George Cadbury
George Cadbury | |
|---|---|
 George Cadbury, aged 78 [1917] | |
| Born | 19 September 1839 |
| Died | 24 October 1922(aged 83) |
| Occupation | Director ofCadbury's |
| Years active | 1861−1918 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 11, including: Edward Cadbury George Cadbury Jr Egbert Cadbury Marion Greeves |
| Father | John Cadbury(1801-1889) |
| Relatives | Richard Cadbury(brother) |
George Cadbury(19 September 1839 – 24 October 1922) was an EnglishQuakerbusinessman and social reformer who expanded his father'sCadbury'scocoa and chocolate company in Britain.
Background
[edit]George Cadbury was the son ofJohn Cadbury,a tea and coffee dealer, and his wife Candia.[1]
The Cadburys were members of theSociety of Friends or Quakers.
He worked at a school for adults on Sundays with no pay, despite only going to the school himself till he was fifteen.[2]At sixteen, he was apprenticed to Joseph Rowntree, in York, to learn the grocery trade.
Cadbury Brothers Limited
[edit]When his family firm was in trouble, due to his father’s declining health after his mother’s death fromtuberculosisin 1855, he moved back toBirminghamwithout having completed his apprenticeship. His older brotherRichardwas already working in their father’s business, and the two brothers took over the chocolate producerCadbury Brothersin 1861.[3]
In 1878, they acquired 14 acres (57,000 m2) of land in open country, four miles (6 km) south-west ofBirmingham,where they opened a new factory in 1879. When Cadbury Brothers was incorporated as a limited company on June 16, 1899, George and Richard owned 100% of the ordinary shares in their business.[4]
Their father had previously been working on a blend of cocoa andlichenthat he had hoped hadmedicinalproperties. The brothers continued the work and launched the product as “Icelandic Moss”. Although it was not the success that they had hoped for, they worked long hours and lived a veryfrugallifestyle to keep the firm frominsolvencywith help from the £4000 that had been left to them by their mother. When George heard about aDutchchocolatier,Coenraad van Houten,who had devised a method of extracting most of theunpalatablefat from cocoa, which made it a more appealing drink; he went toHollandto seeVan Houtenalthough he didn’t speakDutch.He returned triumphant with adefattingmachine. The machine proved to be a success and Cadbury’s launched their “Absolutely Pure Therefore Best” cocoa essence. It saved the company and enabled it to grow into a large and successful enterprise with a reputation for quality products and for treating its employees well.[3]
The Cadbury brothers were concerned with the quality of life of their employees and provided an alternative to city life. As more land was acquired and the brothers moved the factory to a new country location, they decided to build afactory town(designed by architectWilliam Alexander Harvey), which was not exclusive to the employees of the factory. This village became known asBournvilleafter the nearby river and French word for "town". The houses were never privately owned, and their value stayed low and affordable.Bournvillewas a marked change from the poor living conditions of the urban environment. Here, families had houses with yards, gardens, and fresh air. By 1900, when Cadbury renounced his proprietorship of the estate and set up theBournville Village Trust,there were 313 houses for various social classes; by 1960 the trust held 1,000 acres with 3,500 houses.[5]To the present, the town offers affordable housing.
The brothers cared for their employees; they both believed in workers’s social rights and hence they installed canteens and sport grounds. Nineteen years afterRicharddied, George opened a works committee for each gender which discussed proposals for improving the firm. He also pressed ahead with other ideas, like anannuity,a deposit account and education facilities for every employee.
Philanthropy
[edit]He rented 'Woodbrooke' – aGeorgian stylemansion built byJosiah Mason,which he eventually bought in 1881. In 1903, he founded a Quaker higher educational institution for social-service oriented education – an institution that still functions as theWoodbrooke Quaker Study Centre.[6]In the early 20th century, he andJohn Wilhelm Rowntreeestablished aQuakerstudy centre in the building,[7]and it remains the only such centre in Europe today, offering short educational courses on spiritual and social matters toQuakersand others.
