William James (Royal Navy officer, born 1881) sat as a subject for several paintings by his grandfather, Millais. The most well-known of these is "Bubbles", in which the five-year-old William is shown gazing enraptured at a bubble he has just blown. When the painting was used in an advertisement for Pears soap, it became famous. The image dogged James throughout his life, and he was regularly nicknamed "Bubbles". James pursued a career in the Royal Navy, rising to hold a number of important positions. Following early service on the training ship HMS "Britannia", he was confirmed in the rank of sub-lieutenant on 15 April 1901. He was
Pears (soap) could evaporate and be re-used. The soap bars were laid out on wooden trays in drying rooms known as "ovens" about the size of a domestic garage. Bars were placed on trays with both sides open to the air. Ovens were graded in warmth from around 70F (21C) to 100F (39C). As drying proceeded trolleys loaded with trays were moved to progressively warmer ovens. In practice the soap often became opaque. Unilever explored options to prevent this, all of which would have added to the cost: On February 27, 2003, the 7th Amendment to the EU Cosmetics Directive (Directive 2003/15/EC)