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{{Short description|UK consumer staples company}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox company
{{Infobox company
| name = Lever Brothers
| name = Lever Brothers
| logo =
| logo =
| image =Outside Lever House, Port Sunlight (2).jpg
| image =Outside Lever House, Port Sunlight (2).jpg
| image_caption =Lever House in [[Port Sunlight]], [[The Wirral]], [[Merseyside]], the former headquarters of Lever Brothers
| image_caption =Lever House in [[Port Sunlight]], [[Wirral Peninsula|Wirral]], [[Merseyside]], the former headquarters of Lever Brothers
| type =
| type =
| industry =
| industry = Consumer Goods
| fate = Merged with [[Margarine Unie]]
| fate = Merged with [[Margarine Unie]]
| predecessor = <!-- or: | predecessors = -->
| predecessor = <!-- or: | predecessors = -->
| successor = [[Unilever]]
| successor = [[Unilever]]
| founded = {{Start date and age|1884}} in [[Warrington]], England, United Kingdom
| founded = {{Start date and age|1884}} in [[Warrington]], England
| founders = [[William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme|The 1st Viscount Leverhulme]]<br>James Darcy Lever
| founders = [[William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme|The 1st Viscount Leverhulme]]<br>James Darcy Lever
| defunct = {{End date|1930}}
| defunct = {{End date|1930}}
| hq_location_city = [[New York City]],
| hq_location_city =

[[United States]]<ref>https://www.nytimes.com/1982/11/10/nyregion/lever-house-office-tower-declared-a-city-landmark.html</ref>
| hq_location_country =
| hq_location_country =
| area_served = <!-- or: | areas_served = -->
| area_served = <!-- or: | areas_served = -->
Line 27: Line 27:
| website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} -->
| website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} -->
}}
}}
'''Lever Brothers''' was a British- American manufacturing company founded in 1885 by two brothers: [[William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme|William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme]] (1851–1925), and James Darcy Lever (1854–1916). They invested in and successfully promoted a new soap-making process invented by chemist William Hough Watson. Lever Brothers entered the United States market in 1895 and acquired [[Mac Fisheries]], owner of [[Wall's (meat)|T. Wall & Sons]], in 1925. Lever Brothers was one of several British companies that took an interest in the welfare of its British employees. Its brands included "[[Lifebuoy (soap)|Lifebuoy]]", "[[Lux (soap)|Lux]]" and "[[Vim (cleaning product)|Vim]]". Lever Brothers merged with [[Margarine Unie]] to form [[Unilever]] in 1929.
'''Lever Brothers''' was a British manufacturing company founded in 1885 by two brothers: [[William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme|William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme]] (1851–1925), and James Darcy Lever (1854–1916). They invested in and successfully promoted a new soap-making process invented by chemist William Hough Watson. Lever Brothers entered the United States market in 1895 and acquired [[Mac Fisheries]], owner of [[Wall's (meat)|T. Wall & Sons]], in 1925. Lever Brothers was one of several British companies that took an interest in the welfare of its British employees. Its brands included [[Lifebuoy (soap)|Lifebuoy]], [[Lux (soap)|Lux]] and [[Vim (cleaning product)|Vim]]. Lever Brothers merged with [[Margarine Unie]] to form [[Unilever]] in 1929.<ref name="Unilever global company website" />


