Series 6 > Highland destitution of 1837

216
THE HIGHLAND DESTITUTION OF 1837
of Glasgow, to aid the deputation to be sent from Glasgow in their mission,
and particularly to impress on His Majesty’s Government the propriety and
necessity of immediate and effective assistance being rendered to our destitute
fellow-countrymen in the Highlands and Islands.35
7th. Moved by Baillie [John] Bain and seconded by the Lord Dean of Guild36 -
That a large subscription should now be raised, and the committee acting
in charge of the fund raised for the relief of the destitute inhabitants of the
Western Isles37 be re-appointed (with power to add to their number) to procure
additional subscriptions, and to take charge of the application of the funds now
to be raised and that Mr John Macpherson be requested to act as treasurer, and
Mr Charles R. Baird as secretary with power to them to employ a suitable person
to act under them.
8th. A vote of thanks was then given to the deputation from Edinburgh.
9th. A vote of thanks to John Gordon, Esq. for the use of his premises, and to
the gentlemen who kindly granted the use of the Pavilion for this meeting.
10th. And a vote of thanks to the chairman for his conduct in the chair.38
Resolutions of a meeting held on 17 February 1837 within the
Court-House of Aberdeen, provost James Milne in the chair, for
the purpose of considering the course that may be deemed most
advisable for calling forth the sympathy and benevolent aid of our
fellow citizens for the relief of the incontestably fearful destitution
of many of our countrymen in the Highlands and Western Islands
of Scotland.
On the motion of the Rev. Mr [William K.] Tweedie39 seconded by Baillie
Harper40 the following resolutions were unanimously agreed to:
35 Lord William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck and James Oswald were the two Glasgow MPs.
On the dissolution which followed the king’s death, Oswald ceased to be an MP. Neither
of them were present at the meeting with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 13 Mar. 1837.
36 William Brown. The five baillies and the Lord Dean of Guild, who belonged to and was
nominated by the Merchants’ House, were part of the city’s town council.
37 In June 1836 an appeal had been launched in Glasgow (which followed the appeal in May,
in Edinburgh) for subscriptions in aid of the destitute inhabitants of the Western Isles
and a committee had been formed; the balance of funds remaining from the subscription,
£458-15-4, were made available to the re-appointed committee in 1837 (1841 SC, 109).
38 The total of the funds raised locally by the committee was £5,000, but the committee
received funds totaling another £31,511 (which included remittances from the London,
Edinburgh and other committees). The surplus remaining with the Glasgow committee
after all its disbursements was £2,950-12-3 (1841 SC, 109).
39 Minister of the South Church on Belmont Street.
40 Aberdeen’s municipal government was vested in a body corporate consisting of the provost,