2-333-070 - Peter Thompson/Heritage Images

Glendale Land Leaguers Memorial, Skye, Highland, Scotland. This memorial in the village of Glendale commemorates five imprisoned crofters known as the 'Glendale Martyrs'. In 1883 tensions were high on Skye between crofters and landowners over grazing rights. After an estate shepherd was assaulted by a group of crofters when he tried to remove their cattle from what had traditionally been common pasture, the police were sent to arrest twenty men held responsible for the assault. Violence ensued and the police were forced to retreat. A government representative arrived by naval gunboat to negotiate with the men of Glendale and it was agreed that a government commission would be set up to investigate the crofters' grievances. In return it was agreed that a token five men (the Glendale Martyrs) would stand trial for the assault. The commission, chaired by Lord Napier, recommended mild reforms but with the Highland Land League gaining support and returning four MPs to Parliament in 1885, Gladstone's government passed the Crofters' Act in 1886 which guaranteed crofters' tenure over their land and ended the threat of eviction.