The Importance of Being a Reservist: The Royal Navy Reserve and the Highlands and Islands, c.1875–1939.

In 1894, two-fifths of the men who served in the Royal Naval Reserves (RNR) were drawn from the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, despite the region containing only 0.5% of the total UK population. This was not an atypical spike in recruitment, however, but represents merely one moment in a relationship that lasted for nearly a century. Highlanders and Islanders had served in the RNR since its inception in 1859, and continued to do so in large numbers right up to the outbreak of war in 1939. This article explores the association between region and military institution that developed as a result, and the economic and social reasons that lay behind this. In doing so, it challenges the tendency for Scottish historians to focus overwhelmingly on questions of national identity when examining the British military. It also suggests that the historiography of the Highlands and Islands has focused too much on questions of land and land ownership, and not enough on the wider economic and social circumstances impacting on individual and community life across the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]