The Rt. Hon. 1st Viscount Leverhulme - His Tenure and Legacy (1918-1923) - 5 Minute Read
William Lever (1851-1925) was an English industrialist, philanthropist, and colonialist. In 1886 he and his brother established a soap manufacturing company, Lever Brothers, which proved to be enormously successful as it was one of the first companies to produce soap from vegetable oils.
The company grew into the global conglomerate Unilever. Between 1899 and 1914 Lever built the 800 house Port Sunlight to accommodate his 3,500 workers.
In 1917 he was made a member of the House of Lords, and , in 1918, in semi-retirement he bought the Isle of Lewis, living in the Lews Castle; and, a year later, Harris. His intention was to revolutionise the lives and environment of it's 30,000 people.
In little over three years Leverhulme spent some £2 million (equivalent to £76 million today) on industrialisation schemes, largely based on fishing, which he believed would transform the economic and social conditions in the islands. He is quoted as saying "Fish is a harvest which man neither plants, nor sows, nor ploughs, but only reaps; and I see that a high authority on fishery has stated that the seas around our coasts - and this must apply more especially to the coast around Lewis - contains a hundred times as much food for man per acre as the best agricultural land in the United Kingdom...I am convinced that there is no reason why Lewis should not be one of the greatest centres of fishing in the whole world".
He envisaged that the island environment would be transformed and its inhabitants would be rescued from the poverty of centuries by the economy being driven by the exploitation of the vast fish resources in the surrounding seas.
New fishing fleets would catch fish spotted by land based aircraft "I am prepared to supply a fleet of aeroplanes and trained observers who will daily scan the sea in circles round the island. An observer from one of these planes cannot fail to notice any shoal of herrings over which he passes. Immediately he does so, he sends a wireless message to the harbour master at Stornoway. Every time a message of that kind comes in, there is a loud-speaker announcement by the harbour master, so that all the skippers at the pier get the exact location of the shoal. The boats are headed for that spot, and the next morning they steam back to port loaded with herrings to the gunwhales." from Lord of the Isles - Nigel Nicolson.
He also planned to develop several smaller fishing harbours around the island's coast that would be linked by new railways and roads to Stornoway, which would be transformed into a huge fish-processing centre. There was also to be a cannery, an ice-making factory, and a plant to make glue, animal feed and fertiliser from the offal.
The fresh-fish output, which would be taken to the mainland in a fleet of refrigerated ships, would be marketed through his 350 strong chain of retail fish shops, Macfisheries, located all over the United Kingdom, and any surplus fish would be canned for export.
A chemical industry would also be developed to process the plentiful seaweed around the island; peat would be used in large scale power stations; and unproductive land would be transformed into forests, or fruit or dairy farms. Lewis would grow to become an island of up to 200,000 people.
He had prominent architects and town planners produce a vision of a future Stornoway in 1920. There was to be a town hall and art gallery, a bridge to connect the town to the Castle grounds, long avenues and a railway station, with a war-memorial on South Beach. None of these were constructed although he did give the town a gas supply, and he also intended to use electricity to light the streets.
Although his plans were initially popular he was convinced that for them to succeed he had to destroy the centuries old crofting system. In particular he needed the crofting land around Stornoway to be converted into farms capable of feeding the anticipated growing industrial population of the town.
However, conflict soon reigned when island seamen and servicemen returned from the Great War of 1914-1918 to discover a new landlord whose declared intent was to uproot their identity as independent crofter/fishermen and turn them into tenured wage-earners. The government had promised land to these returning war veterans who fought back against Leverhulme's land re-settlement plans. Ensuing confrontations resulted in riots and land seizure by the islanders. This caused a disgruntled Leverhulme to abandon his plans for Lewis and, instead, concentrate his efforts on developing the small township of Leverburgh in Harris.
He wished to realise his failed Lewis project there by developing the township, which was named after him, into a major fish-processing facility. He intended to raise the peoples' standard of living by giving them immediate employment on public works, which would lead to a rapid transformation of the island economy from one based on crofting and small-boat fishing to a new economy based on large-scale developments in the tweed and fishing industries.
From 1920 major infrastructure capacity was built and by 1924 the township was sufficiently developed, and geared, to process substantial quantities of fish for market; the enlarged harbour had a capacity for 250 herring drifters. Leverhulme intended to found a town of 10,000 inhabitants. He also revived the whaling station at Bunabhainneader in Harris in an attempt to catch and process North Atlantic whales and export their meat to Africa.
However, Leverhulme died in 1925 and since his executors had no interest in continuing with the Leverburgh project it was terminated and the Estate was put up for sale. In 1923 Leverhulme had gifted Lews Castle and 64,000 acres of land to the people of Stornoway, and the Stornoway Trust was established to manage this substantial estate on behalf of the community. He offered his remaining sporting estates to the island districts but the people there declined the offer and the estates were then disposed of, piecemeal, to various private interests.
Leverhulme's plans failed in Lewis partly from trying to force the people into too rapid and too fundamental change; he was used to a totally different lifestyle and he tried to define progress on his own terms.
He also failed to take into account the fluctuating market conditions that normally beset any fishery, but the ultimate factor was the looming world recession after the Great War and the subsequent loss of markets for cured herring in Europe and Russia. His multi-national empire suffered a financial crisis of its own and he no longer had spare funds to support and sustain other ventures. His vision for the island's development died with him in 1925 and it was not until the formation of the Highlands and Islands Development Board in 1965 that the the islands were again to be the focus of another comprehensive fisheries investment and development scheme.
