The Quakers: Money and Morals

by JamesWalvin (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1998

  $21.63

  In Georgian and Victorian Britain, the Quakers were a power in the land. They started as just another humble sect, reviled and persecuted on all sides, but emerged to exercise a vast influence. Quakers were frugal and industrious, and maintained a steady vigilance over each other's commercial affairs. It proved an ideal system for business: they trusted and helped each other, and many of the hazards of financial dealing were minimized. Gradually they came to dominate key industries, from iron-making to chemicals, from pharmaceuticals to banking. Barclays, Lloyds, Price Waterhouse, Swan Hunter, Clarks Shoes, Huntley and Palmer, Cadbury, Fry's and Rowntree, all have Quaker origins, as do a range of other household names. As Quakers declined in number but continued to intermarry, their success increased still further. Most remained austere but charitable, but in the end the lure of prosperity tempted a few to harsh measures or sharp practice or to un-Quaker-like comfort and glamour. This book tells the story of their permanent impact on Britain.