| Description | In this letter Wood apologises for his long delay in writing to Taylor Cadbury owing to a 'chapter of accidents' which had caused him to miss the Free Church Council Executive. Wood's letter refers to the Council's decision to invite Elizabeth Taylor Cadbury to be their first female President. Elizabeth Taylor Cadbury's husband George Cadbury had been largely responsible for the foundation of the Free Church Council which aimed towards a closer alliance between different Nonconformist churches in the early 1890s. George Cadbury maintained a close interest in the Council, contributing to its work up until his death in 1922. In his letter to Elizabeth Taylor Cadbury, Wood remarks that if she chose to 'undertake the work of the Presidency, it would help to keep the Council & movement true to the ideal which George Cadbury had in mind for it'.
Wood offers Taylor Cadbury his support if she should choose to accept the Presidency and notes that he had recently received a letter from Rendel Harris, his predecessor as Director of Studies at Woodbrooke College. Wood writes that Harris had referred favourably to an article which Taylor Cadbury had contribued to 'The Friend', the Journal of the Society of Friends.
Wood also refers to Elizabeth Taylor Cadbury's recent experiences at the 1923 General Election when she had stood unsuccessfully as the Liberal Party's parliamentary candidate for the Kings Norton ward. Wood had supported Taylor Cadbury's election campaign and writes how their mutual friend and colleague Robert Waite had been 'deeply grieved' by the result. Wood also recommends two 'fascinating' works on Anglo-Catholicism to Taylor Cadbury.
At the conclusion of his letter Wood writes that he was 'off to see St. George's Court for the first time'. St. George's Court was a housing development for business and professional women opened in 1923 by Residential Flats Limited, one of the Public Utility Societies established in Bournville under Elizabeth Taylor Cadbury's Chairmanship of the Bournville Village Trust. Scott remarks that Taylor Cadbury took 'great interest' in this housing development throughout her life. |
| AdminHistory | Herbert George Wood (1879-1963) came to Woodbrooke Quaker College in Selly Oak as a teacher of New Testament and early Christian theology in 1904. George and Elizabeth Cadbury founded the Woodbrooke settlement in 1903 when they gave the house and grounds of Woodbrooke, their family home from 1888-1994, for the establishment of a residential Quaker college. In 1918, following the resignation of Rendel Harris, Wood was appointed as Director of Studies at Woodbrooke, formally becoming a member of the Society of Friends in 1923. Elizabeth Taylor Cadbury remained closely associated with activities at Woodbrooke throughout her life. |