== History ==
== History ==
Starting with a small grocery business begun by his father, [[William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme|William Lever]] (later created, in June 1917, The 1st [[Baron Leverhulme]] and, in December 1922, further elevated to being The 1st [[Viscount Leverhulme]]) and his brother James entered the soap business in 1885 by buying a small [[soap]] works in [[Warrington]]. The brothers teamed up with a [[Cumbria]]n chemist, William Hough Watson, who became an early business partner. Watson invented the process which resulted in a new soap, using [[glycerin]] and vegetable oils such as [[palm oil]], rather than [[tallow]].<ref name="watson">Jeannifer Filly Sumayku, [http://www.thepresidentpost.com/?p=2621 Unilever: Providing Enjoyable and Meaningful Life to Customers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131215041539/http://www.thepresidentpost.com/?p=2621 |date=2013-12-15 }}, ''The President Post, 22 March 2010</ref> The resulting soap was a good, free-lathering soap, at first named Honey Soap then later named "[[Sunlight (cleaning product)|Sunlight Soap]]". Production reached 450 tons per week by 1888. Larger premises were built on marshes at [[Bromborough|Bromborough Pool]] on the [[Wirral Peninsula]] at what became [[Port Sunlight]],<ref name="bbcbusiness">{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/651938.stm | title=Unilever: A company history | publisher=BBC | date=22 February 2000 | access-date=9 July 2011}}</ref> then part of [[Cheshire]]. Though the company was named Lever Brothers, William Lever's brother and co-director James never took a major part in running the business. He fell ill in 1895, probably as a result of [[diabetes]], and resigned his directorship two years later.<ref>{{Cite book |last= Macqueen |first=Adam|title=The King of Sunlight: How William Lever Cleaned Up the World. Unilever first started out in new zealand wellington petone but then later on got moved to australia.|page=144 |publisher=Random House |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-552-15087-3}}</ref>
Starting with a small grocery business begun by his father, [[William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme|William Lever]] and his brother James entered the soap business in 1885 by buying a small soap works in [[Warrington]]. The brothers teamed up with a [[Cumbria]]n chemist, William Hough Watson, who became an early business partner. Watson invented the process which resulted in a new soap, using [[glycerin]] and vegetable oils such as [[palm oil]], rather than [[tallow]].<ref name="watson">Jeannifer Filly Sumayku, {{usurped|1={{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20131215041539/http://www.thepresidentpost.com/?p=2621 Unilever: Providing Enjoyable and Meaningful Life to Customers]}}}}, ''The President Post, 22 March 2010</ref> The resulting soap was a good, free-lathering soap, at first named Honey Soap then later named [[Sunlight (cleaning product)|Sunlight Soap]]. Production reached 450 tons per week by 1888. Larger premises were built on marshes at [[Bromborough|Bromborough Pool]] on the [[Wirral Peninsula]] at what became [[Port Sunlight]].<ref name="bbcbusiness">{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/651938.stm | title=Unilever: A company history | publisher=BBC | date=22 February 2000 | access-date=9 July 2011}}</ref> Though the company was named Lever Brothers, James never took a major part in running the business. He fell ill in 1895, likely as a result of [[diabetes]], and resigned his directorship two years later.<ref>{{Cite book |last= Macqueen |first=Adam|title=The King of Sunlight: How William Lever Cleaned Up the World. Unilever first started out in new zealand wellington petone but then later on got moved to australia.|page=144 |publisher=Random House |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-552-15087-3}}</ref>


Lever Brothers entered the United States market in 1895, with a small New York City sales office. In 1898, it bought a soap manufacturer in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]], the Curtis Davis Company, moved its U.S. headquarters to Cambridge and started production at a factory located at what is now [[Technology Square (Cambridge, Massachusetts)|Technology Square]]. By 1929, Lever Brothers employed 1,000 workers in Cambridge, and 1,400 nationwide, making it the third-largest soap manufacturer in the U.S.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Cambridge Historical Society|title=Industry in Cambridge: Lever Brothers|url=https://cambridgehistory.org/industry/leverbrothers.html|access-date=1 February 2020}}</ref>{{efn|In 1949, Unilever moved its headquarters and laboratories to [[Park Avenue]], New York, and in 1959, it closed the Cambridge factory.}}
Lever Brothers entered the United States market in 1895, with a small New York City sales office. In 1898, it bought a soap manufacturer in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]], the Curtis Davis Company, moved its U.S. headquarters to Cambridge and started production at a factory located at what is now [[Technology Square (Cambridge, Massachusetts)|Technology Square]]. In 1925, Lever Brothers acquired [[Mac Fisheries]], owner of [[Wall's (meat)|T. Wall & Sons]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/Acquisitions%20and%20Firm%20Growth.pdf|title=Acquisitions and firm growth: Creating Unilever's ice cream and tea business|access-date=21 March 2015}}</ref>


