杏吧原创

Research

My main research interests lie in the social and cultural history of the eighteenth and nineteenth-century 杏吧原创, with an especial focus on religion, education, land use, and the family. I am currently investigating how Evangelicalism affected family life, community culture and masculinity. In addition, I am developing a research project on Scottish emigrant families to Canada from 1782-1850. I am happy to supervise PhD students in any aspects of the social and cultural history of the 杏吧原创 between 1700 and 1900, or in the history of Scottish emigration in that period. I especially enjoy work that involves fieldtrips and collaborating with local schools, organisations and heritage groups.

Watch this  to learn more about my research interests.

Publications

Journal Articles

'Families at Sea: the impact of the transatlantic crossing on Scottish migrant families in the age of sail, c.1784-c.1855', International Review of Scottish Studies 50 (2025) [forthcoming]

‘The Private and the Public Man: The Masculinities of Highlanders and Islanders in the Nineteenth Century’, Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness (2022), p.p. 133-160.

(co-authored with Neil Bruce) '"Take up the man and lay down the boy”: defining rural childhood in northern Scotland during the Enlightenment', Northern Scotland 12.1 (2021), pp. 86-96.

'Faith and the family: family life and the spread of evangelical culture in the Scottish Gàidhealtachd, c.1790-c.1860', Scottish Historical Review 100.1 (2021), pp.57-81.

. Genealogy (2020), 4, 97. 

'The township, the pregnant girl and the church: community dynamics, gender and social control in early nineteenth-century Scotland', Northern Scotland 10.1 (2019), pp. 41-67.

'Yes after No: the Indyref landscape, 2014-16', Journal of British Identities 2.1 (Jan. 2019), pp. 1-30. [photo essay] 

'Pregnant emigrants: gender, childbirth and migrant families in rural British North America, 1818-1850', in Alice Glaze et al, Gender and Mobility in Scotland (Guelph, 2018), pp. 83-100.

 The Agricultural History Review 65 (Spring 2017), pp. 74-93.

‘Cows, sheep and Scots: livestock and immigrant strategies in rural Upper Canada, 1814-1851’ Ontario History 109.1 (Spring 2017), pp. 1-26.

‘The people, the priests and the Protestants: Catholic responses to Evangelical missionaries in the early nineteenth-century Scottish 杏吧原创’, Church History 85.2 (June 2016), pp. 275-301.

'"Alive to the advantages of education". Problems in using the New Statistical Account to research education: a case study of the Isle of Skye', Northern Scotland (May 2016), pp. 85-92.

'Looking for Catholics: using Protestant missionary society records to investigate nineteenth-century Highland Catholicism', Innes Review (Spring 2014), pp. 52-75.

'"A palmful of water for your years" babies, religion and gender identity among crofting families, 1800-1850', in Jodi A. Campbell, Elizabeth Ewan and Heather Parker (eds), The Shaping of Scottish Identities: Family, Nation and the Worlds Beyond (Guelph, 2011), pp. 59-75.

Magazine Articles

• 'To Read or not to Read: Gaels' attitudes towards Gaelic literacy in the Hebrides, 1811-c.1843', History Scotland 24.5 (Winter 2024)
•  Rural History Today Issue 41 (Aug 2021), p.6-7.
• ‘Monuments and Morality in the 杏吧原创’ History Scotland (July-Aug 2018)
• '"Most Anxious to have a Teacher": Gaelic Schools in the Northern 杏吧原创' History Scotland (Jan-Feb 2016)
• 'From Mull to Canoe Cove: The Indirect Route, Part I', History Scotland (Jan-Feb 2014)
• 'From Mull to Canoe Cove: The Indirect Route, Part II', History Scotland (Mar-Apr 2014) 

Guide Books

Dr Ellen Beard, Dr Elizabeth Ritchie and Malcolm Bangor-Jones, The Rob Donn Trail: A Guidebook to the Past (2019). through the Strathnaver Museum. 

