Humza Yousaf makes same error as Prof Devine in blaming ordinary Scots for imperial crimes

Professor John Robertson OBA

This is just wrong. Elites in Scotland and in India played a leading role in the British Empire. 99% of the population in both places were starved, worked into the ground and used as cannon-fodder. ‘Scotland’ did not play any role, people did.

I’ve been here before with otherwise highly intelligent public figures apparently ignorant of the reality of life for the majority (99%) indigenous population in the European empires and the actions of elites (1%) in their colonies.

Anyhow, Sarwar’s support for Pakistan’s independence, considered hypocritical by many including me, was dismissed by Prof Tom Devine as ‘no comparison‘ because Scotland was not ‘subjected to imperial authority‘ and because ‘Scots‘ (sic) took part in the Empire with ‘relish and enthusiastic commitment.‘

He’s wrong. Like even the best of historians, he seems to have forgotten that ‘Scots‘ embraces a far wider spectrum than those few thousands from some Scottish elite groups who did, as he puts it, take part enthusiastically. The millions who remained in Scotland, along with thousands of ordinary soldiers who died in India were the tragic victims of an Empire which had been growing across the British Isles for centuries before their subjection to it – England. It was always called ‘England.’ Ask any Pakistani today and they’ll call it that too.

Surely no credible academic could consider the Union with England anything other than a hostile takeover resulting in monumental suffering, poverty, ill-health, clearance, death in war and mass emigration, for all but a few.

Doesn’t this map of British forts in Scotland in 1746 speak, with articulation, of imperial authority?

British Army Garrisons in Scotland circa 1755, ten years post Culloden

Were there this many British forts, per square mile, in 18th Century India?

Finally, didn’t many of India/Pakistan’s elites take part in the Empire with ‘relish and enthusiastic commitment?’

15 thoughts on “Humza Yousaf makes same error as Prof Devine in blaming ordinary Scots for imperial crimes”

  2. You are absolutely right the majority of Scottish people involved in the colonial activities in India Pakistan and elsewhere were the poor , trying to get a job , taking jobs dangerous jobs on ships in the army being sent off to far off lands by the english empirical leaders lets be absolutely clear here colonisation was and still is an english trait , Scots travelled far and wide and generally assimilated remembering the poor life suffered back in Scotland many returned to offer some charitable help but that didnt last their children moved on and assimilated in their country of birth .English people still have this tendency to set up little englands everywhere they go .Colonial behaviour is english controlled by england favouring england much much more than Scotland or Wales or Ireland.

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    1. Prof Tom Devine was born in Motherwell of Irish roots. Like almost all academics he tends to support the ‘given’ position, which regarding the Empire is that all Scots ‘enthusiastically’ took part and benefited. Of course, this is false. 99% of Scots neither took part nor benefited. I suspect the good professor knows it in his heart of hearts, but his reputation as an academic amongst other academics depends upon not admitting it.

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  6. Slavery was made illegal in Scotland in 1778, though there were certainly slaves in Scotland they were mostly though not exclusively owned by the well to do, probably deemed as a status symbol as well as an asset. Let’s not forget that Scots were themselves sold as slaves to the colonies and later during the clearances the passage to the colonies for many was paid for by ‘ indenture ‘, 10 yrs of servitude before they were allowed to go there own way and make a new life for themselves. Miners in Scotland were indentured for life, think about that.

    Golfnut

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  7. ‘SIR’ Tom Devine, a willing bow-downer to those from whom he accepted that ‘british’/ENGLISH ‘SIR’ Title, an affront to “ORDINARY SCOTS”!

    His distorted views, together with his books, should remain languishing on the shelves of any Bookshops stocking them.

    The ‘elite’ of Pakistan, India, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, England etc are those who ‘relished the English-elite-driven wars/occupation and ‘welcomed “the same elite”‘ of those Nations into “ENGLAND”.

    The “ordinary peoples”, then as NOW, used as fodder in those wars/occupation/etc.

    DIDN’T have a say, were NOT given a vote, NOT asked, instead attacked and rights removed when protesting against genocide etc, carried out by likeminded ‘Colonialist Occupiers’ and condoned by the ENGLISH Gov, passing themselves off as a “uk” Government.

    To be clear, Sarwar IS a vile hypocrite, who DIDN’T earn the position, from which he spews his lies.

    It’s an insult to Scotland, that ANY Scot would vote for the

    ENGLISH REGISTERED MPs, taking up space in the Branch Offices IN Scotland, of the

    ENGLISH NOTlabour/tory/libdem/Reform Parties

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  8. For those interested in learning more about Scots’ involvement in the British Empire, specifically in India in the c. 100 years after the 1707 Acts of Union, this is a good read:

    Bryant G.F. (1985) Scots in India in the Eighteenth Century
    The Scottish Historical Review, Vol. 64, No. 177, Part 1, pp. 22-41. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/25530110 )

    (I gained access by registering for free with the digital library, ‘JSTOR’.)

    Bryant devotes a lot of attention to class divisions impacting both numbers and roles performed by Scots in the East India Company and in the British monarch’s military forces in India. He also points to the impact of London-centric power and influence over East India Company recruitment to top jobs on the anglicisation of the Scottish ‘elite’ as they sought positions of status and highest opportunity for themselves or relatives in Britain’s India.

    Moving into the 19th Century – albeit with a less appealing title – the following is accessible in the same way:

    Buettner E (2002) Haggis in the Raj: Private and Public Celebrations of Scottishness in Late Imperial India The Scottish Historical Review
    Vol. 81, No. 212, Part 2, pp. 212-239 (28 pages)

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  9. This is an example of the fallacy of ‘generalising from a particular’. It is used regularly by the media and unionist politicians. Some football supporters in Scotland are bigots, ergo ALL Scottish football supporters are bigots. Some Glaswegians have been guilty of violence ergo ALL Glaswegians are violent.

    When I was a student, I studied in the Mitchell Library. The Library was funded by the Mitchell family who sold the cigarette, ‘Prize Crop’. Tobacco was grown on slave plantations some of which were owned by Scots, who employed some Scots as slave drivers. Ergo, by studying in the Mitchell Library, I was benefitting from the profits of slavery, and so were all Scots who have used and still use the library. So, all Scots have benefitted from slavery.

    As a physicist, I have used Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle. Heisenberg refused to leave Germany during the Nazi era and accepted senior scientific posts. Ergo, by using or teaching Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle I am condoning National Socialism.

    etc, etc, etc,…….. until my bladder has no more pish.

    Alasdair Macdonald

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      1. When I retired, although my first degree was in Natural Philosophy and Mathematics, I took adult education modular course in philosophy at Glasgow University to fill what I felt were gaps in my education.

        One of the things which surprised me was just how many logical fallacies there were and also how many of those I had encountered during my life-time and how many of them I had let pass because of lack of awareness.

        Listening to many politicians and reading articles in the posh papers with this awareness it was shocking how frequently such fallacies were deployed wilfully. A fair proportion of the politicians and journalists had been educated in private schools and many had taken PPE – philosophy, politics and economics – as their degree. I am convinced that they did this to learn these fallacies and how to deploy them routinely in their work.

        Alasdair Macdonald

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  10. The Jacobite rebellion 1715, 1745. The Clearances. The higher unemployment in Scotland £10 passage. A 40million diaspora. In Australia, New Zealand, US and Canada. Not many benefitted from slavery in Scotland. They had to leave to find a better life.

    Universal suffrage 1928.

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