Lesser Known Leverhulme (Ray Jefferson)

Upcoming Talk - September 2026

7.30pm at Harwood Methodist Church
Thursday 24th September 2026

Speaker: Ray Jefferson

William Hesketh Lever or Lord Leverhulme was probably Bolton’s, if not Britain’s, most successful self-made businessman of the early twentieth century.

He made many shrewd decisions in his business life and was a great philanthropist. He was obsessed with the development of land and the creation of communities alongside his business interests

However, like so many people in his position, he could also be determined and arrogant, and this, as we will see in this talk, led to some decisions which were less than successful.

William Hesketh Lever, 1888