William Joseph Reader (20 November 1920 – 5 June 1990)In Memoriam: Dr W. J. Reader, 1920–1990 T. C. Barker Business History Vol. 33, Iss. 1, 1991 was an English historian who specialised in British company history. Theo Barker described him as "the foremost British company historian of his day".

Life

Born in Weston-super-Mare, Reader attended

Taunton School Taunton School is a co-educational independent school in the county town of Taunton in Somerset in South West England. It serves boarding and day-school pupils from the ages of 13 to 18. The current headmaster is Lee Glaser, appointed in the aut ...

before going up to

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...

to read history. During the Second World War he served in the

Royal Signals Corps The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS or R SIGS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communi ...

. Reader worked at

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, t ...

in advertising, market research and public relations roles from 1950 to 1964.Judy Slinn, ‘Reader, William Joseph (1920–1990)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 30 Sept 2014
/ref> He left the company to become a freelance historian, and went on to write well-received histories of

Imperial Chemical Industries Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. It was formed by the merger of four leading British chemical companies in 1926. Its headquarters were at M ...

, Grand Metropolitan and

Weir Group The Weir Group plc is a Scottish multinational engineering company headquartered in Glasgow, Scotland. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. History The company was established in 1871 as an e ...

, among others.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reader, W. J. 1920 births 1990 deaths Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge British Army personnel of World War II People educated at Taunton School People from Weston-super-Mare Royal Corps of Signals soldiers Unilever people 20th-century English historians Military personnel from Somerset