- He was the third son of John Cadbury, the founder of the Cadbury's Cocoa and Chocolate company.
- He left school at fifteen and was apprenticed to Joseph Rowntree in York so he could learn the grocery trade. He never finished it, however, as his father was suffering from depression after the death of his mother, and the family firm was in trouble.
- At first, he continued the work his father had been engaged in, which was trying to produce a medicinal drink which was a blend of cocoa and Lichen, but their "Icelandic Moss" wasn't very successful and the company nearly went bankrupt. The turnaround came when George heard about a Dutch invention which removed the fat from cocoa, making it a much nicer drink. He went to the Netherlands to see its inventor, Coenraad van Houten, and brought the machine back to England.
- He was committted to adult education throughout his life. As a young man he started teaching at a school for adults for no pay, and continued to do so until he was 72. He'd cycle to the school on Sundays to teach a Bible class at 6am.
- He married twice. His first wife was Mary Tyler, to whom he proposed once the business was secure and he knew he could support her. His proposal letter, however, sounded more like a business proposition, which confused Mary, but they got past that and married in 1872. They had six children, but the last one died and Mary died soon after the birth as well. A year later, he met up with an old friend, Elizabeth Mary Taylor, who was committed to temperence and adult education. He married her, and in between having five children, helped him with his philanthropic activities.
- He was very concerned about working and living conditions for his employees and in due course purchased some land just south of Birmingham to built a new factory in a more rural setting, and also a village for the workers to live in, providing affordable houses with gardens. Bourneville was named after the nearby river, combined with the French word for town, and was designed by William Alexander Harvey.
- It wasn't just living conditions that Cadbury was concerned about for his workers. They provided them with canteens, sports facilities, schools, deposit accounts and pensions.
- In 1901, he bought a newspaper, the Daily News, and used it to campaign against poor working conditions and for ald age pensions.
- He was a Quaker and a member of the Liberal Party.
- His family home, Woodbrooke, was donated to the Quakers in 1903 and is now a Quaker study centre. They also donated some park land they owned just south of the city to the people of Birmingham - the Lickey Hills.
NEW!
Obsidian's Ark
Trish wonders how to get science whizz Tom to notice her; how to persuade him that the best way to stand up to the school bully is to fight back. She doesn't want her friends, especially not Tom, to know she is a genetic variant with superpowers. Little does she know that Tom has secrets of his own.
Suki struggles to make friends at school when she cannot understand everyday cultural references, and they all suspect her of being a terrorist. She, too, has a secret, but is it what her classmates assume?
When Daniel stumbles upon a plot by an alliance of supervillains to plunge the world into war, he tries to alert the established superheroes, but none of them believe him. When the Prime Minister's only daughter, Yasmin Miller, is abducted, Daniel knows the villains' plan is underway. It seems humanity's only hope may be Daniel and the ragtag bunch of teenage superheroes he recruits. Can he pull together, not only his own team, but the older heroes as well, in a bid to save the Earth from a devastating war?
Themes:
Superheroes; Coming of age; Leadership; Kidnap and rescue; Aliens; Friendship and rivalry; Terrorism; Secrets.
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