William Lever, 2nd Viscount Leverhulme

William Hulme Lever, 2nd Viscount Leverhulme,(25th March 1888 - 27th May 1949).The eldest son of William Hesketh Lever and Elizabeth Ellen ( daughter of Crompton Hulme of Bolton).

He was educated at Eton College and then graduated from Cambridge University in 1913 with a Masters in the Arts. William Hulme Lever spent the earliest years of his life at Thornton Manor, returning to the Manor after his fathers death on inheriting the estate and title in 1925.

Family

He married twice, his first wife was Marion Beatrice Smith, daughter of Bryce Smith, they married 13th April 1912, they divorced in 1936. He married Winifred Agnes Lloyd, daughter of Lt.-Col. J. E. Lloyd, on 20th January 1937. His eldest daughter was Elizabeth Ruth Lever born 9th April 1913, she died 16th April 1972, his eldest son was Philip William Bryce Lever, 3rd Viscount Leverhulme born 1st July 1915, he died 4th July 2000, his youngest daughter was Rosemary Gertrude Alexandra Lever born 23rd April 1919.

Belgium Congo

Lever brothers at first operated in the British Congo where news reports seen back in England showed the workers abroad in favourable conditions.. By 1911 the company had moved to the Belgian Congo to take advantage of cheap labour and palm oil concession and continued to operate there as Lever Brothers, until 1930 when it became Unilever. The Belgian Congolese were subject to colonial exploitation through a system known as travail forcé, forced labour.

In response to civil unrest by the Congolese the company 'demanded more troops, more police and more brutality. 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'. Due to involvement with the Belgium Congo there was a stark contrast to how the Leverhulmes are remembered at home in England.

United Reformed Church of St Andrew and St George, Bolton

William Hulme Levers parents married at The United Reformed Church of St Andrew and St George, Back Bark Street, Bolton, Lancashire, April 17th 1874. The Church is an amalgamation of Presbertyrian and Congregational Churches, both Non-conformist. In 1936 their son William Hulme Lever paid for many improvements there including a wider chancel with choir stalls, communion table and pulpit. He also arranged for a new floor of marble and the communion dais finished with polished Hopton Wood stone the chancel walls and the organ gallery were lined with carved Austrian oak panelling. William Hulme Lever, 2nd Viscount Leverhulme also provided for two new stained glass windows illustrating the ‘Parable of the Talents’ in memory of his father and ‘The Resurrection Morning’ in memory his mother. The building became grade II listed in 1999 His mother died in 1913 and his father in 1925.

Death

William Hesketh Lever is interred with his parents at Christ Church, in Port Sunlight.

Theft of Memorial

A Priceless bust of William Hulme Lever was stolen in 2009 being taken from the plinth near his parents tombs at from the Leverhulme memorial tomb, Christ Church, Port Sunlight. It is feared it may be metled down for scrap.

External links

• Christ Chruch, Port Sunlight: Photograph of Leverhulme memorial
• The United Reformed Church of St Andrew and St George, Its Origin and History, Bolton, Lancashire

Viscounts Leverhulme (1925)

• William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851-1925)
• William Hulme Lever, 2nd Viscount Leverhulme (1888-1949)
• Philip William Bryce Lever, 3rd Viscount Leverhulme (1915-2000)