‘Show the people that our Old Nobility is not noble, that its lands are stolen lands – stolen either by force or fraud; show people that the title-deeds are rapine, murder, massacre, cheating, or court harlotry; dissolve the halo of divinity that surrounds the hereditary title; let the people clearly understand that our present House of Lords is composed largely of descendants of successful pirates and rogues; do these things and you shatter the Romance that keeps the nation numb and spellbound while privilege picks its pocket.’
That was how Tom Johnston, the historian and former Secretary of State for Scotland, described Scotland’s noble landowners in 1909 in his book, Our Scots Noble Families. Back then land and its ownership was a hot topic both in the towns and the countryside.
