'The salvation of this district and far beyond': aluminium production and the politics of highland development

Giving evidence before the House of Commons sub-committee considering
the Lochaber Water Power Bill of 1921 – the statutory instrument for the
establishment of the British Aluminium Company Ltd’s third Highland
aluminium smelter and hydro-electric power scheme – the former Provost of Fort
William, Colin Young, declared: ‘I am a whole hearted supporter of this scheme
for in it I see the salvation of this district and far beyond.’1
British Aluminium’s
other developments in the west Highlands – their two other smelters at Foyers and
Kinlochleven (opened respectively in 1896, and between 1907 and 1909), as well
as the Company’s large estates, housing and hydro-electric schemes – had already
amply demonstrated both the profound economic and social impact both locally
and on the region as a whole.
This article is principally concerned with exploring the economic and social
significance of the aluminium industry to the Highlands and Islands, and its
importance to the wider political economy of regional development. These
developments and activities are considered in relation to corporate ‘social action’
and political activity, appraising the motivations and strategies affecting the
wider activities of the British Aluminium Company (BACo) in the region. The
negotiations are examined within the context of a ‘moral economy’, alongside the
political economic, balancing moral judgements, and local customs and norms,
against commercial deliberations