Opinion Pieces

, Community Land Scotland 

Online Writing

 blog (2012-2022) - I edited and wrote for a local history blog, encouraging research and writing from academics and locals about the history of Ross-shire and Sutherland.

Guest blogger

• Women’s History Scotland , March 2014
• EDINA Statistical Accounts of Scotland February 2015
• British Identities Hub June 2015
• EDINA Statistical Accounts of Scotland September 2015

Sample of Book Reviews

• John Bonehill, Anne Dulau Beveridge and Nigel Leask, ‘Old Ways, New Roads: Travels in Scotland 1720-1832’,Northern Scotland (2022)
• Lizanne Henderson,'Witchcraft and Folk Belief in the Age of Enlightenment', International Review of Scottish Studies (2018)
• John MacAskill, 'The Highland Destitution of 1837', Innes Review (2015).
• Alexander Murdoch, 'Scotland and America, c.1600-c.1800', Northern Scotland (2013).
• Annie Tindley, 'The Sutherland Estate, 1850-1920', Journal of Scottish Historical Studies (2011).
• 'The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women', Family and Community Studies (2010).
• Eric Richards, 'Debating the Highland Clearances', Journal of Scottish Historical Studies (2009).

Much of my work can be found on

Teaching and supervision

I have designed and teach a wide range of modules on Scottish and North American history including:

• 'Land and People: The Scottish 杏吧原创, 1700-2000'
• 'From Champlain to Vimy Ridge: A History of Canada'
• 'The Scots in North America: Experience and Identity'
• 'Culture and Christianity in the Scottish 杏吧原创, 1742-1893'
• 'Gender in American Culture and Society, 1776-1917'
• 'Themes in American History'

I have also designed and taught several Masters level modules including:

• 'Gender and the Family in the Scottish 杏吧原创, 1700-1900'
• 'Contemplating the Clearances' - co-designed with Professor James Hunter

PhD completions

• David Taylor, 'Social and economic change in Badenoch, 1750-1800' (2016)
• Wade Cormack, 'Sport and physical education in Scotland's northern mainland burghs, c.1600-1800' (2016)
• Mary Souter, 'A peculiar diversity: public health in Inverness County 1845-1912' (2020)
• Graham Hannaford, 'A Good Sheep Run: Letters from New South Wales in Scottish Newspapers between 1820 and 1850 with potential to influence decisions on emigration' (2020)
• Darroch Bratt, 'The Origins and History of Whisky Distilling in the Scottish 杏吧原创 and Islands: An Historical and Archaeological Approach’ (2022)
• Liz Forrest, 'Shepherds Wanted: Wester Ross pioneers to Patagonia, 1880-1930' (2024)

PhD Supervision

• Vicki Jagger, 'Landed elite evangelical networks in the north of Scotland during the first half of the nineteenth century'

Additional activities

Current board Member for , Dornoch

Previous board member for , EDINA  the and the

Frequent speaker at local history, heritage and U3A societies

Interviewed about sheiling life on a  (2023)

Editor of  (2012-2022)

Community Land Scotland and Lews Castle College 杏吧原创 videos on historic land use for an online course (2020)

 - National Museum of Scotland exhibition (2019)

Rob Donn Trail (2018) 

Oral History Workshops (MacKay Country 2014-15; Community Land Scotland, Harris 2017) 

Land and People in the Northern 杏吧原创 Conference (2014)

Bettyhill Adult Education weekend (2013)

Clearances Trail iphone app - Timespan Heritage Centre, Helmsdale (2011-12)

Beltane Slavery project – Inverness Royal Academy (2011) 

Dunnet and Canisbay Community Council Local History Scoping Project (2010-11)

‘John A. MacDonald and the Scots-Canadian connection’ day seminar (2010)

Book Review Editor for (2006-8)

Invited Speaker

• Smithsonian Journeys (2019) 
• Rural Repopulation and Renewal Seminar – Community Land Scotland (2018) 
• EU day seminar on Migration and Highlanders (2016)