By 1929, Lever Brothers employed 1,000 workers in Cambridge, and 1,400 nationwide, making it the third-largest soap manufacturer in the U.S.<ref name="chs">{{cite web|publisher=Cambridge Historical Society|title=Industry in Cambridge: Lever Brothers|url=https://cambridgehistory.org/industry/leverbrothers.html|access-date=1 February 2020}}</ref>
In 1925, Lever Brothers acquired [[Mac Fisheries]], owner of [[Wall's (meat)|T. Wall & Sons]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/Acquisitions%20and%20Firm%20Growth.pdf|title=Acquisitions and firm growth: Creating Unilever's ice cream and tea business|access-date=21 March 2015}}</ref>

In 1949, Unilever moved its US headquarters and laboratories to [[Park Avenue]], New York, and in 1959, it closed the Cambridge factory.<ref name=chs/>


=== Employee welfare and use of forced labour ===
=== Employee welfare and use of forced labour ===
Lever Brothers was one of several British companies that took an interest in the welfare of its British employees.<ref name=lewis>{{cite book| author=Brian Lewis |title="So Clean": Lord Leverhulme, Soap and Civilization |location=Manchester| publisher=Manchester University Press |year=2008}}</ref> The [[model village]] of [[Port Sunlight]], then in [[Cheshire]], was developed between 1888 and 1914 adjoining the soap factory to accommodate the company's staff in good quality housing, with high architectural standards and many community facilities. The paternity found at Port Sunlight did not exist in the operations of its subsidiary in the [[Belgian Congo]], where Lever Brothers, through their subsidiary ''[[Huileries du Congo Belge]]'' (HCB), utilised [[forced labour]] between 1911 and 1945.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Marchal|first1=Jules|others=Translated by Martin Thom. Introduced by Adam Hochschild|title=Lord Leverhulme's Ghosts: Colonial Exploitation in the Congo|date=2008|publisher=Verso|location=London|isbn=978-1-84467-239-4}}.{{cite book|last1=Marchal|first1=Jules|others=Translated by Martin Thom. Introduced by Adam Hochschild|title=Lord Leverhulme's Ghosts: Colonial Exploitation in the Congo|date=2008|publisher=Verso|location=London|isbn=978-1-84467-239-4}}
Lever Brothers was one of several British companies that took an interest in the welfare of its British employees.<ref name=lewis>{{cite book| author=Brian Lewis |title="So Clean": Lord Leverhulme, Soap and Civilization |location=Manchester| publisher=Manchester University Press |year=2008}}</ref> The [[model village]] of [[Port Sunlight]] was developed between 1888 and 1914 adjoining the soap factory to accommodate the company's staff in good quality housing, with high architectural standards and many community facilities. The paternalism found at Port Sunlight did not exist in the operations of its subsidiary in the [[Belgian Congo]], where Lever Brothers, through their subsidiary ''[[Huileries du Congo Belge]]'' (HCB), utilised [[forced labour]] between 1911 and 1945.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Marchal|first1=Jules|author-link=Jules Marchal|translator=Martin Thom|others=Introduced by Adam Hochschild|title=Lord Leverhulme's Ghosts: Colonial Exploitation in the Congo|date=2008|publisher=Verso|location=London|isbn=978-1-84467-239-4}}
First published as ''Travail forcé pour l'huile de palme de Lord Leverhulme: L'histoire du Congo 1910-1945'', tome 3 by Editions Paula Bellings in 2001.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Rich|first1=Jeremy|title=Lord Leverhulme's Ghost: Colonial Exploitation in the Congo (review)|url=http://muse.jhu.edu/article/265076|journal=Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History|access-date=17 March 2018|date=Spring 2009|volume=10|doi=10.1353/cch.0.0053|s2cid=161485622}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Buell|first1=Raymond Leslie|title=The native problem in Africa, Volume II|date=1928|publisher=The Macmillan Company|location=New York|pages=540–544}}</ref>
First published as ''Travail forcé pour l'huile de palme de Lord Leverhulme: L'histoire du Congo 1910-1945'', tome 3 by Editions Paula Bellings in 2001.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Rich|first1=Jeremy|title=Lord Leverhulme's Ghost: Colonial Exploitation in the Congo (review)|url=http://muse.jhu.edu/article/265076|journal=Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History|access-date=17 March 2018|date=Spring 2009|volume=10|doi=10.1353/cch.0.0053|s2cid=161485622}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Buell|first1=Raymond Leslie|title=The native problem in Africa, Volume II|date=1928|publisher=The Macmillan Company|location=New York|pages=540–544}}</ref>


