A Soldiers Tale from Thurso to Bearsden and beyond.

There are some that wonder how I as a former soldier ended up being a voice and small wheel in the drive for Scottish independence. The answer, it did not happen overnight and there was no small measure of research involved. As most of my age (55) I was sold the story that Scotland through an ill-advised overseas expedition that due to very poor planning was skint, bankrupt, our wealth squandered by dreams that would be, to any sensible person, quite obviously out of the national reach. On the back of this cataclysm the nation was offered a saviour in the form of political union with the Westminster parliament. This was duly voted on and in 1707 the unification happened and Scotland saved.

Whilst growing up in Thurso I can't remember being taught anything about an independent Scotland in primary school. I do remember being taught about the English kings and queens but nothing about the Scots. This, I later found very strange as Scotland had as a unified country taken its place in early European history with active trade routes to and from the continent. To be honest the more I read into our history the more I felt let down by an education system that would seem to all appearances been geared to eradicate Scotlands past.

The story of the unification of parliaments is well documented as is the corruption involved in getting it. The lead up to it took the full weight of William the 3rd and his ministers.

The establishments feelings that Scotland was acting as a rogue nation contributed greatly to William’s willingness to sabotage the Darien Venture through which Scotland attempted to establish an entrepôt for the East and West Indies on the Panama Isthmus in the late 1690s.

The act of settlement 1701 brought the response from Scotland of the Act of Security 1704 which led to the alien act 1705.

Scotland relied on 50% of its exports going to England. In an act of blackmail in 1705, the English Parliament closed their market to Scottish cattle, coal and linen and declared that all Scots would be treated a aliens. It showed the vulnerability of Scotland to a trade war. In addition, Scotland was excluded from England's colonial territories.

The act of union 1707 was voted in by a gentry more worried about their own purse than a nations status. Very little mention is made of the riots that followed it or the pleas from the Scottish burhs that yes, the Darien Scheme had cost them but at least 75% of Scottish wealth was intact.

It was very quickly realised by the Members of this unified parliament that the union was only for one purpose and that was to peg the north flank of the empire.

In 1715 there was the first Jacobite rebellion the aftermath of which saw the whole of the Clan Gregor being excluded from the indemnity act 1717 theirs was to be the charge of treason.

A further attempt took place in 1719 using Spanish troops. But it was not until 1746 and the failure of the rebellion led by the Bonnie Prince that Scotlands heritage started to get whitewashed.  1746 act of Proscription that incorporated the Dress Act and lasted for 36 years when the Gaelic language was prohibited as was other symbols of the nation. The pipes, tartans and highland dress all banned. This coupled with the ethnic cleansing of the glens by a remote aristocracy more interested in the value of sheep than the people saw a depopulation of the Highlands and an end to centuries of tradition. Transgressors of the acts of that far away Parliament were often sold into slavery.

I think that it is little wonder that the drive for independence was almost eradicated until well into the late 1800s and early 1900s

Between 1889 and 1914 Scottish home rule was debated 15 times in Westmonster. Including the introduction of four bills. In 1913 a home rule bill passed its second reading. Then came along the First World War and the carnage that ensued decimating already depleted Scottish communities. As a former soldier, I am aware of the losses suffered by communities throughout the UK and, indeed, throughout the world in the “war to end all wars”.

Not long after the return from the conflict our troops some with their demob would have seen British Tanks deployed on the streets of Glasgow. Some 10000 non-native soldiers deployed all Scots forces confined to barracks in 1919.

From then to 1934 saw the creation of the Scottish National Movement then the creation of the Scottish National Party (a merger of the National Party of Scotland and the Scottish Party).

More carnage followed with World War 2 and the retreat from empire that followed Scottish regiments heavily involved as where individuals in the other branches of the Forces.

The post war years was a period of fragmented support for home rule let alone full independence with various egos getting in the way of the aim. A lesson that needs to be remembered today. The 50s through to today has seen the clear rise in support for independence and with it the influence of the SNP. Anyone looking back on the Union can easily discover that it was only of true benefit for the aristocracy. Sure, a lucky few plebs made their fortune but that was the exception rather than the rule. Yet the Westminster would have us believe that they are the sole able provider for our country. On the one hand, they describe how important a part Scotland is within the union but are quick to point out just what a complete loss we would be as an Independent Nation. 

So why did I entitle this “A Soldiers Tale from Thurso to Bearsden and beyond”. Well ‘twas in Thurso that I was born and raised. A soldier is how I have spent most of my working life 14 years with the Queens Own Highlanders and 10 years with the Royal Army Medical Corps, Bearsden seen the embryonic first public speaking for the Veterans for Scottish Independence 2.0 group screened by our good friends over at Independence Live. The group is still active and contactable on Facebook and that is the beyond part of the title.

We have many parties wanting independence and we have many voices not affiliated to any party that speak so eloquently and blog with passion on the subject. We honestly need to pull together for our country let us not give the unionists any sort of chink in our commitment for them to play on. The classic way that they will come at us will be to disrupt, divide, marginalise and in that way, they beat us. Mark my words a loss by the independence movement in a second referendum will kill the movement for decades. Not to mention consign our great Country and its people to years of Tory rule and austerity. So, let us please put our individual political opinions to one side for that is not going to be the question on the ballot paper. Let us learn from the mistakes of the last campaign and from bygone ages. United we shall win, divided we shall suffer abject failure and austerity beyond imagination.   

Thanks