I contacted Lynne to suggest that she also post the message in the Bolton list. William Lever and his wife were both born in Bolton, he did a lot of charitable work in the town - he supported the building of Bolton School on its present site (the school had been endowed by another Lever in the 17th Century). He bought Hall i'th Wood, restored it and donated to the town as a museum. He also bought 67 acres near Bolton which he donated to the town as a public park, he built a bungalow near there with elaborate gardens - the suffragettes burnt the bungalow down. He funded an ambitious plan to redesign the town centre by an architect at Liverpool University and offered to partly pay for the work but it was turned down. http://www.mbriscoe.me.uk/page24.html The other place he is associated with is the Western Isles. He bought the island of Lewis and funded several industrial developments which were not very successful. He offered to donate the island to the people of Lewis but it was turned down and he sold it. He also had the village of Leverburgh built on Harris. Martin Briscoe Fort William martin@mbriscoe.me.uk -----Original Message----- From: eng-liverpool-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:eng-liverpool-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Dianne Hughes Sent: 21 May 2014 07:37 To: Lynne; eng-liverpool@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [ENG-LIV] Historic connection between one of world's biggest companies and Merseyside family has come to an end That is a bit of history I didn't know anything about. Thanks for that Lynne Dianne Hughes > "An historic connection between one of the world’s biggest businesses and the Merseyside family that founded it has come to an end. >