William Lever (1851-1925) was an English industrialist, philanthropist, and colonialist. In 1886 he and his brother established a soap manufacturing company, Lever Brothers, which proved to be enormously successful as it was one of the first companies to produce soap from vegetable oils.
The company grew into the global conglomerate Unilever. Between 1899 and 1914 Lever built the 800 house Port Sunlight to accommodate his 3,500 workers.
In 1917 he was made a member of the House of Lords, and , in 1918, in semi-retirement he bought the Isle of Lewis, living in the Lews Castle; and, a year later, Harris. His intention was to revolutionise the lives and environment of it's 30,000 people.
In little over three years Leverhulme spent some £2 million (equivalent to £76 million today) on industrialisation schemes, largely based on fishing, which he believed would transform the economic and social conditions in the islands. He is quoted as saying "Fish is a harvest which man neither plants, nor sows, nor ploughs, but only reaps; and I see that a high authority on fishery has stated that the seas around our coasts - and this must apply more especially to the coast around Lewis - contains a hundred times as much food for man per acre as the best agricultural land in the United Kingdom...I am convinced that there is no reason why Lewis should not be one of the greatest centres of fishing in the whole world".
He envisaged that the island environment would be transformed and its inhabitants would be rescued from the poverty of centuries by the economy being driven by the exploitation of the vast fish resources in the surrounding seas.
New fishing fleets would catch fish spotted by land based aircraft "I am prepared to supply a fleet of aeroplanes and trained observers who will daily scan the sea in circles round the island. An observer from one of these planes cannot fail to notice any shoal of herrings over which he passes. Immediately he does so, he sends a wireless message to the harbour master at Stornoway. Every time a message of that kind comes in, there is a loud-speaker announcement by the harbour master, so that all the skippers at the pier get the exact location of the shoal. The boats are headed for that spot, and the next morning they steam back to port loaded with herrings to the gunwhales." from Lord of the Isles - Nigel Nicolson.
He also planned to develop several smaller fishing harbours around the island's coast that would be linked by new railways and roads to Stornoway, which would be transformed into a huge fish-processing centre. There was also to be a cannery, an ice-making factory, and a plant to make glue, animal feed and fertiliser from the offal.
The fresh-fish output, which would be taken to the mainland in a fleet of refrigerated ships, would be marketed through his 350 strong chain of retail fish shops, Macfisheries, located all over the United Kingdom, and any surplus fish would be canned for export.
A chemical industry would also be developed to process the plentiful seaweed around the island; peat would be used in large scale power stations; and unproductive land would be transformed into forests, or fruit or dairy farms. Lewis would grow to become an island of up to 200,000 people.
He had prominent architects and town planners produce a vision of a future Stornoway in 1920. There was to be a town hall and art gallery, a bridge to connect the town to the Castle grounds, long avenues and a railway station, with a war-memorial on South Beach. None of these were constructed although he did give the town a gas supply, and he also intended to use electricity to light the streets.
Although his plans were initially popular he was convinced that for them to succeed he had to destroy the centuries old crofting system. In particular he needed the crofting land around Stornoway to be converted into farms capable of feeding the anticipated growing industrial population of the town.
However, conflict soon reigned when island seamen and servicemen returned from the Great War of 1914-1918 to discover a new landlord whose declared intent was to uproot their identity as independent crofter/fishermen and turn them into tenured wage-earners. The government had promised land to these returning war veterans who fought back against Leverhulme's land re-settlement plans. Ensuing confrontations resulted in riots and land seizure by the islanders. This caused a disgruntled Leverhulme to abandon his plans for Lewis and, instead, concentrate his efforts on developing the small township of Leverburgh in Harris.
He wished to realise his failed Lewis project there by developing the township, which was named after him, into a major fish-processing facility. He intended to raise the peoples' standard of living by giving them immediate employment on public works, which would lead to a rapid transformation of the island economy from one based on crofting and small-boat fishing to a new economy based on large-scale developments in the tweed and fishing industries.
From 1920 major infrastructure capacity was built and by 1924 the township was sufficiently developed, and geared, to process substantial quantities of fish for market; the enlarged harbour had a capacity for 250 herring drifters. Leverhulme intended to found a town of 10,000 inhabitants. He also revived the whaling station at Bunabhainneader in Harris in an attempt to catch and process North Atlantic whales and export their meat to Africa.
However, Leverhulme died in 1925 and since his executors had no interest in continuing with the Leverburgh project it was terminated and the Estate was put up for sale. In 1923 Leverhulme had gifted Lews Castle and 64,000 acres of land to the people of Stornoway, and the Stornoway Trust was established to manage this substantial estate on behalf of the community. He offered his remaining sporting estates to the island districts but the people there declined the offer and the estates were then disposed of, piecemeal, to various private interests.
Leverhulme's plans failed in Lewis partly from trying to force the people into too rapid and too fundamental change; he was used to a totally different lifestyle and he tried to define progress on his own terms.
He also failed to take into account the fluctuating market conditions that normally beset any fishery, but the ultimate factor was the looming world recession after the Great War and the subsequent loss of markets for cured herring in Europe and Russia. His multi-national empire suffered a financial crisis of its own and he no longer had spare funds to support and sustain other ventures. His vision for the island's development died with him in 1925 and it was not until the formation of the Highlands and Islands Development Board in 1965 that the the islands were again to be the focus of another comprehensive fisheries investment and development scheme.