Chocolate

Bournville, near Birmingham, England

Three families of Quakers, for reasons not known to me, began manufacturing chocolate — the Rowntrees of Yorkshire (1862), the Cadbury’s of Birmingham (1824) and the Fry’s of Bristol (1759). All did exceedingly well and all three families were heavily engaged in philanthropy and social action. As well, members of all three families intermarried with members of my family, the Spriggs and Haywards, who also lived in and operated businesses in Birmingham. I have chosen to tell the Cadbury’s story here in order to relate an extraordinary act of philanthropy.

It was there in Birmingham, in 1824, that John Cadbury began selling tea, coffee and drinking chocolate. Early customers were limited to the wealthy because production costs were high. In 1861 John’s sons Richard and George assumed control of the business and by 1866 it had become evident to them that chocolate was the key to success. When they dropped tea and coffee to focus exclusively on chocolate, and upped the quality of the cocoa bean, the business took off. The rest of the Cadbury story, at least the business side of it, is largely about the ups and downs of the many products they brought to market and about the marketing efforts by which they did so.

However, there is another story here, the story of Bournville. Over time, the Cadbury business grew, requiring two moves to larger premises. By 1878, when a third move was required, George posed a question to brother Richard, which might have gone something like this:

“Would you not agree Richard, that the success of Cadbury’s, apart from our own brilliance…” George grins, “is due almost wholly to the loyalty and dedication of our workers? Now you and I know too well the conditions under which our workers live. We have volunteered in their neighbourhoods, talked with their families, witnessed the rampant ill health and frankly, squalid conditions which they have no option but to tolerate. You and I leave the factory each night, retiring to our large, comfortable homes on the edge of the city where we enjoy every possible luxury. We owe them more Richard. A great deal more.

“I’ve been thinking about this for a while and I’ve come up with with a rather grand idea — something which I don’t believe has ever been done.

We must move to larger quarters and we must do it soon. However, we are not obliged to remain within Birmingham. Agreed? What if we were to take this once in a lifetime opportunity to do something outstanding for our workers, that is, build not just a new factory, but an entire village in the country to house our workers, provide them with health care, nice shops, good schools, fresh air, clean streets and places to walk about and socialize. Would that not be the perfect way to say “thank you” Richard?

“It would indeed brother. And that is precisely what we shall do. It is brilliant. You are brilliant. Come, Priscilla just rang the bell. Teas on. Let us celebrate the new and improved Cadbury’s and show the world how things ought to be done.” That is precisely what they did do. In the countryside just beyond Birmingham’s outer limits, the Cadbury’s purchased land for the new factory and began construction. Later, in 1893, George Cadbury purchased 120 additional acres for workers’ housing. On that land, he built 143 cottages. The cottages were clustered in pods of 3 or 4 and the pods were set back from tree-lined streets. Each cottage had a front and back garden, fruit trees and space to grow vegetables.

A cottage had three bedrooms, a parlour, living room, kitchen and good sanitation. The rooms were large and airy with plenty of light. One tenth of the estate was put aside for parks, recreation grounds and open space. They called the village Bournville. Housing reform became a passion for George Cadbury. He joined the Garden City Movement begun by housing reformer Sir Ebenezer Howard, and was instrumental in the movement’s success.