William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme

William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme

William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (19 September 1851 – 7 May 1925) 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 (as Lord Leverhulme). 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.

Read more about William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme:  Biography, Business, Politics, Legacy, Quotes

Famous quotes containing the words william and/or viscount:

    Before he left, Aunt William pressed a sovereign into his hand guiltily, as if it were conscience money. He, on his side, took it as though it were a doctor’s fee, and both ignored the transaction.
    Ada Leverson (1862–1933)

    They are the guiding oracles which man has found out for himself in that great business of ours, of learning how to be, to do, to do without, and to depart.
    John Morley [1st Viscount Morley Of Blackburn] (1838–1923)