Revealed: slavery's bloody Highland roots

Disturbing new evidence of exploitation and sexual abuse of slaves on plantations run by prominent families from northern Scotland is to be revealed for the first time in a new exhibition.

Documents have been uncovered, shedding new light on the Highlands' link to the "dirty economy" in the 18th century in which fortunes were made.

One letter sent between cousins talks of buying "negroes" for a cotton plantation, while another reveals the existence of widespread sexual abuse of black women.

Scots, especially Highlanders, were at the forefront of the expansion of the British Empire and were active in the slave trade in Africa and the Caribbean, where they owned plantations.

Inverness provost William Inglis, who has a street named after him in the city, was from a family that included the captain of a slave ship.

Families such as the Baillies of Dochfour, near Inverness, were among the UK's largest slave traders and received the equivalent of more than 8.5 million in compensation when their slaves were freed.

The project to uncover the region's links to the trade has been led by academics and historians at the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) along with 12 pupils from Inverness Royal Academy.

The school, along with other buildings such as the city's royal infirmary, was established with the help of contributions from plantation owners.

Dr S Karly Kehoe from UHI's Centre for History, said: "The exhibition will shed new light on slavery's connection to the Highlands by being frank and honest about the central role it played in the region's development. A number of Highlanders were active and aggressive participants in this dirty economy. Many more benefited directly as a result."

Among the items uncovered from archives are letters sent between family members from Grenada and the isle of Nevis in the Caribbean.

One, from Simon Fraser in Grenada to his cousin, Thomas Fraser, a baker in Inverness, dated November 1786 reads: "I thought of helping my mother this year but the trip to America and the payment of three new negroes I bought prevents my sending her anything this year, carpenter work is very dull in this island … I therefore join my cousin in planting a little cotton and now and then do little jobs for the neighbouring estates that I am sure will pay well, Tom will soon have a fine gang of negroes he is bying daly (sic]."

Historian and Highland councillor David Alston, who is an adviser to the project, has been researching the Highland connection to slavery for more than a decade.He has gathered information on 160 individuals linked to the Highlands and slave plantations of Guyana, on the north coast of South America.

Mr Alston said he has repeatedly been confronted with evidence that the portrayal of Highlanders solely as the victims of history is "a falsehood".

"I was uncovering quite different testimony - of brutal exploitation, sadistic punishments and endemic sexual abuse perpetrated by Highlanders who also 'went forth' to other continents."

John Quigley, a teacher at the academy, said: "The students will trace the connections of Inverness Royal Academy to the slave trade, and understand the connections to the growth of Inverness."

Looking Back to Move Forward: Slavery in the Highlands will be held at the Highland Archive Centre in Inverness later this year.

Scots said yes and no to the human trade

SCOTLAND had an active role in the slave trade and also in its abolition.In 1817, Scots owned almost a third of all the slaves in Jamaica. Merchants such as Richard Oswald were partners in slaving ventures in Scotland and the Americas and in slave voyages that left from Liverpool, Bristol and London.

Businessmen such as the "tobacco lords" made their fortunes in the colonies before returning to Scotland. Jamaica Street and Virginia Street in Glasgow are named after areas where merchants traded and made their fortunes.

In Sierra Leone, West Africa, a profitable private slaving fort called Bance Island - a London-Scottish venture - loaded an average of 1,000 slaves a year on to ships from many countries.

In 1807, the UK Parliament abolished the trading of slaves in the British Empire.

It followed a lengthy campaign by people such as politician William Wilberforce, social reformer Granville Sharpe, and abolitionists including Zachary Macauley, a minister's son from Inveraray, and William Dickson from Moffat.