SOCIAL AND CULTURAL

• • Basic living conditions in Scotland were poor - black houses, no windows or chimneys, diseases (typhus, cholera) spread quickly in poor living conditions. People migrated to the cities or abroad to escape.
  • Countries overseas offered a pleasant climate which contrasted with the wet weather, hardships and poor living of the Highlands.
• • Family and relations abroad wrote letters home telling of better wages, climate, living standards, etc.
  • The lack of social life in rural areas and isolation in the Highlands led people to migrate to the cities which offered football, theatre, music halls and other social facilities.
• • Education Act 1872: All children aged 5-13 received free education. Easier to access in the Lowlands, so many were encouraged to move south for education.