The Quakers: Money and Morals

by James Walvin

Describes how the sect acquired wealth in Great Britain through such businesses as Barclays Bank, Lloyds of London, and Cadbury, and recounts their efforts on behalf of social causes

Genres: Nonfiction

243 pages, Paperback

First published December 12, 1931

About the author

James Walvin taught for many years at the University of York where he is now Professor of History Emeritus. He also held visiting positions in the Caribbean, the U.S.A. and Australia. He won the prestigious Martin Luther King Memorial Prize for his book Black and White, and has published widely on the history of slavery and the slave trade. His book The People's Game was a pioneering study of the history of football and remains in print thirty years after its first publication.

Reviews

[Fubzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bit repetitive, by the end I felt that each chapter was just repeating what was said in the previous one. Otherwise, it was what it said on the tin.

[Jenny Housley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book 25 years ago so thought it was time to read it! Very interesting in places if not a bit repetitive. I gave me a lot of info for future reading. My grandmother worked at Bourneville as a young girl and always said it was a good employer

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Religious Society of Friends (Whose members are commonly known as 'Quakers') have been around for more than 350 years. They are a fascinating religious group I've been reading about for years. I found this book in my local library and hadn't heard of it before so thought I'd give it a read.

From their very beginnings Quakers were persecuted in Britain. They were generally viewed as dangerous subversives and heretics especially by the government and the Church of England. Quaker meetings were outlawed and those found attending were arrested and thrown in jail. They risked having their assets stripped, being beaten and generally mistreated. Hundreds of Quakers died in appalling prison conditions. Unfortunately this attitude took a long time to change and at the beginning of the 19th century Quakers were still not allowed the same rights as everyone else. They could not go to university so it was impossible for Quakers to practice law or medicine. As a result many Quakers went into business and finance. Especially the chocolate industry and banking. British Quaker families built brand names which are still known today (although they have long since ceased to be owned and operated by Quakers) Lloyds and Barclays banks as well as Rowntrees, Cadbury and Fry's chocolate companies. This book gives a general history and overview of these magnate Quakers and the difficulties they faced in coming to terms with being both a Quaker and a successful, wealthy business owner at the same time.

The book is very good; accessible, well written and not bogged down with dull and unnecessary information. There are some interesting photographs and the book is quite unique as the author is not a Quaker himself (quite often books written about Quakers have been written BY Quakers)

Overall a very interesting book