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| Industry | Consumer Goods |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1884; 141 years ago (1884) inWarrington, England |
| Founders | William Hesketh Lever James Darcy Lever |
| Defunct | 1930 (1930) |
| Fate | Merged withMargarine Unie |
| Successor | Unilever |
| Brands | Sunlight Lifebuoy Lux Vim |
Number of employees | 250,000 (1930) |
| Parent | Unilever  |
| Subsidiaries | Curtis 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 acquiredMac Fisheries, owner ofT. Wall & Sons, in 1925. Its brands includedLifebuoy,Lux andVim. Lever Brothers merged withMargarine Unie to formUnilever in 1929.[1]
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 inWarrington. The brothers teamed up with aCumbrian chemist, William Hough Watson, who became an early business partner. Watson invented the process which resulted in a new soap, usingglycerin and vegetable oils, such aspalm oil, rather thantallow.[2] The resulting soap was a good, free-lathering soap, at first named Honey Soap then later namedSunlight Soap. Production reached 450 tons per week by 1888. Larger premises were built on marshes atBromborough Pool on theWirral Peninsula at what becamePort 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 ofdiabetes, 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 inCambridge, Massachusetts, the Curtis Davis Company, moved its U.S. headquarters to Cambridge and started production at a factory located at what is nowTechnology Square. In 1925, Lever Brothers acquiredMac Fisheries, owner ofT. Wall & Sons.[5]
The firm began to use whale oil after acquiring the Testruphydrogenation patent in 1912.[6] This allowed the oil to be hardened to the point where it could be used to make soap or margarine. The firm continued to use whale oil until at least 1937.[7]
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.[8]
In 1949, Unilever moved its US headquarters and laboratories toPark Avenue, New York, and in 1959, it closed the Cambridge factory.[8]
Lever Brothers was one of several British companies that took an interest in the welfare of its employees.[9] Themodel village ofPort 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 treatment found at Port Sunlight did not exist in the operations of its subsidiary in theBelgian Congo, where Lever Brothers, through their subsidiaryHuileries du Congo Belge (HCB), utilisedforced labour between 1911 and 1945.[10][11][12]
By 1911, the company had its ownoil palm plantations in theBelgian Congo and theSolomon Islands. Lever Brothers Ltd also acquired other soap companies includingA&F Pears, John Knight of London,[13]Gossage's ofWidnes,Watson's of Leeds,Crosfield's of Warrington,Hazlehurst & Sons ofRuncorn andHudson's ofLiverpool. The town of Leverville (the present-dayLusanga) was founded in the then district of Kwango, later part of theProvince ofLéopoldville, in the western part of theBelgian Congo and was named after William Lever (laterViscount Leverhulme).[14]
In September 1929,Unilever was formed by a merger of the operations of DutchMargarine 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.[9] Unilever was the first modern multinational company.[9]
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 BrothersToronto 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.[15]
Among its presidents wasCharles Luckman, who, in the 1950s, championed the construction of theLever House in New York City. Luckman left the company before the building's completion, moving on to a notable architectural career, including the design ofMadison Square Garden, theTheme Building, the master plan forLos Angeles International Airport, theAon Center, and major buildings at theKennedy Space Center andJohnson Space Center.[16]
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