In 1901, disgusted by theimperialisticpolicy of the Unionist Government dominated by Colonial SecretaryJoseph Chamberlain,and opposed to theBoer War,George Cadbury bought theDaily News(afterward theNews Chronicle) and used the paper to campaign for old age pensions and against the war andsweatshoplabour.[8]Cadbury was actively involved in politics and supportedWilliam Gladstone.Dismayed at how theLiberalstook the country into theFirst World War (1914-1918),George switched his allegiance to theIndependent Labour Partywho wereanti war.[1]
In 1907, George Cadbury boughtSelly Manor,an old Tudor house menaced by destruction in the surroundings ofBirmingham.He decided to rescue, preserve and move it toBournville.This was completed in 1916 by architectWilliam Alexander Harvey.[9]Selly Manor is now a museum.
George Cadbury was one of the prime movers in setting upThe Birmingham Civic Societyin 1918. Cadbury donated theLickey Hills Country Parkto the people ofBirmingham.He also donated a large house in Northfield to the Birmingham Cripples Union that was used as a hospital from 1909. It is now called theRoyal Orthopaedic Hospital.[10]
He died at home,Northfield Manor House,on 24 October 1922, aged 83 of natural causes.[1]
Family life
[edit]George Cadbury married twice. In London,Middlesex,on 14 March 1872 he married Mary Tylor (born March 1849 atStamford Hill,London; died June 1887 atNewton AbbotinDevon), daughter of Quaker authorCharles Tylorand wife Gulielma Maria Sparkes.[11]She was the mother ofGeorge Jr,Mary Isabel,Edward,Henry, and Eleanor Cadbury.
InPeckham Rye,Southwark,London, on 19 June 1888 he marriedElizabeth Mary Taylor.They had six children together: Laurence John, George Norman, Elsie Dorothea,Egbert,Marion Janet,and Ursula.
Legacy
[edit]The George CadburyCarillonSchool was opened in 2006 and is the only carillon school in theUnited Kingdom.[12]
George Cadbury has a miniature locomotive named after him, originally owned by the husband of his daughter Elsie Dorothea, Geoffrey Hoyland.[13]
Biography
[edit]- Walter Stranz:George Cadbury: An Illustrated Life of George Cadbury, 1839-1922(Shire Publications, Aylesbury, 1973)ISBN0-85263-236-3
- Claus Bernet (2008). "George Cadbury". In Bautz, Traugott (ed.).Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL)(in German). Vol. 29. Nordhausen: Bautz. cols. 257–261.ISBN978-3-88309-452-6.
- A. G. Gardiner(1923)George CadburyCassell and Company Limited ASIN B0006D79IW
- Andrew ReekesTwo Titans, One City: Joseph Chamberlain & George CadburyWest Midlands History (28 Feb. 2017) ISBN 9781905036349
References
[edit]- ^abc"George Cadbury".Britain unlimited.
- ^The Garden City: The Official Organ of the Garden City Association.Garden City Association.
- ^ab"George Cadbury".Quakers in the world.
- ^Franks, Julian; Mayer, Colin; Rossi, Stefano (2005). "Spending Less Time with the Family: The Decline of Family Ownership in the United Kingdom". In Morck, Randall K. (ed.).A History of Corporate Governance around the World: Family Business Groups to Professional Mergers.University of Chicago Press. p. 600.ISBN0-226-53680-7.
- ^L. Nolen, Jeannette (15 September 2023)."George Cadbury".Britannica.
- ^"Woodbrooke | Quaker Learning & Research Organisation".3 April 2019.Retrieved15 January2021.
- ^Thomas C. Kennedy (2001).British Quakerism, 1860–1920: the transformation of a religious community.Oxford University Press. pp. 177–78.ISBN0-19-827035-6.
- ^Kevin Grant (2005).A civilised savagery: Britain and the new slaveries in Africa, 1884–1926.Routledge. p.110.ISBN0-415-94901-7.
- ^"Selly Manor's History".Selly Manor Museum.Retrieved20 September2023.
- ^"Royal Orthopaedic Hospital".Rossbret Institutions Website. Archived fromthe originalon 5 July 2009.Retrieved3 October2009.
- ^David J. Jeremy (1990).Capitalists and Christians: business leaders and the churches in Britain, 1900–1960.Clarendon Press.p. 100.ISBN0-19-820121-4.
- ^"Carillon Summer series".Indiana State University. 2008. Archived fromthe originalon 4 May 2010.Retrieved2 December2009.
- ^"Downs Light Railway Trust - History".Downs Light Railway Trust. 2022.
- "Burke's Peerage and Baronetage"
External links
[edit]
- Encyclopædia Britannica George Cadbury
- former residence of George Cadbury
- Letter from George Cadbury in England to William Cooper in Australia, 1920
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