George Cadbury

George Cadbury (1839-1922) was the third son of John Cadbury, who, with his brother Richard, took over the family business in 1861 from his father, after the death of his mother that year. Primarily concerned with his workers’ welfare, but also out of the need to find more space for the rapidly expanding business, he bought 14 acres four miles south out of Birmingham where they opened a new factory in 1879. Out of this arose the need for affordable housing for his employees and the factory town of Bourneville was established in the latter part of the 19th century.

Unhappy with the imperialist nature of the Balfour government, in 1901, to help oppose the Boer War, Geroge Cadbury bought The Daily News and used it to campaign against the war and sweatshop labour, and for old age pensions.

George Cadbury also founded the only Quaker Study Centre in Europe along with John Wilhelm Rowntree in 1903. Woodbrooke in the Selly Oak area of Birmingham, remains a flourishing concern.