William Lever, 2nd Viscount Leverhulme

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William Hulme Lever, 2nd Viscount Leverhulme (born March 25, 1888 in Bolton , † May 27, 1949 in Minneapolis , Minnesota ) was a British entrepreneur.

Life and activity

Lever was the only child of William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme , and his wife Elizabeth Ellen, b. Crompton Hulme of Bolton. He was at Eton College educated and studied at Trinity College of Oxford University , which he left in 1913 with a master's degree. He then went into the family business Lever Brothers .

After the death of his father in May 1925, Lever inherited his title of nobility as 2nd Viscount Leverhulme along with the associated seat in the House of Lords as well as the role of nominal head ( governor ) of the Lever Brothers Group, whose management was increasingly in his hands at that time passed over by professional managers. In 1930 he was instrumental in the merger of Lever Brothers with Margarine Unie to form the new umbrella group Unilever .

In addition to his work for Lever Brothers / Unilever, Lever held numerous honorary positions: From 1932 to 1936 he was Pro-Chancellor at the University of Liverpool, whose honorary doctorate he was awarded in 1937 in recognition of his achievements. In 1923 he served as high sheriff of Cheshire and later as justice of the peace there.

He was classified as an important target by the National Socialist police forces due to his leading position in the British economy in the late 1930s. In the spring of 1940, the Reich Main Security Office in Berlin put him on the special wanted list GB , a list of people whom the Nazi surveillance apparatus considered particularly dangerous or important, which is why they would be removed from the occupation troops in the event of a successful invasion and occupation of the British Isles by the Wehrmacht Subsequent SS special commands were to be identified and arrested with special priority.

Lever died at St. Mary's Hospital, Minneapolis during a trip to North America. He was buried in the family grave in Christ Church in Port Sunlight. The Lever Glacier in Antarctica bears his name in his honor.

family

Lever married Marion Beatrice Smith (1886-1987) in his first marriage on April 13, 1912. This marriage was divorced again in 1936. From her the daughters Ruth Lever (1913-1972) and Rosemary Gertrude Alexandra Lever (1919-1994) and the son Philip William Bryce Lever (1915-2000) were born. The son inherited Levers title as 3rd Viscount Leverhulme.

In 1937 he married Winifred Agnes Bidston in his second marriage. This marriage remained childless.

Fonts

literature

  • Britannica Book of the Year , 1950, p. 512.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Census of England and Wales, 1911, registration district 451, sub-district 1, enumeration district 6, schedule 73.
  2. ^ Entry on Lever on the special wanted list GB (reproduced on the website of the Imperial War Museum in London) .
predecessor Office successor
William Lever Viscount Leverhulme
1917-1925 		Philip Lever
personal data
SURNAME Lever, William, 2nd Viscount Leverhulme
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lever, William Hulme, 2nd Viscount Leverhulme (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British entrepreneur and nobleman
DATE OF BIRTH March 25, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Bolton
DATE OF DEATH May 27, 1949
Place of death Minneapolis , Minnesota