First Minister announces formal apology for injustices of Tinker Experiment that affected Caithness travellers
After this week’s apology by the Scottish Government over historic injustices towards Caithness travellers and other Scottish gypsies, a retired academic said that it was high time a memorial was built to highlight the racist policies of the ‘Tinker Experiment’.
Dr Lynne Tammi (68) is from a traveller background, and her work as an independent researcher has been covered in our newspaper with articles on the visit of a Nazi eugenicist racially profiling Caithness gypsies and other aspects of the Tinker Experiment – a plan to force assimilation on travelling people that saw them forced into substandard accommodation, families split up and children removed over a period lasting from the 1940s to the 80s.
“It’s unbelievable that the apology has taken so long to come, and I have to say it’s kind of bittersweet,” said Dr Tammi.
“All these years of work have led to an apology, but what exactly is going to happen next? Will there be another 10 years of consultations and conversations? I would like to see a memorial or artwork dedicated to the children.”
On Wednesday, First Minister John Swinney told Parliament that policies historically applied to gypsy/traveller individuals and families were “unacceptable” and formally apologised to those communities.
The apology came after the publication of a report this week from the University of St Andrews that was commissioned by the Scottish Government in 2023. The report showed clear evidence of “widespread institutional discrimination” towards the traveller community that amounted to “cultural genocide”.
Dr Tammi had been a consultant on the report and had leaked some details as she feared that much of the information would be redacted as it was so damning of the widespread policies conducted by the church and state.
Responding to the publication of the report, Mr Swinney said that while the policies are no longer in effect and predate the Scottish Parliament, they caused significant and lasting trauma to families.
The First Minister said: “It seems clear to me that stark prejudice and lack of cultural awareness led to a series of unfair and unjust policies. Policies that resulted in children being removed from families and families being forced to live in substandard accommodation and degrading conditions.
“The trauma that this has caused to individuals, families and groups, including those who regard themselves as ‘victims of Tinker Experiments’, is significant and lasting.
“So, as First Minister, I want to say this directly to gypsy/traveller communities: The ‘Tinker Experiments’ should not have happened. It was wrong. And we recognise how much it is still hurting so many. And more than anything else, I want to say this. On behalf of Scotland, we are sorry.”
In recent articles published in the John O’Groat Journal, Dr Tammi showed that there existed widespread discrimination towards Caithness travellers that predated the state-sanctioned policy known as the Tinker Experiment.
In 1938, Nazi eugenicist Professor Wolfgang Abel visited Caithness and stayed at Weydale where he conducted experiments to racially profile members of the local traveller community living in a quarry there. Dr Tammi explained how the church, police and a children’s charity were involved in aiding one of Nazi Germany's top anthropologists during his research trip.
During his work, Professor Abel measured the head of a young traveller called Charlie McPhee, who moved in 1957 to a special camp for travellers in Perthshire that had been set up as part of the Tinker Experiment. His son and daughter, Roseanne and Shamus McPhee, still live at the camp called Bobbin Mill.
Roseanna said: “My parents, in common with many others, were forced to stop travelling and live in an old hut in the woods as part of the Tinker Experiments, supported by the UK Government, the Scottish Office, the Councils and the Church of Scotland.
“It was supposedly about integration, but there was no real integration with the community. We were put in the woods on the edge of town in sub-standard accommodation, without electricity or running water. We had to study by candlelight and wash clothes in a tub outside, boiling water on a small stove or outside stick fire, even in the winter. We only got hot water and electricity in 2010.
“We were bullied at school and discriminated against all our lives. It’s been very hard to get gainful employment, and we’re still harassed here at Bobbin Mill.”
Barbara Bolton, a solicitor representing Roseanna, said: “Scotland has yet to reckon with this part of its past and present. Racism against gypsy travellers in Scotland remains prevalent and is still often seen as acceptable. Those directly affected by the Tinker Experiments, including Roseanna and her siblings, continue to be housed in sub-standard accommodation on the edge of society.”
Referencing the McPhees, Dr Tammi said: “There was their father who was examined by the Nazi eugenicist and then they moved down to Perthshire where they ended up in an assimilation camp. Bobbin Mill needs a massive upgrade, and the site needs some special protection to be recognised as part of the Tinker Experiment.
“People were forced to live in assimilation camps, and before that, the caves. Caithness travellers weren’t even allowed to go into Thurso at one point, so where were they supposed to go? Quarries, tents and caves were the only options available.
“I think the Caithness travelling community perhaps suffered worse than those in the Central Belt, as they were so isolated. It’s important to tell the stories of the travellers from Caithness and Sutherland and for them to know that this apology is directed to them as well.”
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