Iolaire

THE CRUELLEST TWIST 2 A close-knit community At the outbreak of World War I the islands of Lewis and Harris were heavily reliant on the traditional industries of crofting, fishing and Harris Tweed weaving. In some areas kelp manufacturing had supplemented the meagre yield from these traditional activities, with the alkali from the seaweed having wide use in the emerging chemical industries. Indeed so abundant was the kelp harvest, that in 1918 Lord Leverhulme bought the Isle of Lewis from the Matheson family for the sum of £150,000. The kelp was harvested on the shores of Lewis and Harris, the beaches of which are rated as the most spectacular in the world. It is an ingredient in the making of soap and detergents, which was the basis of Leverhulme’s hugely successful business which today trades under the name Unilever. The production of Harris Tweed was also a commercial success – woven by the mile for the thousands retained on Edwardian sporting estates as well as traded by Stornoway merchants. Herring fishing was another island staple but this could not be relied upon at a commercial level year on year. The Outer Isles had long been a Gaelic speaking community, where Gaelic is still spoken widely and where the strong cultural threads of music and poetry are still enjoyed today. The population of Lewis at the time was almost 30,000, with those outside the capital of Stornoway with its sheltered harbour living mostly in scattered communities across the island – many in low, thatched ‘blackhouses’. Once the site of ancient sun worship, as many islands off the coast of Scotland were, Lewis had for centuries and remains today a staunchly Presbyterian community. Where the Standing Stones at Callanish were a curious antiquity, the Kirk and the Bible were a daily reality. John MacLeod in his book ‘When I Heard The Bell’ writes: “Raised on a life of hard outdoors work and an elemental diet of potatoes and oatmeal, fish and milk and butter, young Lewismen and women were remarkable for their vitality, with glowing complexions and perfect teeth. Part of the enduring hurt, gazing on the photographs of the many lost on the Iolaire, is just how handsome so many of these lads were.”