Eilean Rìgh
Eilean Rìgh is an island in the Inner Hebrides of the west coast of Scotland. It lies in Loch Craignish, about 300 metres (1⁄8 mile) off the Argyll coastline. The name is Gaelic for "King's Island", although which royal is not known.
| Gaelic name | Eilean Rìgh |
|---|---|
| Meaning of name | King's Island |
| Location | |
  Eilean Rìgh Eilean Rìgh shown within Scotland | |
| OS grid reference | NM801018 |
| Coordinates | 56.16°N 5.54°W |
| Physical geography | |
| Island group | Islay |
| Area | 86 hectares (0.33 sq mi) |
| Area rank | 155= [1] |
| Highest elevation | Dùn Righ 55 m |
| Administration | |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Country | Scotland |
| Council area | Argyll and Bute |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 2 |
 | |
| References | [2][3][4] |
History
The island has the remains of two Iron Age forts.[5]
In the 1930s, the island was home to Sir Reginald Johnston, retired tutor to Puyi, the last Chinese emperor. Johnston modernised the houses, built a Buddhist temple, and even flew the flag of Manchukuo in the Chinese-style gardens.[5] Johnston was immortalised in the multiple Oscar winning film (nine Oscars) by Bernardo Bertolucci, 'The Last Emperor' where Johnston was portrayed by Peter O'Toole.
The property was purchased by a retired Indian army officer, Major Campbell, who lived in it with his family until the outbreak of the Second World War, when they left for a house in Ardfern. In 1959 it was purchased by Wilfred Brown and his cousin Robert Banks Skinner as a holiday home. In 1992 it was sold to James Waldegrave, Viscount Chewton.
The current owner is a Scottish-based ex-financier, Mr Christian Siva-Jothy (he retired as a Partner of Goldman Sachs in 2004) who bought the island from Viscount Chewton in 1998 and then substantially renovated the properties on it, installing mains electrics via an undersea power cable, a new fresh water well and telecoms via a microwave link.
The island was for sale from 2013 for over a year but was taken off the market early in 2015 when the present owner (Mr Siva-Jothy) sold his estate in the North of Scotland and moved back to live permanently on Eilean Righ. Mr Siva-Jothy and his wife (who studied Mandarin both as an undergraduate and postgraduate student at SOAS where Sir Reginald Johnston was the first professor of Chinese) now reside full-time on the island.
Footnotes
- Area and population ranks: there are c. 300 islands over 20 ha in extent and 93 permanently inhabited islands were listed in the 2011 census.
- 2001 UK Census per List of islands of Scotland
- Ordnance Survey
- Haswell-Smith, Hamish (2004). The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh: Canongate. ISBN 978-1-84195-454-7.
- "Overview of Eilean Righ". Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
