer is now beyond the capacity of a single author, however gifted".
A revised edition in 2006 added three more chapters on post-Devolution topics, including politics.
21st century: Unplanned ''Trilogy'' and ''The Scottish Clearances''
In 2012, Devine's publisher
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.[Niall Ferguson
Niall Campbell Ferguson FRSE (; born 18 April 1964)][Biography]
Niall Ferguson 's 2003 ''Empire: How Britain Changed the World''.
It occasioned a public spat between Devine and Fry, each negatively reviewing the other's book in the press.
At 476 pages, 100 pages of which are footnotes and bibliography, it covers some of the same grounds as earlier works, including the chapter 4 "Trade and Profit" (first appearing in the aforementioned ''Glasgow'' and covering the same ground as ''The Tobacco Lords'') and chapter 6 covering the marketization of the Highland economy in much the same way as Devine covered it in ''Scottish Nation''.
The book is not as much about the influence of the Scots over the British Empire, as it is about the influence of the British Empire on Scotland, and draws occasional parallels between the north-west Highlands of the 19th century and the history of the West of Ireland.
Christopher Harvie
Professor Christopher Harvie (born 21 September 1944, Motherwell) is a Scottish historian and a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. He was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Mid Scotland and Fife from 2007 to 2011. Before his e ...
noted that its coverage of "Colonizing India" fails to mention the reforms of
Cornwallis in India
British General Charles Cornwallis, the Earl Cornwallis, was appointed in February 1786 to serve as both Commander-in-Chief of British India and Governor of the Presidency of Fort William, also known as the Bengal Presidency. He oversaw the c ...
.
''To The Ends of the Earth: Scotland's Global Disapora'' (2011) was aimed at the popular history market, in thirteen chapters with accompanying pictures and photographs.
The book deals with Scottish trade with all parts of the planet, from the Hong Kong firm of Jardine, Matheson, and Company through markets in Latin and South America to the United States and the Middle East.
The book is structured such that each chapter is in the form of setting up an initial question about a particular aspect of the Diaspora, which is then answered with an overview of the (then) current state of historical research in the area.
In the opinion of Geoffrey Plank of the
University of East Anglia
The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...
the most contentious chapter of the book discussed the relationship between slavery and the
industrial revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
in Scotland, asserting that overseas connections formed in the era of slavery were an important factor in Scottish trade for long after slavery itself was abolished, and pointing out the intangible costs of Scotland's economic development.
Kyle Hughes of the
University of Ulster
sco, Ulstèr Universitie
, image = Ulster University coat of arms.png
, caption =
, motto_lang =
, mottoeng =
, latin_name = Universitas Ulidiae
, established = 1865 – Magee College 1953 - Magee Un ...
called it "the book's most thought-provoking chapter" for pointing out that whilst the actual slave trade itself was higher in English ports like Liverpool and Bristol than it was in Scottish ports, the economy of Scotland, in its textile industry and otherwise, was more clearly and directly fuelled by the products of the slave-based economies overseas.
Plank characterized the book as a collection of freestanding essays more than a continuous narrative, and that several themes explored in early chapters were not continued in later ones.
Plank gave the example of slavery and racism, discussed early in the book, and then entirely omitted from a later chapter that deals with Scottish influences on the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
despite how Scottish symbols of clanship and burning crosses were warped into (in Plank's words) "a thoroughly racist" subculture.
Devine discussed some of the influences of
Ulster Scots on the South of the United States, including how the obsessions of Scottish descendants in other countries with the likes of tartans, clans, and other Scottish symbols can seem "risible" or "offensive" to people in Scotland.
Overall, Plank considered the book to be insufficient, as the subjects like Scottish participation in wars against the native peoples of Australia and North America, the fur trade, and the
métis
The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...
are complex moral issues where people and processes are not absolutely good nor bad.
Hughes pointed out that it omitted the "near disapora" of the approximately 670,000 Scots who simply migrated to other parts of the Kingdom between 1841 and 1921.
Angela McCarthy
Angela Hannah McCarthy is a New Zealand history academic, and as of 2018 is a full professor at the University of Otago.
Academic career
After a PhD titled '' ' 'Seas may divide' : Irish migration to New Zealand as portrayed in personal corre ...
considered the account unbalanced, with its concentration on some of the ruthless actions of people in the Scottish Diaspora in need of a counterpoint with the more positive aspects, and covering recent studies of the Diaspora in New Zealand.
She praised it for giving more than a mere nod to the relationship between the Diaspora and people in Scotland as many other such histories do, and for its exposition of the several qualitative differences between the migrations of Scots and Catholic Irish.
''The Scottish Clearances: A History of the Dispossessed 1600-1900'' (2018), as the use of the word "Scottish" in its title was intended to indicate, addresses not only the
Highland Clearances
The Highland Clearances ( gd, Fuadaichean nan Gàidheal , the "eviction of the Gaels") were the evictions of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, mostly in two phases from 1750 to 1860.
The first phase resulte ...
, well known in Scottish history from the middle 20th century onwards because of the works of
John Prebble
John Edward Curtis Prebble, FRSL, OBE, (23 June 1915 – 30 January 2001) was an English journalist, novelist, and screenwriter. He is known for his studies of Scottish history.
Early life
He was born in Edmonton, Middlesex, England, but in 1921 ...
but also (in the view of academic historians) somewhat distorted by the same, but also the less well known (outside of academic circles, before the publication of Devine's book)
Lowland Clearances
The Lowland Clearances were one of the results of the Scottish Agricultural Revolution, which changed the traditional system of agriculture which had existed in Lowland Scotland in the seventeenth century. Thousands of cottars and tenant farmers ...
.
