So, here are the basic facts:-

Octavius Smith bought the estate of Achranich in 1845.  His father, William Smith, was a Unitarian MP and was Parliamentary Commissioner for Highland Roads and Bridges, which had introduced Octavius, his eighth son, to the remote parts of the Highlands, including Morvern.

Octavius was an interesting figure.  He made money out of a distillery in Fulham, but spent part of the summer in Scotland.  He lost the use of an eye in an explosion while building a new house on the estate (he was a qualified civil engineer).  Of this, only the clock tower survives:-

Octavius died in October 1871 and was succeeded by his second son, Valentine, who demolished his father’s house in 1884 and commissioned a new one from Alexander Ross, an architect-antiquary in Inverness who had travelled in Alsace.  This is the house as now:-

Valentine Smith died in 1906.  The interiors were then radically remodelled by his sister, Gertrude, following plans devised by John Kinross in 1908:-

She lived in the house with her son, Gerard, till 1929, and the following year, the estate was bought by Owen Hugh-Smith (no relation of Octavius) in 1930 on the recommendation of Sir John Stirling Maxwell.  He died in 1958.  The management of the estate was taken over by his daughter, Faith, in 1967.