In early March 1919, men started to take over Leverhulme's farms on Lewis. Genealogy for Margaret Ann Lever (Moon) (1916 - 1973) family tree on Geni, with over 230 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. Another of his sons, by Mavis de Vere Cole, wife of the prankster Horace de Vere Cole, is the television director Tristan de Vere Cole. For the plaintiff, Carson accused Associated Newspapers of conducting a malicious campaign "with the object of smashing up Lever Brothers". He did not actively oppose the crofter's way of life, but neither did he support it as some thought he, as their patron, ought to have done. [43][44], Lever Brothers had indeed been seriously damaged by the press, as well as by rises in the costs of raw materials, but Lever hesitated to use the court awarded cash to bolster the company. The Dovecote Other schemes adopted from the USA included competitions with cash prizes, coupons and tokens included in soap packaging, and sponsorship of worthy causes such as a lifeboat named Sunlight. Simon Schama, A History of Britain. Much of Leverhulme's art collection is displayed in the gallery which houses one of the finest formed by an industrialist in England. He subsequently acquired more land in the village and many of its picturesque, but outdated, houses were demolished and replaced with modern homes which were rented to Port Sunlight employees. hopes of raising awareness for this little known treasure. This had the effect of disturbing attendance at the Masonic lodges in the Lever Brothers factory town, and as a result a new lodge was formed named the Mersey Lodge, no. English landscape architect Thomas Hayton Mawson (T. H. Mawson) was hired to Home > User Trees > Ray-Roberts-1. [8][1], At some stage, William was moved to the administration department where he learned about and subsequently reorganised the firm's accounting and bookkeeping systems. In 1887, Lever purchased a large tract of [19], The Lever soap campaign began with a range of Sunlight branded soaps differentiated mainly by colour: Pale, Mottled and Brown, with a fourth variant presented as a product that was especially formulated for washing clothes. In 1919, he was appointed Senior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of England. would have come from Italy, the same source of inspiration that would have impressive seven-arched bridge, a man-made ravine and cascade, and the Dovecote As with the model village of Cadburys, Bourneville, the cottages have their own running water and unlike some at Bourneville, all have indoor bathrooms. By then, serious financial difficulties were besetting Lever Brothers concerning the disastrous Niger Company, making his decision about the Western Isles project relatively straightforward. [4], Lever Brothers operated from the Belgian Congo beginning in 1911. Along with brother James, he founded Lever When the railway lines around the Congo River rapids were rebuilt between 1923 and 1932 the regime mobilised 68,000 forced labourers of which 7,700 died". Lord Leverhulme intended that the port should be improved and enlarged to attract landings of fish from visiting vessels to supplement catches made by local boats and his own fleet of modern drifters and trawlers. This victory was celebrated with a day's holiday at Port Sunlight, where Lever blithely addressed the employees and other spectators who cheered and applauded their hero. folly known as Rivington Castle, which was a scale replica of Liverpool The story of Rivington [10][59][55], Suffragette Edith Rigby claimed to have set fire to Leverhulme's bungalow at Rivington on 7 July 1913, although it is suspected her confession was false. [5] Due to their involvement with the Belgian Congo, there was a stark contrast to how the Leverhulmes are remembered at home in England. He rebuilt the house and made additions including a wing on each side of the house, a ballroom and art gallery. Attitudes began to harden and polarise, culminating in politicians pressing ahead with land reform and Leverhulme demanding a ten-year moratorium coupled with a thinly veiled threat to withdraw from his schemes. Lord Leverhulme commissioned a replica of Liverpool Castle to be built on his Rivington estate of Lever Park, near Horwich. The same year and somewhat more successfully, William stands for and is elected as a Member of Parliament for the Liberal Party in the Wirral constituency. [54] He was elevated to the viscountcy on 27 November 1922. Other allegations included claims that the Trust was trying to control the available supplies of raw materials and that it was preparing to use 'unsavoury substances' in its soaps. Build your family tree online ; Share photos and videos ; Smart Matching . [6], Lord Leverhulme died on 27 May 1949 and is interred with his parents at Christ Church in Port Sunlight. Instead, he presented it all to Liverpool University, bestowing significant sums to the faculties of Town Planning, Tropical Medicine, and Russian Studies, while making sure that an enduring record of the litigation was ensconced in the University library.