42656: Life and Times of Jimmy Tod Macdonald II

Jimmy Tod Macdonald, native of Habost, played a significant and sometimes controversial role in the development of the Harris Tweed industry.

It was during this period in the second half of the 1920s that the Lochs entrepreneur James Macdonald Habost, Lochs, set up business in Stornoway and, being a man from Lochs, he was fully conversant with all aspects of the manufacture of the cloth. Finding that the local spinners were reluctant or unwilling to supply demand for mill spun yarn he turned his attention to mainland spun yarn like many of the other small producers. He set up his Tweed business at the back of J & J Tod in the building where there was a bakeshop and it is now part of the premises of Murdo MacLean's (now owned by Nazir Brothers).

Very soon Gilbert Archer and James Macdonald became partners in the Harris Tweed venture and they prepared plans for a massive expansion of their Tweed business. Their first move was to acquire the empty building of Lord Leverhulme's canning factory, which was never in production as a canning factory or anything else. Then they set about building a fully integrated plant where dying, carding, spinning and for the first time in the Hebrides, a finishing plant. Before that finishing was carried out on the mainland or as "LUADH" in the crofters homes. The name of the new mill manufacturer of Harris Tweed was "James Macdonald Ltd". At that time Kenneth Mackenzie Ltd and S A Newall Ltd were also spinner manufacturers.

Now that James controlled a factory unit that could, for the first time in the Outer Hebrides, carry out all the processes of the manufacture of Harris Tweed under one roof, the pacesetter became the stormy petrel of the Harris Tweed industry. By throwing his full weight and leadership into the agitation to have the definition of the Orb trademark amended to allow Hebridean mill spun yarn as well as hand spun yarn to qualify for the stamping of the Orb-Mark.

The proposal to amend the definition of the communal Orb Mark was extremely controversial and a fierce campaign raged in Lewis and Harris in the early 1930's. The traditionalists insisted on keeping the Orb Mark exclusively for the cottage hand spun product. The issue was naturally seen in the rural areas as the wicked town of Stornoway versus the downtrodden rural areas. The crofters felt that their cottage industry was in grave danger of being swallowed up by the greedy capitalists of the town of Stornoway. James Macdonald was regarded as a fifth column betraying his own flock. I still remember my father ranting away at our near relative ( Mac Alastair Hamish a Tabost), I felt he was in imminent danger of calling him Mac something else.

The small producer section of the industry who were used to importing mill spun yarn in from the mainland were also alarmed by the Hebridean spinner's proposal to amend the definition of the Orb Mark to allow Hebridean mill spun only. They vehemently resisted that proposal because that placed Stornoway spinners in a very strong position as they would hold a monopoly over the mill spun yarn supplies which alone would qualify for the Orb stamp for mill spun yarn, while disqualifying the mainland mill spun yarn on which the expansion of the industry mainly depended hitherto in the 20th century.

Of course the Hebridean spinners with James Macdonald in the vanguard of the dispute vigorously took on all and sundry, on the platform and in the columns of the newspapers and on the street corners etc. They assured the crofters and the small producers that they had nothing to fear from the Hebridean spinners as they were very willing to supply all their yarn needs as well as the spinning of their own wool, whereas it was very dangerous to permit mainland mill spun yarn to qualify for the Orb Mark. Furthermore they said they would install more machinery if need be and no one need import mainland yarn.

The application for the original "Orb" hand spun Harris Tweed certification Trade Mark was made in December 1909. It was registered in October 1910 and stamping began in early 1911. The original definition of Harris Tweed in the Orb stamp regulation were as follows;

"Harris Tweed means a tweed, hand spun, hand woven and dyed by the crofters and cotters in the Outer Hebrides"

That Definition was silent on machine carding but prohibited mill spun or mill dyeing. It was also silent on the source of the wool but the cloth was to be woven by the crofters and cotters in the Outer Hebrides. The amended definition that came later was much more precise, it said, "woven by the Islanders at their own homes".

Even as early as the first decade of the 20th century the use of mill spun yarn, both mainland and Hebridean spun was practised in the manufacture and the sale of Harris Tweed. The use of both increased progressively, particularly in Lewis and it was argued that more mainland yarn was used in the late 1920's and 1930's than Hebridean spun yarn. Therefore the dilemma was whether the situation as it actually was, was to be acknowledged and an amendment of the definition of Harris Tweed devised that it would cover both mainland as well as Hebridean mill spun yarn.

