Our project is funded by the Leverhulme Trust, who administer the legacy of William Hesketh Lever – one of two brothers whose business became ‘Unilever’. Lever was made ‘Lord Leverhulme’ in 1922. You can read more about Lever on wikipedia, or on the pages of the Leverhulme Trust itself.

We knew that William Hesketh Lever experienced deafness, and this is one of the main reasons why we asked the Leverhulme to fund the project. What we didn’t realise was that there was a direct link between Lever, and the original St Saviour’s church, and the work of the AADD. But there is!

Today, as I was looking through the lists of those who gave a donation to the work of the AADD in the early 1900s, I noticed this entry:Lever gave a direct donation of £10 – which at the time was about £500 – to the work of the AADD.

It was only a one-off donation, but it is great to have found evidence that – in funding our work – the Leverhulme Trust are continuing to fund (now research work) on the Deaf church… in the tradition of their founder.