Giant poppy sculpture to mark Scottish island's link with opium trade

The artwork is designed to be a striking addition to an island landmark and perhaps attract a selfie or two.

But a three-metre tall sculpture of a cluster of poppies has also been designed with the deeper intention of depicting the island’s links to the 19th Century opium trade.

The sculpture is due to sit in the grounds of Lews Castle in Stornoway, built by James Matheson in 1847 to signal his arrival as new owner of Lewis which he bought following the death of the last of the Mackenzies of Kintail using his vast wealth derived from flooding China with opium in the mid 19th Century.

The poppies are one of three pieces of artwork being created to tell the history of Lewis with a Viking boat and a piece which recalls Lewis’ ownership by ‘soap baron’ Lord Leverhulme, the founder of Lever Brothers – now Univlever – also planned.

Lews Castle, Stornoway, where the giant poppy sculpture will be place to mark the island's links to the 19th Century opium trade in the Far East. PIC: Contibuted.

Paul Fennon, managing director of EVM, a Glasgow-based design company, who was commissioned by the Stornoway Trust and Western Isles Council to create the three pieces, said the poppy was “part of the island’s story”.

Mr Fennon said: “I think the poppies are as important as the Viking boat or the reference to Unilver. It is not symbolic of a point of view or a political statement. It is simply about telling the truth.

“Things happen in history which are to the majority of people, when they reflect on it, not agreeable. Neverthless these things happened and the poppy is simply a symbol for one man’s entrepreneurial and economic life.

“People in history do controversial things but do you sweep that under the carpet or can we learn from it? It’s for people to make up their own minds. If you tell the truth about something and let people make own people’s mind up abut things, that is part of what we do.”

A poppy sculpture is planned for the ground of Lews Castle in Stornoway to represent the links between the Isle of Lewis and the opium trade. PIC: EVM.

Matheson and his business partner William Jardine are said to have had an “incalcuable” effect on the health of the Chinese people given their wholesale transportation of opium into the country with their company the largest trader of the day.

By the mid 1830s there were an estimated three million opium users in China, with around 90 per cent of the coastal population using the drug. The death of the son of Emperor Tao-kuang from an overdose in the late 1830s led to renewed efforts by China to stamp out trade and consumption of the drug.

Around 20,000 chests of opium at Canton port were confiscated with Jardine Matheson and Co - by now the owner of a fleet of opium clipper boats - handing over 7,000 chests. Britain, prompted by influential traders, went to war against China in 1839 with some agreement that it was Jardine and Matheson - who effectively triggered the war.

According to Stornoway Historical Society, the creation of the grounds of Lews Castle, where the poppies will stand, involved the clearance of tenants and the re-routing of public roads, which did not endear Matheson to the local population. During is ownership of the island, he also provided employment, funded famine relief and other social and economic projects for the benefit of the island, the society said.