Highland and Island Emigration Society

Emigration from the Isle of Skye – HMS Hercules anchored at Campbeltown, Argyllshire. Departed 26 December 1852 [1]

The Highland and Island Emigration Society was a charitable society formed to promote and assist emigration as a solution to the Highland Potato Famine.

Between 1852 and 1857, it assisted the passage of around 5,000 emigrants from Scotland to Australia. The Society's work was both praised for providing a solution to the famine in Scotland, and criticised for providing landlords with an easy mechanism for the Highland Clearances.

  1. ^ Balfour 1990–92, p. 565.