William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme
Politician
1851 – 1925
Who was William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme?
William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme was an English industrialist, philanthropist, and politician.
Lever started work at his father's grocery business in Bolton but as a businessman, he is noted for founding the soap and cleaning product firm, Lever Brothers, with his younger brother James in 1885. He began manufacturing Sunlight Soap and built a business empire with many well-known brands, such as Lux and Lifebuoy. In politics, Lever sat as a Liberal MP for Wirral and then 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.
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- Born
- Sep 19, 1851
Bolton - Also known as
- William Hesketh Lever Leverhulme
- Spouses
- Children
- Nationality
- United Kingdom
- Died
- May 7, 1925
London
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
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