| Description | Elizabeth Taylor Cadbury begins her letter remarking that she was glad to hear 'the African baby', probably her brother Wilfrid Taylor's new baby, was feeling better, adding how pleased she was that the 'knitted jacket' she had sent for him was coming in useful. Later in the letter Taylor Cadbury refers to her sister Josephine Taylor's experiences in India.
Taylor Cadbury refers to 'the revolving room', a 'sort of large summer house' which the Cadbury family had built. The room turned around so that it was always sheltered from the wind and rain and gave a view of the Lickey Hills. She writes that her children did their lessons in the room during the afternoon adding that it was 'a favourite place' for her husband George Cadbury 'on Sunday when he has time to read.'
Taylor Cadbury provides an account of arrangements for the establishment of a Missionary Training Home, Kingsmead, in Selly Oak in association with Woodbrooke Quaker College. Scott writes that Kingsmead provided training and 'preparation' for 'missionaries entering into Quaker service abroad'. Taylor Cadbury writes that John William Hoyland had been chosen to be the warden at the new Home but notes that 'the whole arrangement is to be tentative for a year' and that plans had not yet been made public. Taylor Cadbury's younger sister Josephine Taylor who worked as a missionary in India later married Hoyland in 1906.
Taylor Cadbury remarks on recent visits to her daughters Dolly (Elsie Dorothea, born 1892) and Molly (Marion Janet, born 1894) at school to see their 'drill'. She writes that she had also visited the girls' classrooms whilst they were having lessons and attended an Estate Meeting at Bournville.
In 1900 George Cadbury and Lloyd George had taken over the national newspaper the 'Daily News' with the financial assistance of Mr. Thomasson of Bolton. In 1904 Thomasson withdrew his support to establish his own newspaper which gave George Cadbury the opportunity to take control of the 'Daily News'. In this letter Taylor Cadbury writes 'we have had and are still having a great deal of anxiety' about her husband taking over the newspaper which had originally been intended to promote Liberal political views against the Boer War. She comments on the 'very large' circulation of the newspaper and the opportunity that this would afford George Cadbury and his associates to publicise their views and influence public opinion. However, Taylor Cadbury reveals that she was anxious about 'the other expenses and difficulties' associated with her husband's purchase of the newspaper which she writes were 'very great'. Despite these reservations George Cadbury did assume control of the 'Daily News', using the publication to organise and support an exhibition of the sweated industries in 1906 which promoted the need for reform in industrial working conditions. George Cadbury's son Henry Tylor Cadbury took over control of the newspaper in 1907, ensuring its success as a daily newspaper into the 1930s.
Taylor Cadbury writes that she and George Cadbury had taken a few days rest in Brighton before she had returned to Bournville to attend an Education Committee at Ruskin Hall in the village (a meeting of the Bournville Village Schools Management Committee). She writes 'we have not yet our full staff of teachers for the new schools; they are rather difficult to get just now.' |