Orkney, Shetland and Caithness

The archipelagos of Orkney and Shetland, and the shire of Caithness on the Scottish mainland, form the most northerly part of the British Isles. In 1654-9 they were the largest constituency to return members to the Westminster Parliament: from the far north of Shetland to the south of Caithness is a distance of over 200 miles. Despite this geographical spread, the conglomeration made some historical sense, as all three parts were Norse, rather than Scottish, in culture, and remained dependent on the sea for travel and trade, especially with Scandinavia. Orkney and Shetland belonged to the Norwegian crown until 1468, and the islands were subject to Norse law until 1611. Ct. Bks. of Orkney and Shetland, 1614-15 ed. R.S. Barclay (Edinburgh, 1967), pp. xix-xx. Caithness, a mere seven miles from Orkney across the Pentland Firth, had far more in common with its northern neighbours than with the rest of Scotland, which lay beyond many miles of mountain and bog. This integration is reflected in the history of the dominant family in the south of the region – the Sinclairs, earls of Caithness. The title was granted in 1455 and was originally held in tandem with the earldom of Orkney, surrendered to the crown in 1470. The 3rd earl was killed in an attempt to recover Orkney in 1529, and in 1614 the 5th earl put down the rebellion of the supporters of Patrick Stewart, earl of Orkney. The 6th earl of Caithness, George Sinclair, married the niece of the 9th earl of Morton, who had been granted the stewartry of Orkney and Shetland in 1643. CP; Orkney Archives, GD150/1660. During the civil wars, therefore, the ruling families were united by blood and by inheritance, and under their leadership in the later 1640s the north acquired the reputation for being a hot-bed of royalism. In his 1650 invasion of Scotland, Montrose raised an army in Orkney and Caithness which was destroyed at the battle of Carbisdale; and in 1653-4 the earl of Caithness supported his relative, the 1st earl of Seaforth, in his attempts to reclaim the north of Scotland for Charles Stuart. W.P.L. Thomson, Hist. of Orkney (Edinburgh, 1987), 183-4.

The Cromwellian occupation of the north can be separated into two phases. The first, between 1651 and 1654, saw the imposition of strict military rule. Although Colonel Robert Overton told Oliver Cromwell*, on his arrival at Kirkwall in March 1651, that ‘during my abode on Orkney we had fair comportment from the generality of the people in that place’, he warned there were still ‘five or six thousand fighting men’ within the islands. To stamp his authority on the islands, Overton had decided to garrison troops in St Magnus’s Cathedral and the earl of Morton’s palace at Kirkwall, and although he had also received ‘assurances from the inhabitants of Shetland of their comportment and compliance with the English interest’, he doubted their loyalty, especially as it was an open secret that they were in close contact with the Dutch. Scot. and Protectorate ed. Firth, 36-7. Such concerns were not quietened by continuing resistance in Caithness. After an initial period of compliance, the activities of the earl of Caithness in 1653-4, the belief that the area was ‘wholly declared’ for Charles Stuart, and the siege of Sinclair Castle by local royalists, brought military reprisals from the English; and Colonel Thomas Morgan was ordered to crush resistance ‘by burning of houses, destroying of corn, driving of cattle, and taking of goods’. CSP Dom. 1654, p. 255; Worcester Coll. Oxf. Clarke ms XLV, unfol.: 30 Apr. and 1 July 1654. Through this period there was an increased threat from the Dutch allies of the exiled Stuarts, whose navy was searching for bases from which to invade the mainland. During the Dutch war, Orkney and Shetland, as well as Caithness, were vulnerable to such incursions. Existing castles at Scalloway, Kirkwall, Thurso and Sinclair were strengthened, and there were plans in 1653 to build a new fort near Lerwick to defend the anchorage at Bressay Sound, which had been used as a harbour by the Dutch fleet shortly before. Scot. and Protectorate ed. Firth, 226.