[45]. Jolly, "Of the dozen or so houses that Lever lived in, and upon which he stamped his own mark of reconstruction, the three most important were Thornton Manor, The Hill at Hampstead in London, and The Bungalow at Rivington. In July 1906 he was asked to attend a meeting in Liverpool, called by a group of soap-makers based in the north of England. [33][34], Headlines in the Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, and Evening News proclaimed: "Soap Trust Arithmetic How 15 ounces make a pound", "Dismissal of employees begins", and "Trust Soap Already Dearer". Lord Leverhulme: Biography Science and Technology William Lever built Britain's largest company and in so doing, made the first modern multinational. Seven hundred men from Port Sunlight signed up for the WWI madness. wounded troops, and Nissen huts were erected on the grounds. But at that time, Lever had to rely for supplies on "soap-boilers" independent firms that specialised in producing soap to order who were expected to work to his proprietary formula. . Birth of Hon Rosemary Gertrude Alexandra Whetherly, Death of William Hulme Lever, 2nd Viscount Leverhulme. [28] The success of this venture led, by 1900, to the establishment of factories in Switzerland, Germany, Canada, the United States, Holland, and Australia with several others planned, while the Sunlight brand had been strengthened by the addition of Lifebuoy, Vim and Lux. In 1913, four farms on Lewis had been scheduled for take-over, but the action had been opposed by the proprietor at that time, and when the war with Germany broke out it was left in abeyance. Thornton Manor was restructured and the gardens greatly extended. [56], In 1888, shortly after the birth of William, his only surviving child, Lever first rented then bought Thornton Manor in Thornton Hough in the Wirral, Cheshire. [66], Leverhulme endowed a school of tropical medicine at Liverpool University, gave Lancaster House in London to the British nation and endowed the Leverhulme Trust set up to provide funding for education and research, the trust in 2017 became benefactor to Rivington and Blackrod High School and Harper Green School, both becoming Leverhulme Church of England Academies in Bolton. Four hundred perished in the mud of the Somme. In his defence, Lord Leverhulme did attempt to build African village versions of Port Sunlight for his own employees. Husband of Elizabeth Ellen Lever In 1915 Lever acquired a painting entitled Suspense by Charles Burton Barber (an artist who came to resent 'manufacturing pictures for the market'). [6] In 1922 he founded the Lady Lever Art Gallery at Port Sunlight in Cheshire which he dedicated to his late wife Elizabeth. www.about-rivington.co.uk/explore/rivington-terraced-gardens/, Tagged: Jonathan Simpson, Lever Brothers, Lever Park, Lord Leverhulme, Pigeon Tower, Rivington Heritage Trust, Rivington Terraced Gardens, T. H. Mawson, William Hesketh Lever, dovecote, Interior in the Style of the Italian Renaissance, Glessner House, 1800 S. Prairie Avenue, Chicago, IL 60616, United States. Lord Leverhulme died at 73 of pneumonia at his home in Hampstead on 7 May 1925. Wife of William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme. From 1888, Port Sunlight village offered decent living conditions in the belief that good housing would ensure a healthy and happy workforce. On returning from a trip to Africa, Lord Leverhulme goes down with pneumonia. Taken 8 August 2006.Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons., CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3848481, William Hulme Lever, 2nd Viscount Leverhulme, William Hesketh 1st Viscount Leverhulme Lever, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lever,_1st_Viscount_Leverhulme. Lady Lever died suddenly in 1913, and Leverhulme is a combination of their surnames. (The company survives today under the name Unilever). The model village is developed between 1888 and 1914. Schools are built to educate 500 children. Among these was Elizabeth Ellen Hulme (Dec 1850 24 July 1913) whose family also resided on Wood Street. FORUM ARTICLES SEARCH. He was against this, even though some local politicians believed that Leverhulme's project and the provision of more crofts were not mutually exclusive