William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (19 September 1851 – 7 May 1925) was an English industrialist, philanthropist, and politician.
On 31st march Rabindranath and his party reached England and they boarded the Hotel Regina . After two days , on 2nd April, under the initiative of Union of East and West, the translated form, unpublished, of the drama " Biday- Abhishap" was staged in the house of Lord ,
"The Morning Post" wrote on 5th April ;
" The Union of East and West gave an open air performance in the beautiful gardens of Lord Leverhulme's house at Hampstead on Saturday afternoon. The plays selected were " The Farewell Curse", an unpublished playlet by Rabindranath Tahore , "Kunla" a sketch by Dhan Gopal Mukherjee and Savitri, a lyrical drama in two acts by K.N.Dasgupta. The first takes but a few minutes.... The piece was played effectively by Mr. Henry Oscar and Miss Hazel Jones.
Rabindranath was present on the occasion.
Rathindranath , after coming to London, wrote ;
" Journalist Henry Wood Nevinson [1856-1941] came, met with Rabindranath and became inspired on hearing the plan of Viswa Bharati and Rothenstein was "outwardly interested but very official in attitude."In his house a discussion on this subject was held in presence of Lord Carmichael, son of next Viceroy Lord Reeding and other s. Rothenstein proposed to form a committee. Rabindranath became pleased to talk with Nevinson and wrote Andrews on 10th April;
" I am glad to be in England again. It is a different atmosphere here than that of America where the gravitation of dollar pulls everything down and presses them flat on the earth. One of the first men whom I happened to meet here was H.W.Nevinson ( Henry Woodd Nevinson (1856 – 1941) was a British campaigning journalist. He was known for his reporting on the Second Boer War, and slavery in Angola in 1904-1905.[1]
and I felt that soul was alive in this country which has produced such a man as that ! A land should be judged by its best products, and I have no hesitation in saying that the best Englishmen are the best specimens of humanity."
In comparison to his mental condition when he left England last time, in Aug, 1920, he felt better specially after coming from America and seeing their attitude.
