Calling all dhobis (aka "washer-people")! Though “the household soap of the Empire” may no longer be an appropriate epithet (the “Empire” having lost a good deal of its empireness during the 20th century), Sunlight maintains its status as the world's first packaged, branded laundry soap.
Created by a Bolton chemist named William Hough Watson, and promoted by the Lever brothers, William and James Darcy, who began by selling bars of the stuff in their father’s grocery store, Sunlight Soap was unique in ...
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Created by a Bolton chemist named William Hough Watson, and promoted by the Lever brothers, William and James Darcy, who began by selling bars of the stuff in their father’s grocery store, Sunlight Soap was unique in that it used glycerin and vegetable oils instead of tallow (animal fats). The soap’s success would lead to the creation of a model village for the company’s workers called “Port Sunlight,” where each block was designed by a different architect (30 in all), and no two houses were alike (Port Sunlight’s Hulme Hall would also be the site of Ringo Starr's official debut as a member of The Beatles). As a Unilever brand, Sunlight has continued its popularity in places like Sri Lanka, where it won the 2004 “Brand of the Year” award, while in South Africa it’s sold as dish soap and fabric conditioner. In the UK, country of its birth, Sunlight is now only available as an import.
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