1863      1 June 1863 - A meeting of feuars was held in Stornoway organised by those in opposition to Sir James Matheson, the proprietor, but only 5 out of 242 feuars attended.
 
A formal petition had been sent to Parliament by 290 residents in the Burgh of Stornoway calling for an inquiry into the circumstances of the sale of the foreshore to Sir James Matheson by the Commissioners for Woods, Forests, etc. (forerunners of the Crown Estate Commission).
 
The dispute went back as far as 1818 when Mr. J. A. Stewart Mackenzie on 28 July of that year, acting on behalf of the proprietrix of the island, his wife the Hon. Mrs Stewart Mackenzie of Seaforth, established a Committee to take from the proprietors of private piers in Stornoway Harbour a portion (moiety) of the sums levied by them.  The Committee had among its members the Chamberlain and the Sheriff Substitute.
 
Sir James, when he purchased the island, disputed the powers of the Committee and the proprietors of private piers to raise dues with the difficulty arising out of his purchase of the foreshore without having made them aware of it.  The “Foreshore Question”, as it became known, was exacerbated by the claim that Sir James had paid very little for the foreshore but he claimed that he had rights, in any event, under the Barony title and didn’t need to buy but was willing to purchase rather than litigate.
 
1864      Sir James Matheson granted a Feu Charter on 9 August 1864 establishing a Harbour Authority which he designated the Stornoway Pier and Harbour Commission.  The Commission was to comprise the Superior and his Chamberlain with the Superior acting as Chairman or, in his absence, the Chairman fulfilling that role.  Three other members were to be chosen annually by the Municipal Commissioners (forerunners of the Town Council), two to be annually nominated by the Superior himself and one nominated annually by the Sheriff of the County.
 
1865      The Stornoway Harbour Order 1865 brought Stornoway Pier and Harbour Commission legally into being with the outer limits being an imaginary straight line between Holm Point and Arnish Point.  The Commission took over the Steamer Quay, constructed by Sir James, and the Big Quay situated at the junction of North Beach and Esplanade.  The Order authorised the Commission to construct a timber wharf of 150 feet in length near the old Castle (Maritime Buildings now situated over old Castle) and a quay wall of masonry of 350 feet (original area of Esplanade Quay).
 
1879      Death of Sir James Matheson.
 
1881      The Stornoway Harbour Order 1881 authorised several minor administrative and constitutional changes; the extension of the timber wharf authorised in the 1865 Order by 150 feet (No. 1 Pier); the construction of a quay wall of masonry extending 350 feet (Esplanade Quay again).
 
1892      The Stornoway Harbour Order 1892 increased the number of Commissioners from seven to ten which is the present number.  The three additional members were elected as duespayers representatives.  This Order authorised the construction of a solid quay extending 980 feet (Cromwell Street Quay); a solid quay extending 280 feet (North Beach Quay); a solid quay extending in a curved line 1210 feet to the Patent Slip (South Beach Quay); three wharves, partly solid and partly open, of 50 feet wide and extending 250 feet seaward (Nos. 1, 2 and 3 Piers).
 
 
1896      Lady Matheson died.
 
1918      Major Duncan Matheson sold island to Lord Leverhulme.
 

1926      The Stornoway Harbour Order Confirmation Act 1926 was a consolidating Order containing all the powers of previous Orders than it was necessary to retain but repealing the Orders of 1865, 1881 and 1892.  This Order was made primarily to take account of the gift of land and property made to the Commission by Lord Leverhulme in 1924.  He had proposed to construct a dock between Goat Island and Newton and the construction of an additional two piers with the main port for the landing of fish to be Stornoway (Lewis being the hub of the Fishing Industry in his view).  Lord Leverhulme presented further plans to the Commission in 1920 for the construction of a breastwork linking Goat Island to Newton with a jetty on the island.  It was when his schemes failed that he made the generous gift of land and property to the Commission.  The Order of 1926 authorised the construction of a solid breastwork of 280 feet (North Beach Quay); a wharf of open structure of 420 feet (Esplanade Quay); a solid breastwork built with sheet steel piling (Cromwell Street Quay); and the dredging of the Inner Harbour to a depth of 8 feet.
 
1947      The Stornoway Harbour Order Confirmation Act 1947 made some minor constitutional changes and authorised the extension of King Edward Wharf as an open structure by 300 feet (No. 1 Pier); the construction of a causeway of 2,030 feet to Goat Island; the construction of an embankment to the south of the causeway; the construction of the Slipway at Goat Island; the construction of a jetty at Goat Island; the demolition of No. 3 Pier.
 
1948      The Stornoway Harbour Confirmation Act 1948 prohibited the fishing by nets within Stornoway Harbour.  This followed an incident when the propellers of the mail vessel were fouled by nets.
 
1976      The Stornoway Harbour Order Confirmation Act 1976 was again a consolidating Order drawing all the provisions of previous Orders which it was desirable to retain into one Order.  It repealed the Orders of 1926, 1947 and 1948 and made again some minor constitutional and more extensive administrative changes.
 
This Order extended the outer limits of Stornoway Harbour for the first time since 1865 to run from the southernmost point of Holm Island to the southernmost point of Rudh a’ Bhaigh Uaine.  The Order empowered the Commission to extend No. 2 Pier by 135 metres but this was not done.  It also created Stornoway Harbour as a Pilotage District which has now been overtaken by general Pilotage legislation but the main purpose of the Order, apart from consolidating all the other Orders still extant into one, was to give the Commission additional powers relating to licenses, general directions and financial matters.
 
1995      The Stornoway Harbour Revision Order 1995 was made to take account of the disappearance of domestic ratepayers under the Abolition of Domestic Rates, etc (Scotland) Act 1987 which had an effect on the constitution of the Commission.
 
The Stornoway (Ferry Terminal) Harbour Revision Order 1995 empowered the Commission to construct the New Ferry Terminal in Newton Basin.
 
2004      Stornoway Harbour Revision (Constitution) Order 2003 re-constituted Stornoway Pier and Harbour Commission as Stornoway Port Authority as from 1 May 2004.  This Order also changed the method of appointing Board Members (formerly “Commissioners”) so as to achieve compliance with the Government’s Guidelines ‘Modernising Trust Ports – A Guide to Good Governance’.  The area of jurisdiction of the Authority, known as the “Harbour Limits” was also extended.