Aoir air Pàdraig Sellar

In the book The Trial of Patrick Sellar (Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1962), Iain Grimble states that it appears the song was written by a man named Dòmhnall Bàillidh shortly after The Trial of Patrick Sellar in Inverness on 23 April 1816.

Among the accusations brought against Sellar — who was a deputy factor to the Countess of Sutherland — was that he himself, and others acting with him, set fire to the house of William Sutherland at Rhustal in Strathnaver in June 1814. William Sutherland maintained that his mother, who was elderly and bedridden, was inside the house at the time the fire was lit. Although she was rescued and taken to shelter in a byre, she died five days later. As the song puts it:

Chaidh thu fhèin ‘s do phàirtidh An àirde gu bràighe Rosail, Is chuir thu taigh do bhràthar ‘Na smàlaibh a-suas ‘na lasair.

Sellar was a lawyer from Moray, and he and William Young came to Sutherland in 1808 to work for the Countess. The two of them played a major role in the plans that resulted in large numbers of people being removed from estate lands.

They took over sheep farms at Culmailie, near Golspie, and they cleared the people from those lands as well.

Tha Sellar an Cùl-Mhàillidh Air fhàgail mar mhadadh-allaidh, A’ glacadh is a’ sàradh Gach aon nì thig na charaibh.

Although Sellar was found not guilty in court of the charges brought against him, there is no doubt that his bad reputation has endured among the Gaels as a man who was instrumental in driving people from their homes — often by force — though not all historians agree with this assessment.