Sunlight soap manufacturer and philanthropist William Hesketh Lever, first Viscount Leverhulme, founded the gallery in 1922 to enrich the cultural and educational lives of his workforce. It houses a fine collection of 18th- and 19th-century paintings, ceramics, furniture and sculpture, and is especially rich in Pre-Raphaelite pictures, 18th-century English furniture and Wedgwood and Chinese ceramics. A new suite of Activity Rooms with four themes – Sustain, Explore, Imagine and Create – provides activity space for visitors of all ages.