===Brands===
===Brands===
By 1900 Lifebuoy, Lux and Vim brands had been added and subsidiaries had been set up in the United States, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, Germany and elsewhere. By 1911, the company had its own [[oil palm]] plantations in the [[Belgian Congo]] and the [[Solomon Islands]]. Lever Brothers Ltd also acquired other soap companies including [[Andrew Pears|A&F Pears]], John Knight of London,<ref>''[http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/John_Knight Grace's Guide: John Knight]'' Retrieved 1 May 2020</ref> [[William Gossage|Gossage's]] of [[Widnes]], [[Joseph Watson, 1st Baron Manton|Watson's]] of Leeds, [[Joseph Crosfield|Crosfield's]] of Warrington, [[Hazlehurst & Sons]] of [[Runcorn]] and [[Robert Spear Hudson (soap)|Hudson's]] of [[Liverpool]]. The town of Leverville (the present-day [[Lusanga, Kwilu|Lusanga]]) was founded in the then district of Kwango, later part of the [[Provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo|Province]] of [[Léopoldville]], in the western part of the [[Belgian Congo]] and was named after William Lever (later [[Viscount Leverhulme]]).<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tSe8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA207|title=Co-operative culture and the politics of consumption in England, 1870-1930|first=Peter |last=Gurney|publisher=Manchester University Press ND |year=1996 |isbn=0-7190-4950-4|page=207}}</ref>
By 1911, the company had its own [[oil palm]] plantations in the [[Belgian Congo]] and the [[Solomon Islands]]. Lever Brothers Ltd also acquired other soap companies including [[Andrew Pears|A&F Pears]], John Knight of London,<ref>''[http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/John_Knight Grace's Guide: John Knight]'' Retrieved 1 May 2020</ref> [[William Gossage|Gossage's]] of [[Widnes]], [[Joseph Watson, 1st Baron Manton|Watson's]] of Leeds, [[Joseph Crosfield|Crosfield's]] of Warrington, [[Hazlehurst & Sons]] of [[Runcorn]] and [[Robert Spear Hudson (soap)|Hudson's]] of [[Liverpool]]. The town of Leverville (the present-day [[Lusanga, Kwilu|Lusanga]]) was founded in the then district of Kwango, later part of the [[Provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo|Province]] of [[Léopoldville]], in the western part of the [[Belgian Congo]] and was named after William Lever (later [[Viscount Leverhulme]]).<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tSe8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA207|title=Co-operative culture and the politics of consumption in England, 1870-1930|first=Peter |last=Gurney|publisher=Manchester University Press ND |year=1996 |isbn=0-7190-4950-4|page=207}}</ref>


