Lord Leverhulme
Lord
Leverhulme bought most of Harris and Lewis. Lord Leverhulme
had bought places all over the world. He controlled
over five large tracts of wild country in Congo, Lord
Leverhulme's factory's made palm oil in Congo. Lord
Leverhulme loved his work and his wife, who was called
'Lady Lever'. Sadly 'Lady Lever' died in 1913. Leverhulme
was forced to summon a special meeting of crofters at
Obbe, in 15 August 1919. He told them he wanted or was
going to build a huge fishing harbour in there village,
but would only be a waste of his money if he was to
run into opposition from the local villagers. This village
would be called Leverburgh. So as a preliminary to starting
the work, he needed their agreement to five conditions:
1 They should work 'whole-heartedly with me and not
against me'.
2 If it should become necessary to clear any crofts
from the site of the future works, the crofters would
accept alternative sites elsewhere, and Leverhulme would
pay the entire cost of removal.
3 If part of the common grazings were needed for the
same purpose, it would be replaced else-were
4 All intention of raiding farms should be abandoned,
and no claim should be made to the Board of Agriculture
before dividing farms until a ten year trial had been
given to his schemes.
5 Any unforeseen points they might arise would be dealt
with in the same spirit of co-operation.
Leverhulme put these five points to the meeting three
times over, and each time they were translated into
Gaelic. The older men of Leverburgh in the end agreed
to the five conditions. (article by Abbey-Rose)
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