British soap and detergent manufacturer.
Lever Bros. was founded in 1885 by William Hesketh Lever, later Viscount Leverhulme (18511925), and his brother, James Darcy Lever, to make and sell soap. The first company to market wrapped bars of soap made from vegetable oil instead of tallow, Lever Bros. expanded internationally with the help of energetic advertising slogans. It built a model industrial village at Port Sunlight in 1888 and offered employee benefits such as profit sharing and free insurance. William was elected to Parliament in 1906 and became a viscount in 1922. In 1929, Lever Bros. joined an association of European companies to form Unilever .