William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme
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The Right Honourable The Viscount Leverhulme |
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William Lever
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| Member of Parliament for Wirral |
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In office 1906–1909 |
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| Preceded by | Joseph Hoult |
| Succeeded by | Gershom Stewart |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
William Hesketh Lever 19 September 1851 Bolton, Lancashire, England |
| Died | 7 May 1925 (aged 73) |
| Nationality | English |
| Political party | Liberal Party |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Ellen Hulme |
| Relations | James Lever (brother) |
| Children | William Hulme Lever, 2nd Viscount Leverhulme |
| Education | Bolton Church Institute |
| Occupation | Industrialist, philanthropist and politician |
| Known for | Lever Brothers |
| Religion | Nonconformist |
William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (/ˈliːvər/; 19 September 1851 – 7 May 1925) was an English industrialist, philanthropist, and politician. Having been educated at a small private school until the age of nine, then at church schools until he was fifteen; a somewhat privileged education for that time, he started work at his father's wholesale grocery business in Bolton. Following an apprenticeship and a series of appointments in the family business, which he successfully expanded, he began manufacturing Sunlight Soap, building a substantial business empire with many well-known brands such as Lux and Lifebuoy. In 1886, together with his brother, James, he established Lever Brothers, which was one of the first companies to manufacture soap from vegetable oils, and which is now part of the Anglo-Dutch transnational business Unilever. In politics, Lever briefly sat as a Liberal MP for Wirral and later, as Lord Leverhulme, in the House of Lords as a Peer. He was an advocate for expansion of the British Empire, particularly in Africa and Asia, which supplied palm oil, a key ingredient in Lever's product line.
An aspiring patron of the arts, Lever began collecting artworks in 1893 when he bought a painting by Edmund Leighton. Lever's rival in the soap industry, A & F Pears, had taken the lead in using art for marketing by buying paintings such as "Bubbles" by John Everett Millais to promote its products. Lever's response was to acquire similarly illustrative works, and he later bought 'The New Frock' by William Powell Frith to promote the Sunlight soap brand. In 1922 he founded the Lady Lever Art Gallery at Port Sunlight in Cheshire which he dedicated to his late wife Elizabeth.
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