Thomas Archambaud
Published: 21 January 2019
James Macpherson: clanship, patronage and networks of Highlanders integration in 18th- century imperial Britain
University of Glasgow
James Macpherson: clanship, patronage and networks of Highlanders integration in 18th- century imperial Britain
My main concern is the mechanisms of patronage from which Highlanders benefited and the networks they created and used at a time when the British Empire offered a vast range of opportunities in the British Army and the East India Company. My thesis focuses on the colonial activities of the Highland-born poet, historian and colonial agent, James Macpherson (1736-1796). Macpherson’s career embodies the double process of Scottish integration into Britain and her Empire. Since colonial politics in 18th century Scotland have generally been described as relying primarily on ‘London management’, my thesis will question this development, asking whether traditional culture and social structures, such as clanship and Gaelic culture, were an obstacle to a successful integration, or, of benefit. My dissertation also contributes to a wider discussion about the concepts of “Union” and “Unionism” seventy years after the 1707 treaty.
I will study how patronage appointments became available to the Highland clans, and to what extent their members played a key role in promoting their fellow kinsmen in the face of English hostility. Macpherson’s encounters with Franco- Scottish officers in India raise questions concerning the difficulties of telling a single story about Anglo-Scottish relations, asserting that the Highlands were a place of inner conflicts and rivalries, while also being open to pragmatism.
First published: 21 January 2019