Port Sunlight was the vision of one man , William Lever, later the 1st Viscount Leverhulme. Born in 1851 in Bolton, Lancashire, the son of a grocer, he prospered in the family business. In 1884 he decided to specialise in selling individually wrapped bars of soap and came up with the brand name "Sunlight". The following year, with his brother, James D'Arcy Lever, he acquired the company of Winser & Co. in Warrington to start the production of Sunlight soap.
Sales were so successful that this factory was running to full capacity by January 1887 forcing Lever to look for alternative premises.
This booklet is the story of the development of Port Sunlight, including the architects, the history, principal buildings and Port Sunlight today.
