Quaker Quicks - Quakers and Chocolate

Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, Rowntree’s Kit Kat, and Fry’s Turkish Delight are all well-known chocolate treats. The three ’cocoa families’ who indulged our chocolate cravings for over a century were all Quakers, and this affected both how they amassed their fortunes and how they spent them. George and Richard Cadbury in Birmingham, and Joseph Rowntree in York, all strove to improve the lives of those living in Victorian slums. They built factories and towns in the countryside, provided recreation and medical facilities, and gave away significant proportions of their wealth to establish charitable trusts. Some of their descendants carried on the family businesses, but others made significant contributions elsewhere. Richard’s daughter Beatrice campaigned vigorously against capitalism and for peace, and Joseph’s son John Wilhelm was instrumental in bringing Quakerism in line with the latest discoveries in science.

Quakers and Chocolate provides a brief history of chocolate, focusing on the convictions and actions of some members of the Quaker families who did so much to make chocolate part of everyday life.

Helen Holt has PhDs in physics and Quaker studies and an MSc on the relationship between science and religion. She is active in her local Quaker meeting in the beautiful Scottish Borders.