=== Unilever ===
=== Unilever ===
In September 1929, [[Unilever]] was formed by a merger of the operations of Dutch [[Margarine Unie]] and British soapmaker Lever Brothers, named as a blend of the two firms' names. <ref name="Unilever global company website">About us, 1920-1929 {{Cite web |url=http://www.unilever.com/about/who-we-are/our-history/1920-1929.html |title=Archived copy |access-date=12 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150725211548/http://www.unilever.com/about/who-we-are/our-history/1920-1929.html |archive-date=25 July 2015 |url-status=dead }}, Unilever</ref> By 1930, it employed 250,000 people and in terms of market value, was the largest company in Britain.<ref name=lewis/> Unilever was the first modern multinational company.<ref name=lewis/>
In September 1929, [[Unilever]] was formed by a merger of the operations of Dutch [[Margarine Unie]] and British soapmaker Lever Brothers, named as a blend of the two firms' names.<ref name="Unilever global company website">About us, 1920-1929 {{Cite web |url=http://www.unilever.com/about/who-we-are/our-history/1920-1929.html |title=1920 - 1929 &#124; About &#124; Unilever global company website |access-date=12 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150725211548/http://www.unilever.com/about/who-we-are/our-history/1920-1929.html |archive-date=25 July 2015 |url-status=dead }}, Unilever</ref> By 1930, it employed 250,000 people and in terms of market value, was the largest company in Britain.<ref name=lewis/> Unilever was the first modern multinational company.<ref name=lewis/>


The Lever Brothers name was kept for a time as an imprint, as well as the name of the US subsidiary, Lever Brothers Company, and a Canadian subsidiary, Lever Brothers Limited. Lever Brothers was sold to a US capital firm, Pensler Capital Corporation, and renamed Korex in 2008. Korex Don Valley assumed operations of the Lever Brothers [[Toronto]] plant. It has since closed and gone bankrupt. The Toronto plant is now being redeveloped into an office and industrial district by First Gulf Corporation.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/old-soap-factory-getting-a-facelift/article542845/ |title=Old soap factory getting a facelift |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |location=Toronto |date=1 February 2012 |access-date=27 April 2015}}</ref>
The Lever Brothers name was kept until the 1990s as an imprint, as well as the name of the US subsidiary, Lever Brothers Company, and a Canadian subsidiary, Lever Brothers Limited. Lever Brothers was sold to a US capital firm, Pensler Capital Corporation, and renamed Korex in 2008. Korex Don Valley assumed operations of the Lever Brothers [[Toronto]] plant. It has since closed and gone bankrupt. The Toronto plant is now being redeveloped into an office and industrial district by First Gulf Corporation.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/old-soap-factory-getting-a-facelift/article542845/ |title=Old soap factory getting a facelift |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |location=Toronto |date=1 February 2012 |access-date=27 April 2015}}</ref>


== Presidents ==
== Presidents ==
Among its presidents was [[Charles Luckman]] who in the 1950s championed the construction of the [[Lever House]] in New York City. Luckman left the company before the building's completion, moving on to a notable architectural career, including the design of [[Madison Square Garden]], the [[Theme Building]] and master plan for [[Los Angeles International Airport]], the [[Aon Center (Los Angeles)|Aon Center]], and major buildings at the [[Kennedy Space Center]] and [[Johnson Space Center]].<ref>{{cite web|first=Herbert |last=Muschamp |date=1999-01-28 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B07E3DD1139F93BA15752C0A96F958260&scp=1&sq=Charles%20Luckman&st=cse |title=Charles Luckman, Architect Who Designed Penn Station's Replacement, Dies at 89 |work=New York Times |access-date=2013-02-10}}</ref>
Among its presidents was [[Charles Luckman]], who, in the 1950s, championed the construction of the [[Lever House]] in New York City. Luckman left the company before the building's completion, moving on to a notable architectural career, including the design of [[Madison Square Garden]], the [[Theme Building]], the master plan for [[Los Angeles International Airport]], the [[Aon Center (Los Angeles)|Aon Center]], and major buildings at the [[Kennedy Space Center]] and [[Johnson Space Center]].<ref>{{cite web|first=Herbert |last=Muschamp |date=1999-01-28 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B07E3DD1139F93BA15752C0A96F958260&scp=1&sq=Charles%20Luckman&st=cse |title=Charles Luckman, Architect Who Designed Penn Station's Replacement, Dies at 89 |work=New York Times |access-date=2013-02-10}}</ref>


== See also ==
== See also ==
Line 58: Line 60:
* [[Port Sunlight]]
* [[Port Sunlight]]
* [[Levers Pacific Plantations]]
* [[Levers Pacific Plantations]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}


