Harris Tweed standard definition became essential. Groups of merchants in both Lewis and Harris applied to the Board of Trade for a registered trade mark. When this trade mark, the Orb, was eventually granted, the Board insisted that it should be granted to all the islands of the Outer Hebrides i.e. to Lewis, North and South Uist, Benbecula and Barra, as well as to Harris, the rationale for this decision being that the tweed was made in exactly the same way in all those islands. In 1909, after much negotiation and a degree of acrimony from merchants in Harris who felt that
Lewis and Harris uninhabited, are islands close to the shore of Harris. On the map to the right of this page, the islands of North Uist, Benbecula and South Uist are coloured red (the thinner red strip to the south) as if they were part of Lewis/Harris - the red strip shows the entire Western Isles, or Outer Hebrides. Lewis/Harris are actually one island, which causes confusion for many at first acquaintance, Harris being the portion of land just south of Tarbert where the sea comes in somewhat, but there is still a continuous land joint between Lewis (to the North) and Harris