Agricultural History Review, Volume 37 Part 1 (1989), pp. 52–64

After World War I the Land Settlement (Scotland) Act gave the Board of Agriculture for Scotland powers to break up farms into smallholdings. The hopes of landless men in the Highlands and Islands were raised by promises both before and after the war, but for financial and other reasons the rate of progress in settling them was much slower than anticipated, and a number of men took illegal possession of farms. Public sympathy for ex-servicemen was so great that more money was poured into land settlement and strenuous efforts made to speed things up. The programme went a long way toward satisfying Highland land hunger and was considered, overall, to have been a success. However, as the failure rate was highest by far amongst the holders settled just after the war, those who came later benefited more than the ex- servicemen for whom the legislation had been intended. 

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