Viscount Wakefield

Charles Cheers Wakefield, 1st Viscount Wakefield, GCVO, CBE (12 December 1859 – 15 January 1941), was an English businessman who founded the Castrol lubricants company, was lord mayor of London and was a significant philanthropist.

Wakefield was born in Cheshire, the son of John Wakefield, and his wife Margaret, née Cheers, and was educated at the Liverpool Institute.

Wakefield patented the Wakefield lubricator for steam engines in the 1890s. In 1899 he founded the Wakefield Oil Company, but subsequently changed its name to Castrol. The name Castrol was chosen because of the castor oil that was added to the company's lubricating oils. This title has since become a household name in the United Kingdom. The Castrol brand lubricants produced by Wakefield's company were used in the engines of motor cars, aeroplanes, and motorcycles.

A Castrol endorsement contract and the generous patronage of Wakefield provided the funds for Jean Batten to purchase the Percival Gull Six G-ADPR monoplane in which she set two world records for solo flight.

Wakefield was an Alderman, a member of the Court of Common Council, Sheriff (1907), and for 1915–1916 Lord Mayor. He received a Knighthood for services to the City of London. He was involved with a huge number of City institutions and charities, and was a co-founder of the Wakefield Trust, along with his friend the Rev'd "Tubby" Clayton, better known as the founder of the charity. He was raised to the peerage as Baron Wakefield, of Hythe in the County of Kent, in 1930, and in 1934 he was further honoured when he was made Viscount Wakefield, of Hythe in the County of Kent.

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