but Leverhulme firmly believed that he could greatly improve living standards to an extent that crofting would become a forgotten way of life. Death: May 27, 1949 (61) Immediate Family: Son of William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme and Elizabeth Ellen Lever. William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme FRGS FRIBA,[1] (/liv/, /livhjum/; 19 September 1851 7 May 1925) was an English industrialist, philanthropist, and politician. During World War II, the bungalow was requisitioned as a billet for In the early 1900s, Lever was using palm oil produced in the British West African colonies. Bolton, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom, Hampstead, London, England, United Kingdom, Blue plaque erected in 2002 by English Heritage, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2N7S-1MP, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M7H2-BP8, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M7H2-BG1, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KD6J-8TS, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2DG2-1DL, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q27G-DKL1, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:4S6W-VZM, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X9JX-31R, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XW3F-LJV, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2D1-L4TK, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M7H2-BPH, Members of Parliament, United Kingdom 1906, "England and Wales Census, 1861," database with images, FamilySearch (, "England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837-2008," database, FamilySearch (, "England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005," database, FamilySearch (, "England and Wales Census, 1881," database with images, FamilySearch (, "England and Wales Census, 1901," database, FamilySearch (, "England and Wales Census, 1911," database, FamilySearch (. Next, hell buy the village. NO TRUST PLEASE: WERE BRITISH Although these developments brought tangible benefits to the people of Lewis, Leverhulme's plans did not suit everyone, and this anomaly created severe obstacles for his ambitious plans for the Western Isles. United Reformed Church of St Andrew and St George, Bolton, Philip William Bryce Lever, 3rd Viscount Leverhulme, "Lord Leverhulme (William Hesketh Lever)", "Priceless bust of Lever stolen from memorial; Bronze sculpture may be melted down for scrap", Christ Church, Port Sunlight: Photograph of Leverhulme memorial, The United Reformed Church of St Andrew and St George, Its Origin and History, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Lever,_2nd_Viscount_Leverhulme&oldid=1088215827, Viscounts in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, 2nd Baron Leverhulme, of Bolton-le-Moors, co. Lancaster, 7 May 1925, Honorary degree of Doctor of Law (LL.D.) [22], Lever was the founder of 'Port Sunlight'. The Belgians were "grateful to have a partnership with an enlightened entrepreneur to help salvage their battered reputation"[47] and it allowed Lever to recruit the Congolese workforce he needed. This site became Port Sunlight where he built his works and a model village to house its employees. One of the more remarkable Below The Line projects was the Sunlight Year Book, which was a type of almanac first introduced in 1895. ornamental doves and pigeons. by, Rank of Honorary Colonel in 1941 in the service of the, This page was last edited on 16 May 2022, at 19:51. Philip Lever, the third and last Viscount Leverhulme, who has died aged 85, was a successful racehorse owner and pillar of the Jockey Club. Although many such people preferred to find their own accommodation, there were others who, for whatever reason, were never given an opportunity to reside in Port Sunlight. In 1997, the Rivington Heritage Trust was organized to oversee the preservation of the landscape, and in 2013 a grant was received to develop a full proposal, which will focus on preserving the faded grandeur and mystery of the site for future generations to enjoy. His grandfather William Hesketh Lever had founded Lever Brothers in the 1880s, primarily producing household soap such as Sunlight and Lux. Prior to serving in cabinet, Lever unsuccessfully contested Birkenhead (UK Parliament constituency) in 1892, 1894, 1895, and also lost at Ormskirk (UK Parliament constituency) in 1910. He married twice. He was Provincial Senior Grand Warden of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Cheshire, and founded many other Lodges. LORD LEVERHULME Thanks to Williams marketing acumen, within a decade of its launch it is on sale in 134 countries.