The Leverhulme Memorial

Liverpool trip
Saltaire's founder, Sir Titus Salt, is honoured by having a statue of himself in Roberts Park. William Hesketh Lever, the founder of Port Sunlight, has a memorial in his model village too, though it is not his own likeness. The figures at the top and the base represent Inspiration, Industry, Education, Charity and Art, a fitting tribute to the visionary, philanthropist businessman. Unveiled in 1930, it is a work sculpted by Sir William Reid Dick. It was dedicated to the memory of the 1st Lord Leverhulme, who died in 1925, by his employees at the Port Sunlight works.


For want of anywhere better to place it, I include here also one of the first advertisements for Sunlight Soap, which was produced at Port Sunlight. Lord Leverhulme's business success came not only from recognising the need for good, sweet-smelling household soap (since, by mid-Victorian times, people increasingly had access to washing and laundry facilities at home) but also to his recognition of the importance of branding and advertising to create a market for his products. Lever Brothers were among the first to sell bars of branded, wrapped soap. Prior to that soap was bought by weight, sawn off a block in the grocer's.