After the end of the Dutch War in 1654, security fears receded, and a second, more peaceful phase of English rule began. Garrisons were reduced, leaving by 1656 only four companies in Sinclair Castle, Kirkwall and Scalloway, and in 1658 four large cannons were replaced with ‘three small brass guns’ at Kirkwall. CSP Dom. 1655, p. 279; Worcester Coll. Oxf. Clarke ms XLIII, f. 66; XLIX, f. 8v. Although the military commanders retained considerable power, there was also an effort to bring civilians into the local administration. In June 1654 the corporation of Kirkwall was resurrected, after three years in abeyance, and across the region the local gentry were brought into the commission of the peace in 1656 and the assessment commissions of 1657, with the sheriffs and commissaries now being drawn from their ranks. Charters of Kirkwall ed. J. Mooney (Aberdeen, 1952), 89-90; Scot. and Protectorate ed. Firth, 314; A. and O.; Clarke ms XLIII, ff. 81v, 82. Ironically, a major beneficiary of peace was the royalist earl of Morton, who owned the lordship of Orkney and Shetland. By the end of 1654 the government was assisting Morton (and his administrator, the earl of Dunfermline) in his efforts to bring his tenants back under control. Clarke ms XLVI, unfol.: 28 Sept. 1654, 12, 22 Jan. 1655; XLVII, unfol.: 2 May, 22 June 1655; NRS, GD150/2200; Orkney Archives, GD150/2541. In August 1655, George Monck* ordered that Morton be given custody of his house at Birsay on Orkney, and to have the furnishings from his palace at Kirkwall. Clarke ms XLVIII, unfol.: 13 Aug. 1655. Morton and his friends were increasingly evident in local government. For example, the office of sheriff of Orkney and Shetland, originally held by Colonel Thomas Cooper II*, was granted to Morton’s client, Patrick Blair of Littleblair, in 1654, despite his own admission that ‘he is a stranger and hath no fortune in the country’. Clarke ms XLVII, unfol.: 2 May 1655. Blair was also appointed provost of Kirkwall (1654-8) and sheriff of Orkney and Shetland (1656-7). Charters of Kirkwall ed. Mooney, 124-5; Clarke ms XLIII, ff. 81v, 82; NLS, MS 9752, f. 11.

The elections for the Cromwellian Parliament of August 1654 reflect Morton’s influence: the chosen MP, James Stewart of Mains, was Morton’s factor (or land agent) in Shetland and parts of Orkney. NRS, GD150/3443/16. Morton’s influence may have depended on continuing unrest on the Scottish mainland, and it is probable that the election was not held in Caithness (as specified in the June 1654 ordinance) but at Kirkwall. A. and O. The political situation was much more stable in August 1656, and the surviving election indenture indicates that the return was made at Caithness, with the sheriff, Sir William Sinclair of May, presiding. There is no sign of any military influence over this election; instead the 13 named electors were mostly Caithness men, including such important local figures as William Sinclair or Dunbeath, Patrick Sinclair of Ulbster, James Innes of Sandside and John Murray of Pennyland. The electors from Orkney and Shetland were fewer in number, but of considerable social standing: the former MP, James Stewart of Mains, and his brother Archibald – both described as ‘commissioners for the shire of Orkney’; and the sheriff for the islands, Patrick Blair of Littleblair. C219/45, unfol.; Young, Parliaments of Scot. i. 58, 370; ii. 639-40, 644. The strength of the Caithness contingent seems to have prevented the Morton interest from choosing the MP, and the man chosen may have been a compromise candidate: Robert Steward, a kinsman of Oliver Cromwell who was presumably recommended for the seat by the council in Edinburgh. Evidence is lacking for the election for the third protectorate Parliament, which met in January 1659, but the return of George Monck’s cousin, Sir Peter Killigrew, suggests a similarly pragmatic approach was being taken by the local lairds. Despite his earlier collaboration with the Cromwellian regime, at the Restoration the earl of Morton managed to retain his power. He was returned to the stewartry of the northern isles in 1662, and immediately began a ten-year campaign to suppress the privileges granted to the burgh of Kirkwall under the protectorate, which had been renewed in 1661. Thomson, Hist. of Orkney, 184.