Devine had already visited the subject in his 2006 ''Clearance and Improvement: Land, Power and People in Scotland 1700–1900'', but in the opinion of
Brian Morton that "excellent and thoughtful" book in light of Devine's later book "now looks like a preliminary skirmish", with Devine having pushed back the start of the account by a full century.
Devine dedicated the book to Malcolm Gray, author of ''The Highland Economy 1750–1850''.
He structured it into three parts, the first an introduction (in which Devine emphasises that pre-Clearance rural Scotland was not a romanticized primitive static culture), the second part examining the Lowland Clearances, and the third part addressing the Highland ones.
Ewen A. Cameron, Devine's successor as the Sir William Fraser Professor of Scottish History and Palaeography, described Devine has having "la
dout this history with admirable lucidity" in "a comprehensive account".
In both Morton's and Cameron's views, Devine introduced one (in Cameron's words) "very important point" that Prebble lacked, an account of the people who were dispossessed, and their resistance to the clearances.
Devine's book also challenged the theretofore established popular view that the sole cause of the Clearances was landlordism, ascribing it instead to many causes: the majority of Scottish emigrants to the Americas being from the Lowlands rather than from the Highlands, who emigrated in search of better prospects than they had in Scotland; bankruptcies of land-owners and a new more absentee land-owning class that lived beyond their means; a rising population in areas of subsistence agriculture; decreases in available arable land thanks to increased sheep farming; insufficient responses to the potato famine; increased enforcement by authorities on the untaxed distillation of whisky; racist ideas about Celts and Gaels; and victim-blaming by the Church of Scotland telling people that their present circumstances in life were punishment for their own sins.
In the book Devine also pointed out that landlords were not wholly callous and wicked with no redeeming features, as they had been painted, with some worried about their duties as feudal chiefs, others generous in both investing in job creation and funding relief efforts, and even the infamous
Countess of Sutherland creating a new village on the coast for her tenants.
To reviewer Alan Taylor of the ''
Scottish Review of Books
The ''Scottish Review of Books'' is a quarterly literary magazine published in Scotland. It was established in October 2004 with the support of the Scottish Arts Council. In 2009 it became a limited company with a board of directors, Scottish Rev ...
'', Devine had told a story where the
industrial revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
had been "infinitely more effective in clearing land than ever the likes of
Patrick Sellar
Patrick Sellar (1780–1851) was a Scottish lawyer, factor and sheep farmer.
In 1811, he was employed as factor by the Sutherland Estate in a joint (but subordinate) position with William Young. The estate had started some clearances, integral t ...
managed".
In answering his own question in the closing chapter of the book, Devine ascribed the more widespread identification of loss of land in Scotland with only the Highland Clearances to the fact that they, in contrast to the Lowland ones, took place in an age of steam railways, the telegraph, and 19th century Christian movements for drawing attention to the plight of the poor.
Other works
* ''Scotland and Ireland, 1600 to 1850'' (joint editor and contributor, John Donald, 1983)
* ''The Transformation of Rural Scotland: Social Change and the Agrarian Economy, 1660–1815'' (Edinburgh University Press, 1994, reprinted 1998)
* ''Exploring the Scottish Past'' (John Donald, 1995)
* ''Independence or Union: Scotland's Past and Scotland's Present'' (Allen Lane, The Penguin Press, 2016)
* ''Tea and Empire: James Taylor in Victorian Ceylon'' (joint author, Manchester University Press, 2017)
Awards and honours
Devine was awarded the Senior Hume Brown Prize for the Best First Book in Scottish history (1976); the
Saltire Society
The Saltire Society is a membership organisation which aims to promote the understanding of the culture and heritage of Scotland. Founded in 1936, the society was "set up to promote and celebrate the uniqueness of Scottish culture and Scotland’s ...
Prize for Best Book on Scottish History (1988-1991); and the Royal Society of Edinburgh Henry Duncan Prize and Lectureship in Scottish Studies (1993).
He was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh
The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...
(RSE) in 1992,
of the
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences.
It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...
in 1994,
an Honorary Member of the
Royal Irish Academy
The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ga, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned socie ...
in 2001, and to the
Academy of Europe
The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences.
The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europea ...
in 2021.
He is also a Fellow of the
Royal Historical Society
The Royal Historical Society, founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history.
Origins
The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the Histori ...
,
Devine was awarded the RSE's Royal Medal in 2001, the RSE's inaugural Sir Walter Scott Prize in 2012, the American-Scottish Foundation's Wallace Award in 2016, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the UK
all-party parliamentary group
An all-party parliamentary group (APPG) is a grouping in the Parliament of the United Kingdom that is composed of members of parliament from all political parties, but have no official status within Parliament.
Description and functions
All-party ...
on Archives and History of the House of Commons and House of Lords in July 2018, and Honorary Membership of
Scottish PEN in 2020.
He was made an
Officer of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(OBE) in the
2005 New Year Honours
New Year Honours were granted in the United Kingdom and New Zealand at the start of 2005. Among these in the UK were knighthoods awarded to Mike Tomlinson, the educationalist; Derek Wanless, who led a review of the National Health Service; and ...
for services to Scottish history, and was
knighted
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...
in the
2014 Birthday Honours
The 2014 Birthday Honours were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part of ...
for "services to the study of Scottish history".
Notes
References
Cross-reference
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Devine, Tom
1945 births
Living people
20th-century Scottish historians
21st-century Scottish historians
Academics of the University of Edinburgh
Academics of the University of Strathclyde
Alumni of the University of Strathclyde
Fellows of the British Academy
Fellows of the Royal Historical Society
Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Knights Bachelor
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
People from Motherwell
Scottish nationalists
Scottish people of Irish descent