| Description | Newman thanks Elizabeth Taylor Cadbury for a case containing boxes of chocolates which she had sent to him. Newman suggests that the chocolates would help him to win arguments with his wife, writing that they would 'bring peace more rapidly than a Kitchener Proclamation!' Newman remarks that he had it 'on high Quaker authority' that when a wife agreed with her husband she was ill.
Newman asks Elizabeth Taylor Cadbury when she would be contributing a paper to the 'Friends' Quarterly Examiner', the Quaker journal to which Newman served as editor. He comments that he had recently read a paper which Taylor Cadbury had written on housing. Newman also refers to Seebohm Rowntree's book, most probably Rowntree's 'Poverty: A Study of Town Life' which was published in 1901. In addition, Newman comments on the Garden City Association Conference which was held in Birmingham and Bournville in 1901. Newman writes 'Housing Conferences are somewhat like Kitcheners Proclamations - frequent & futile'. He provides an insight into his political views, commenting on Rosebery and suggesting that his administration would bring about 'the Golden Age'. Newman signs his letter by referring to himself as 'A Smallpox Microbe'.
Newman's letter contains a number of important references to prominent public figures and relates to contemporary social and cultural issues. Although it is problematic to interpret Newman's political views based on the content of this letter, his comments about Kitchener and Rosebery provide an insight into his perceptions of prominent political figures and issues in British politics at the turn of the twentieth century. Newman's letter reflects the prominence of concerns over national living and working standards and public health during this period, revealing the important role which Quaker families played in social reform. It is intriguing that Newman's comments feature in a personal letter to Elizabeth Taylor Cadbury which can be interpreted as reflecting her active engagement with these national social and political concerns. |
| AdminHistory | This letter includes references to a number of prominent political and military figures. Newman's comments about Kitchener's proclamations relate to Horatio Herbert Kitchener, Earl Kitchener of Khartoum (1850-1916), an army officer who Keith Nelson suggests was publically identified in Britain as 'a popular imperial hero' during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Viewed as 'among the greatest of Victorian imperial soldiers', Kitchener played a leading role in the Boer War between 1900 and 1902. Newman's references to Rosebery relate to the Liberal Imperialist politician Archibald Philip Primrose, Fifth Earl of Rosebery and First Earl of Midlothian (1847-1929). Earl Rosebery served as British Prime Minister between 1894 and 1895 and rose to prominence again between 1900 and 1901 when he campaigned for British 'political rejuvenation'. Although Rosebery experienced a disappointing political career, John Davis draws attention to his interest in national public health amidst growing concerns over physical deterioration in the wake of attempts to recruit troops to serve Britain in the Boer War.
Newman's letter also refers to Seebohm Rowntree's book 'Poverty: A Study of Town Life' which was published in 1901. Harrison suggests that this became 'a classic text in the British empirical approach to sociology'. Rowntree's book highlighted the extent of poverty in York, informing public opinion and social policy in approaches to reform. Significantly, Elizabeth Taylor Cadbury's husband George Cadbury was closely associated with the Rowntree family, another Quaker chocolate manufacturing family, having trained in business methods with Seebohm Rowntree's father Joseph Rowntree. Furthermore, both the Rowntrees and Cadburys were involved in philanthropic work towards social reform and actively implemented initiatives to improve working and living conditions for people in Birmingham and York. |