| Ref No | MS 466/1/1/3/2/2 |
| Finding Number | MS 466/127/36-37 |
| Title | Essay 'Personal Duty' by Edward Reynolds Pease |
| Level | Item |
| Date | November 1883 |
| Description | This essay written by Edward Reynolds Pease contributed to the Portfolio Society's debate about the question of diminishing poverty through means other than charity. Much of Pease's essay focuses on the unfair distribution of industrial profits amongst capitalists and landlords which left the working-class surviving on poor wages. Pease argues against the unfair the accumulation of wealth, stating that the luxury of the rich was 'one great cause' of the poverty of the poor. Pease expresses his contempt for people who lived in pursuit of money, position and social status and advocates living for a wider object than personal wealth. Significantly, the title of Pease's paper, 'Personal Duty', reflected his views concerning the importance of social activism in work towards reform. Influenced by evangelical morality, Mark Bevir suggests that Pease defined socialism as 'a practical economic expression of the injunction "love thy neighbour."'
It is possible that Pease sent this personal copy of his essay to Elizabeth Taylor Cadbury who also contributed a paper to the Society's debate over poverty. |
| Extent | 2 |
| Format | Items |
| Related Material | Biographical information about Edward Reynolds Pease taken from Mark Bevir, 'Pease, Edward Reynolds (1857-1955)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, May 2007 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35445], accessed 13 May 2009. Information about Elizabeth Taylor Cadbury's paper and her correspondence with Pease taken from Richenda Scott, 'Elizabeth Cadbury: 1858-1951' (London: Harrap, 1955), pp. 36-38. |
| Physical Description | These two items should be produced together as they form parts of one individual document. |
| Access Status | Open |
| Language | English |