== References ==
== References ==
Line 70: Line 69:
{{Unilever}}
{{Unilever}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Defunct manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Defunct manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Unilever companies]]
[[Category:Unilever companies]]
Line 78: Line 78:
[[Category:British companies established in 1885]]
[[Category:British companies established in 1885]]
[[Category:1930 disestablishments in England]]
[[Category:1930 disestablishments in England]]
[[Category:British Royal Warrant holders]]
[[Category:British royal warrant holders]]
[[Category:Palm oil production in the Democratic Republic of the Congo]]
[[Category:Palm oil production in the Democratic Republic of the Congo]]
[[Category:British companies disestablished in 1930]]
[[Category:British companies disestablished in 1930]]
[[Category:Lever family]]
[[Category:Lever family]]
[[Category:1930 mergers and acquisitions]]

Revision as of 08:29, 24 April 2024

Lever Brothers
IndustryConsumer Goods
Founded1884; 140 years ago (1884) in Warrington, England
FoundersThe 1st Viscount Leverhulme
James Darcy Lever
Defunct1930 (1930)
FateMerged with Margarine Unie
SuccessorUnilever
BrandsSunlight
Lifebuoy
Lux
Vim
Number of employees
250,000 (1930)
ParentUnilever Edit this on Wikidata
SubsidiariesCurtis Davis Company
Huileries du Congo Belge
A&F Pears
Gossage's
Watson's
Crosfield's
Hazlehurst & Sons
Hudson's

Lever Brothers was a British manufacturing company founded in 1885 by two brothers: William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), and James Darcy Lever (1854–1916). They invested in and successfully promoted a new soap-making process invented by chemist William Hough Watson. Lever Brothers entered the United States market in 1895 and acquired Mac Fisheries, owner of T. Wall & Sons, in 1925. Lever Brothers was one of several British companies that took an interest in the welfare of its British employees. Its brands included Lifebuoy, Lux and Vim. Lever Brothers merged with Margarine Unie to form Unilever in 1929.[1]

History

Starting with a small grocery business begun by his father, William Lever and his brother James entered the soap business in 1885 by buying a small soap works in Warrington. The brothers teamed up with a Cumbrian chemist, William Hough Watson, who became an early business partner. Watson invented the process which resulted in a new soap, using glycerin and vegetable oils such as palm oil, rather than tallow.[2] The resulting soap was a good, free-lathering soap, at first named Honey Soap then later named Sunlight Soap. Production reached 450 tons per week by 1888. Larger premises were built on marshes at Bromborough Pool on the Wirral Peninsula at what became Port Sunlight.[3] Though the company was named Lever Brothers, James never took a major part in running the business. He fell ill in 1895, likely as a result of diabetes, and resigned his directorship two years later.[4]

Lever Brothers entered the United States market in 1895, with a small New York City sales office. In 1898, it bought a soap manufacturer in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Curtis Davis Company, moved its U.S. headquarters to Cambridge and started production at a factory located at what is now Technology Square. In 1925, Lever Brothers acquired Mac Fisheries, owner of T. Wall & Sons.[5]

By 1929, Lever Brothers employed 1,000 workers in Cambridge, and 1,400 nationwide, making it the third-largest soap manufacturer in the U.S.[6]

In 1949, Unilever moved its US headquarters and laboratories to Park Avenue, New York, and in 1959, it closed the Cambridge factory.[6]

Employee welfare and use of forced labour

Lever Brothers was one of several British companies that took an interest in the welfare of its British employees.[7] The model village of Port Sunlight was developed between 1888 and 1914 adjoining the soap factory to accommodate the company's staff in good quality housing, with high architectural standards and many community facilities. The paternalism found at Port Sunlight did not exist in the operations of its subsidiary in the Belgian Congo, where Lever Brothers, through their subsidiary Huileries du Congo Belge (HCB), utilised forced labour between 1911 and 1945.[8][9][10]

