William Hesketh Lever ( 1851
- 1925 ), born in Bolton,was one of the Lever brothers founders
of the giant conglomerate `Unilever`.
In 1919 William Leverhulme purchased the
South Harris estate, which took in the Obbe, from the Earl
of Dunmore for the sum of £36,000. He planned to turn
Obbe into a major fishing centre and with this in mind he
purchased his what was to be his first shop in a chain of
fish shops throughout the UK. A total purchase of 400 shops
were made and they were given the corporate identity`Mac Fisheries`.
His plan was to have fish landed at Obbe and then distributed
to his shops.
In December 1920, with the backing of the
local people the village of Obbe was officially renamed `Leverburgh`.
Within weeks of this work began on the pier and surrounding
area , over 300 men, local, from Lewis and Uist were involved
in preparing the site. A stone pier, with two wooden piers
which would provide enough room for fifty herring drifters
to berth, was constructed, an accommodation block, curing
sheds, smoke houses and a refrigeration building were all
erected. Work huts ,store sheds and a twenty car garage added
to this development and houses were built for his team of
mangers. He had planned a second phase of development that
would have seen the inner sea loch converted into a harbour
that would take up to two hundred boats, a channel was to
be blasted between the inner loch and the open sea and fitted
with lock-gates to maintain a constant depth of twenty-five
feet of water in the inner sea loch.
He offered the local crofters free help
and advice to improve their homes and the roads were upgraded
to withstand the volume of increased traffic. With the economic
decline of 1920 -21 Lord Leverhulmes project suffered with
some of the work having to cease and men were laid off. But
by my 1924 Leverburgh was ready to receive its first landing
of herring. Twelve Great Yarmouth registered drifters landed
a quantity of herring that was so great that extra girls were
taken in from the mainland to handle the catch, this brought
great excitement to the village.
Lord Leverhulme, unknown to himself made
his final visit to the Western Isles in September 1924. After
returning from a trip through Africa, Lord Leverhulme developed
pneumonia. At 4.30a.m. On Thursday 7th May 1925, William Hesketh,
the Right Honourable Lord, Viscount Leverhulme of the Western
Isles died in Hampstead. When the news reached Harris the
sirens were sounded on Leverburgh pier and the workforce stop
work immediately, this was to be a very sad day in the history
of Leverburgh.
Since his executors and the Board of Lever
brothers had no interest in the Leverburgh project they ordered
the work to cease and the work force were laid off. They put
the South Harris Estate up for sale and in October 1925 the
pier site at Leverburgh was sold for £5,000 and the
33,000 acres of land in South Harris sold for a mere £900.
Apart from some of the houses that were built
for his managers very little remains to suggest that such
a great development ever existed.
No pensioner on theses shores will ever forget
the great man for he has benefited them all. In 1907 a private
members bill was put before the Commons by Liberal MP for
Wirral, Mr. William Hesketh Lever wanting to increase income
tax so as to provide a state pension for the elderly which
would be paid through the Post Office. In 1908 the Old Age
Pension Act was passed.
His entire venture in Leverburgh cost an
estimated £500,000, maybe if Lord Leverhulme had survived
a few more years things may have been very different in Leverburgh
today.
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