In actual fact the practical situation as it existed was disregarded and an amendment was devised that allowed Hebridean mill spun yarn to be stamped with the "Orb" stamp while discriminating against mainland mill spun yarn by disallowing it. That was a restrictive practice which favoured one of the contending parties and denied the general public of freedom of choice. It could be argued strongly that the 1934 amendment was illegal.

The 1934 amendment was very contentious and in the light of history some would maintain that it contained the seeds of the destruction of the whole industry.

Among those who were drawn into the controversy about the amending of the Harris Tweed Orb ark were those gospel ministers, Rev. Murdoch Macrae, Kinloch, Lewis, Rev. Malcolm Maciver, Crossbost and Rev. Norman Macleod, Uigen, Lewis, a man from Habost, Lochs.

Following a meeting of the crofters and cotters of Lewis and Harris held at Tarbert on 2nd May 1934, Rev Murdoch Macrae reported that a substantial agreement had been reached and a suggested new definition was drawn up at that meeting.

On the 1st June 1934 the committee of management of the Harris Tweed association met in London and the three aforementioned Lewis gospel ministers were also present at the meeting. It was agreed by the committee of management and the definition to recommend the following new definition;

"Harris Tweed means a tweed made from pure virgin wool produced in Scotland, spun, dyed and finished in the Outer Hebrides and hand-woven by the Islanders in their homes in the Islands of Lewis, Harris, Uist and Barra and their several purtenances all known as the Outer Hebrides."

Shortly after that the board of trade confirmed the amended regulations, including the new definition of the Orb certification mark and it came into force on the 15th November 1934, ending several years of fierce controversy in Lewis and Harris.

Mr Wilson Ramsey, the Western Isles Member of Parliament at the time, played a prominent part in the discussions that led to the amending of the definition of the Orb Mark in 1934. The three Lewis ministers also played a vital role in the discussions, particularly Rev Murdock Macrae, Kinloch, who campaigned strongly for the clause in the definition which states that Harris Tweed must be woven by the "Islanders at their own homes". Thereby effectively returning the weaving process of the Orb stamped cloth in the hands of the cottage weavers.

Following the 1934 announcement the figures for the stamping of the Orb mark increased dramatically. In 1933 the hand woven yardage stamped with the Orb was 22,000 yards. In 1935 the yardage stamped included Hebridean mill yarn and rose to 1,485,246. In 1937 the Orb stamped yardage was 3,672,775. On the whole the Orb stamped production of Harris Tweed continued to rise until it peaked at 7,632,150 yards in 1966. From then on there was a steady decline to 1,382,864 yards in 1990.

As already mentioned, James Macdonald, Habost, Lochs, was very prominent in his efforts to bring about the 1934 amendment of the Orb definition. Twelve years later, at the end of the 2nd World War in 1946, Mr Macdonald's position had changed as it appears that he had fallen out with his company, James Macdonald Ltd. And he left the Island and set up a woollen mill in Oban where he produced and sold similar tweed to Harris Tweed.

In 1951 the Harris Tweed association reported that Macdonald's of Oban was selling a cloth which he called Harris Tweed, Guaranteed Hand Woven and made in Scotland, and also supplying garment labels. When the matter was raised with Mr James Macdonald he explained that he had taken premises in South Uist where they were weaving Harris Tweed in accordance with the decision in the Embarge case known as the "Crofter Hand Woven Harris Tweed Case".

There followed yet another big controversy over mainland mill spun yarn being sold under the eventual name of Harris Tweed. Eventually the dispute ended in litigation in the High Court in Edinburgh between the Harris Tweed Association Ltd, together with the "Orb" manufacturers and on the other hand The Independent Harris Tweed Producers Ltd. together with the "Shield" Harris Tweed Producers of mainland spun yarn.

The new definition of Harris Tweed proposed by the "Shield" mainland mill spun yarn group was as follows;

"Harris Tweed means a cloth made from pure virgin wool produced in Scotland, dyed and spun in the Outer Hebrides or elsewhere in Scotland, hand woven by the Islanders of the Outer Hebrides and finished in the Outer Hebrides or elsewhere in Scotland"

Macdonald's Tweeds Ltd. started producing Tweed in Oban in 1947 and twelve years later in 1959 the company was sold to Grampian Holdings Ltd.

Lord Hunter in the Harris Tweed Court Case in Edinburgh in 1963/64 found in favour of the "Orb" Harris Tweed association case and from then on mainland mill spun Harris yarn ceased to come into the Hebrides for manufacture into Harris Tweed. Mr James Macdonald retired to his farm near Oban after Grampian Holdings Co bought his woollen mill in 1959 and in 1964 he died in his 70th year.

Angus Macleod, Marybank

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