| Description | Estate administration papers 1869-1870, 1895 and 1910-1911, correspondence 1869,1895 and 1910-1911, memoranda 1910, newspaper and newspaper cuttings 1869-1870, 1895 and 1911-1912, ephemera 1869 and 1912, dispositions 1922 & 1929 and minute book 1823-1829 |
| Administrative History | The Parish of Kildonan in the County of Sutherland witnessed two episodes of gold prospecting, the first in 1869 and the second in 1911. The land was owned in 1869 by the 3rd Duke of Sutherland and in 1911, by his second-eldest son, the 4th Duke. These papers record gold digging operations on the ground and the preparation for, and administration of, these operations by the Sutherland Estate. The presence of, on the one hand, petitions to the Duke drawn up by miners asking for a reduction in their fees and local people asking for mining to be re-commenced during straitened economic times (1869-1970), and on the other, letters (1910-1911) addressed to the Duke by his shooting and fishing tenants in which they express reservations and personal preferences concerning his plans, illustrate the fact that events on the Sutherland Estate impacted upon the lives of people at either end of the social spectrum.
The papers of 1910-1911 reveal that at this time strategic control of the Sutherland Estate was in London.
A.N. Macaulay was factor to the Duke of Sutherland and then senior partner in A.N. MacAulay & Co, Solicitors, Golspie.
William Heath was the mining engineer in charge of operations in 1911.
The Sutherland Association for the Protection of Property consisted of the major landowning interests in the County, this included the Sutherland Estate, which at the time of the minute book listed here (1822-1829), was owned by the Marquess and Marchioness of Stafford. The titles of Duke and Duchess of Sutherland were created in 1833. |