In 1918, as the First World War was drawing to a close, the eminent
liberal industrial Lord Leverhulme bought - lock, stock and barrel - the
Hebridean island of Lewis. His intention was to revolutionise the lives
and environments of its 30,000 people, and those of neighbouring Harris,
which he shortly added to his estate. For the next five years a state of
conflict reigned in the Hebrides. Island seamen and servicemen returned
from the war to discover a new landlord whose declared aim was to uproot
their identity as independent crofter/fishermen and turn them into
tenured wage-owners. They fought back, and this is the story of that
fight. The confrontation resulted in riot and land seizure and
imprisonment for the islanders and the ultimate defeat for one of the
most powerful men of his day. The Soap Man paints a beguiling portrait
of the driven figure of Lord Leverhulme, but also looks for the first
time at the infantry of his opposition: the men and women of Lewis and
Harris who for long hard years fought the law, their landowner, local
business opinion and the entire media, to preserve the settled crofting
population of their islands.