Quakers and Chocolate

This is the fascinating story of three Quaker Cocoa families – Cadbury, Rowntree, and Fry, who all amassed and distributed large fortunes while also looking after their workers in ways unusual in Victorian times. The book also provides a brief history of chocolate, originally mainly a drink, with biographies of four family members, including George Cadbury – ‘not a man but a purpose.’ Current brands date mainly from the 1920s and 30s – Dairy Milk, Kit Kat 1935, Smarties 1937. George created Bourneville in the 1890s as a model community with 500 acres of land and 370 houses by 1900. More recently, environmental issues have come to the fore in a trade worth $1 trillion a year and involving many small farmers. The Quaker testimonies of integrity, equality, community and social justice have had a lasting influence.