Brands

By 1911, the company had its own oil palm plantations in the Belgian Congo and the Solomon Islands. Lever Brothers Ltd also acquired other soap companies including A&F Pears, John Knight of London,[11] Gossage's of Widnes, Watson's of Leeds, Crosfield's of Warrington, Hazlehurst & Sons of Runcorn and Hudson's of Liverpool. The town of Leverville (the present-day Lusanga) was founded in the then district of Kwango, later part of the Province of Léopoldville, in the western part of the Belgian Congo and was named after William Lever (later Viscount Leverhulme).[12]

Unilever

In September 1929, Unilever was formed by a merger of the operations of Dutch Margarine Unie and British soapmaker Lever Brothers, named as a blend of the two firms' names.[1] By 1930, it employed 250,000 people and in terms of market value, was the largest company in Britain.[7] Unilever was the first modern multinational company.[7]

The Lever Brothers name was kept until the 1990s as an imprint, as well as the name of the US subsidiary, Lever Brothers Company, and a Canadian subsidiary, Lever Brothers Limited. Lever Brothers was sold to a US capital firm, Pensler Capital Corporation, and renamed Korex in 2008. Korex Don Valley assumed operations of the Lever Brothers Toronto plant. It has since closed and gone bankrupt. The Toronto plant is now being redeveloped into an office and industrial district by First Gulf Corporation.[13]

Presidents

Among its presidents was Charles Luckman, who, in the 1950s, championed the construction of the Lever House in New York City. Luckman left the company before the building's completion, moving on to a notable architectural career, including the design of Madison Square Garden, the Theme Building, the master plan for Los Angeles International Airport, the Aon Center, and major buildings at the Kennedy Space Center and Johnson Space Center.[14]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b About us, 1920-1929 "1920 - 1929 | About | Unilever global company website". Archived from the original on 25 July 2015. Retrieved 12 October 2019., Unilever
  2. ^ Jeannifer Filly Sumayku, Unilever: Providing Enjoyable and Meaningful Life to Customers[usurped][usurped], The President Post, 22 March 2010
  3. ^ "Unilever: A company history". BBC. 22 February 2000. Retrieved 9 July 2011.
  4. ^ Macqueen, Adam (2005). The King of Sunlight: How William Lever Cleaned Up the World. Unilever first started out in new zealand wellington petone but then later on got moved to australia. Random House. p. 144. ISBN 978-0-552-15087-3.
  5. ^ "Acquisitions and firm growth: Creating Unilever's ice cream and tea business" (PDF). Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  6. ^ a b "Industry in Cambridge: Lever Brothers". Cambridge Historical Society. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  7. ^ a b c Brian Lewis (2008). "So Clean": Lord Leverhulme, Soap and Civilization. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
  8. ^ Marchal, Jules (2008). Lord Leverhulme's Ghosts: Colonial Exploitation in the Congo. Translated by Martin Thom. Introduced by Adam Hochschild. London: Verso. ISBN 978-1-84467-239-4. First published as Travail forcé pour l'huile de palme de Lord Leverhulme: L'histoire du Congo 1910-1945, tome 3 by Editions Paula Bellings in 2001.
  9. ^ Rich, Jeremy (Spring 2009). "Lord Leverhulme's Ghost: Colonial Exploitation in the Congo (review)". Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History. 10. doi:10.1353/cch.0.0053. S2CID 161485622. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  10. ^ Buell, Raymond Leslie (1928). The native problem in Africa, Volume II. New York: The Macmillan Company. pp. 540–544.
  11. ^ Grace's Guide: John Knight Retrieved 1 May 2020
  12. ^ Gurney, Peter (1996). Co-operative culture and the politics of consumption in England, 1870-1930. Manchester University Press ND. p. 207. ISBN 0-7190-4950-4.
  13. ^ "Old soap factory getting a facelift". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. 1 February 2012. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  14. ^ Muschamp, Herbert (28 January 1999). "Charles Luckman, Architect Who Designed Penn Station's Replacement, Dies at 89". New York Times. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
  15. ^ Lavoie, Joanna (27 January 2012). "Former Lever Brothers site sold to commercial developer". Toronto.com.

External links

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